We have spent the last couple of days with no cell or wi-fi in some of the most beautiful but remote areas, the North and South Units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We left Lewis and Clark State Park and went in search of bison on Monday 9/28 and they were there waiting for us as soon as we drove into the park! We saw them while hiking, and driving, and one even tried to come for breakfast!

A lane was closed in the mountains so we had to take turns and had to wait for this guy because he got there first!

It is a beautiful and majestic place, I can understand why Roosevelt loved it here.

 Here's a short shaky movie from this overlook that shows how vast and desolate the landscape is. Never mind, couldn't get it to upload :(  Maybe I will figure it out later.

Alas, we don't have all the time in the world so we had to move on to the South Unit where we hoped to see some promised prairie dogs. Besides, we were in danger of starving (we were out of beer and bread). On the way we took a picture of some of the housing quickly put into use for the booming oil industry. We saw many trailer parks with FEMA type trailers and RVs, bunk houses renting for $25 per night, and apartments advertising one bedroom units as low as $2100 a month.Yikes, I sure hope they are paying these guys well because they are gouging them on housing. And, I say guys because the towns seem to be populated by mostly young men!

As we arrived at the South Unit, we took a hike in the painted canyon. No bison on the trail but plenty of evidence of them passing by recently!

A herd of wild horses. don't they look healthy?!

A herd (?) of prairie dogs.The prairie dog towns were amazing, hundreds of them running, digging, whistling. Very comical!

I will leave you with a few more pictures of the South unit as Denny is itching to go and this is getting very long!

I'll have to finish this later as we are now headed to Custer State Park in the Black Hills and soon Mt Rushmore. Having more fun than should be legal :)

On Saturday morning early, we hit the road in Minnesota. We put in a long day of driving going almost all the way across the top of North Dakota. ND was a surprise as we were expecting a more barren rocky place but instead saw miles and miles of flat farm fields and tons of water, mostly designated as wildlife refuges. As we got further west we began to see oil rigs as we entered the Bakkan oil fields. We stopped at the geographic center of North America and picked up a geocache in an old farm implement (I say implement because I have no idea what kind of machine it was!)

 

We arrived that evening at Lewis and Clark State Park in the high plains. It is on  Lake Sakakawea (this is how they spell it) and much more scenic. We went for a few hikes and then watched the eclipse of the super moon over the lake. Beautiful! It has been unseasonably warm here so we have been able to enjoy the sights in shorts and t-shirts.

Lewis, Clark and Sakakawea standing in a field on one of our hikes

Headed out today (Monday 9/28) for Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Bison, here we come!

We're on the road again. We had planned to go to Mt. Rushmore in the summer but that didn't work out so here we are. At least the families have gone back to school and there are fewer people on the road!
This is the morning of day four of our journey. We decided to leave by heading north. On US 2 in the U.P. we saw this guy at a roadside park. Lots of people around but he didn't seem to care as he was busily working. Also stopped for lunch at a small park with a waterfall.

On the first day we made it to Gaastra in the U.P. where we had lovely meals, some new beverages (elder flower liquor and Charlie's homemade wine!) and great conversation with long time friends Laurie and Charlie Jackson. So nice to see them and visit their lovely home.
Day two, we got a late start, it's hard to leave when you're having a good time! Got all the way through Wisconsin and into Minnesota. We entered Duluth at rush hour with construction and fog. Would have loved to see Duluth but sadly this will always be how I think of it:

We drove until dark and camped in a state forest campground in Voyageurs National Park near International Falls, MN. We woke up to beautiful Lake Kabetogama. Since we were going to try to get as far as possible, we went for a quick, very wet hike and then headed out. As you can see behind Denny, fall is upon us, at least in northern Minnesota!

Check out the roadkill sighting. We've never seen this before. A little gory but cool to see a bald eagle!

We made it to Thief River Falls last night and stayed in a campsite with full facilities. Had a wonderful shower and then played miniature golf!

We are home! We were gone 52 days, drove 5723 miles, visited 14 states, and walked 201 miles. Denny drove every single one of them since he is a bad passenger and a worse navigator and I excel at both! I just hope I remember how to drive now that we are home :)
It was 3 degrees when we got up this morning but it was nice to be home and the kitties missed us :) I can't believe how much our kitten grew! He is a very big boy now.
We leave on March 19th for Italy with my sister Fran and her husband Jack, and will return on April 1st. I hope spring has arrived by then! There won't be any Italy blogs because I don't want to lug a heavy laptop along but we will have an ipad.
The blog is done for now but will resume when we take our next RV trip to Mt Rushmore and the Badlands July 20th. Hope you can join us!

We ran into heavy rain and fog in Cincinnati and all the way to Columbus. We had a nice visit with the Grove City Briggeman's (at least a few of them). The winter storm warning last night only left an inch of snow, so we are on the road again this morning. There will be one last post from this trip when we get home safely, probably on Friday ....if the weather holds.

On Thursday we moved to Gulf Islands National Seashore, Fort Pickens park, in Pensacola Florida. It is the opposite end of a group of barrier islands that go from Mississippi to Florida and make up the National Seashore Park. We stayed in the Mississippi park a week or so ago. Like all of the parks along this stretch of the coast, the sand looks like snow. This park has an old civil war fort that was mostly open to the public and very interesting. It was actually held by the north but surrounded by troops from the south!

Doesn't that look like snow drifts?

Testing the water in Pensacola, may have to have a few toes amputated from frostbite :)

It is surrounded by water, so Denny and I decided to walk to the point and back down the other side. Turned out to be 10.5 miles of beach walking in very windy conditions. The sun came out though and we were able to shed our outer layer.






 
On our walks we came across these guys, an armadillo and a dead starfish.

The sun sets on Pensacola and our vacation as we start a week long trek toward home. But first, we will make stops to visit some of our favorite people, our relatives!

Bastuba kitchen with Becky, Jay, Jacky and Andy

Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico, Pensacola

Yesterday was a total bust. It never got out of the low forties, we had wind, heavy rain and thunderstorms all day. So, for the second time on our trip we spent most of our day in the RV. On the bright side though, I did get a lot of quilting done! The next couple of days are supposed to be sunny. I'm not seeing any sun yet out the window but at least it's not raining! I don't expect much sympathy from those of you stuck up there in the snow but we will be joining you soon.
We are on the road again today to Pensacola, Florida, our last stop before turning northward.