Ripping Across CO WY SD ND MN

We departed Glacier Basin campground in Rocky Mountain National Park Tuesday Aug 21 about 8:30 am, an early start for us.  We negotiated the narrow streets of downtown Estes Park and dropped down off the Front Range through the Big Thompson Canyon.  

Big Thompson Canyon

We pumped a little diesel in Fort Collins and continued north and crossed into Wyoming.  We had 3 days to get to Ely MN, 1200 miles north and east, so we needed to make some miles. However, when we spotted the Outpost Truck Stop in Lusk WY, it seemed pretty inviting, even though we had only driven about 230 miles.  Lusk had a good cellular data signal so we spent the night there with the big rigs.

Camp at Outpost Truck Stop in Lusk WY

It's a long straight road

That's one big bovine!

Welcome to South Dakota

This tandem semi-trailer passed us and gave us a bit of a thrill as he wobbled on by. Click HERE to see video of the wobbly semi.  

Wobbly truck

These folks seem really excited about arriving in North Dakota

Extra long and extra wide load

We spent Wednesday evening at the Walmart in Mandan ND just west of Bismarck after a 445 mile day. 

Camp Wally World in Mandan ND

Long load

Welcome to Minnesota

Paul Bunyan lives in a town park in Akeley MN

We spent Thursday night in Hibbing MN after another long drive of 403 miles.  Hibbing is most notably the birthplace of Bob Dylan.

Camp Supercenter in Hibbing MN

Faithful readers will know that we spend a few nights in Walmarts when we are trying to make some miles.

Click HERE to hear a cute tune "Living at Walmart" by Pat Pepin.

We finally arrived in Ely MN, one our favorite places, and set up at Fall Lake Campground in the Superior National Forest for 5 nights. Here we will rest and regroup for our Boundary Waters trip.

Dorcas and Matilda at Fall Lake

We usually eat at the Chocolate Moose at least once every time we are in town and were appalled to find it was closed and for sale.  Egads!

The Chocolate Moose is for sale! Oh no!!!

A controversy has been brewing in paradise for some time.  Late last year the Interior Department concluded that the two expired leases held by a Chilean-owned company, Twin Metals Minnesota, should be reinstated for copper and nickel mining near the border of the Boundary Waters. This reversed a decision made at the end of the Obama administration, which rejected the leases after the Forest Service concluded that a mine there “posed an inherent potential risk” that threatened “serious and irreplaceable harm” to the wilderness.  Then, in January, the Trump administration scaled back a review of the impact of prohibiting mining on thousands of acres of Forest Service land near the wilderness. That was followed, this month, by the Interior Department reinstating those two expired Twin Metals leases. Now, the Trump administration says those leases must be renewed once terms and conditions are worked out.

Locals' opinions are mixed. The area has always been an active mining region, but a lot of revenue is also generated by tourism and the paddle sports industry.  You can read more HERE.

Tomorrow we will put in on Lake One for a 14 day wilderness camping trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  During that time we will be totally cut off from all cellular and internet communications.  Stay tuned for a trip report of that adventure in a few weeks.

These parting photos are from 2007, the last time we put in at Lake One

Dorcas caught a nice Northern Pike

Myron fishing solo on a misty morning

A glorious Boundary Waters sunset 

Homebound Across the Northern Plains: Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota

After we crossed into Alberta the terrain flattened out, and the scenery was much less interesting.  I had to struggle to choose some good photos.  We've been spoiled by the grandeur of Alaska and the great wildlife.

Smokey Alberta

 Many parts of British Columbia have been experiencing serious fires.  We have not been impacted by the fires or the smoke until now.  Upon entering Alberta we observed a significant haze for the next day or two.

The town of Beaverlodge Alberta has a cute mascot.  He was even bigger than the Giant Beaver we saw at the Yukon Beringia Centre.

I'd like to see the dam this guy makes.  Might be Hoover-like.

Wiiiiiiiiide load!  Tall too!

We meet lots of wide loads on the highway, but this one was wider than most.   Click HERE to see a video of the wide load.

As we travel across the northern plains in Canada, it's time to make some miles.  This day we traveled 494 miles and camped at the Walmart in Weyburn Saskatchewan.

Camp Wally World in Weyburn SK

We had planned to buy some fuel at the Costco in Saskatoon SK.  They had the best price for diesel of any place we would be passing through while in Canada.  Dorcas mapped us to the store, and we pulled up to the pumps, but we couldn't see a diesel pump.  I hollered out the window to an attendant and asked which lanes had diesel.  He said they didn't sell diesel here.  WHAT???  "GasBuddy.com says you do".  "Oh, I think they sell diesel at the new store across town".  CRAP!!.  By then I was in a bad place.  We needed to get out of there, but I was fairly close to the pumps, and we can't back up with the car in tow.  I then proceeded to make the worse decision I have made during this trip.  There was a space large enough to drive a car through between the cars ahead at the pump lane on the left and the pump lane on the right.  But apparently there was not enough room to pass a motor home.  The good news is I cleared the cars on the left side.  The bad news is I wasn't so lucky on the right side.  Why this guy had his fuel door open on the side away from the pump, I'll never know.  I thought I had made it, and we pulled over beyond the pumps to ponder our next move.  A few minutes later a guy in a pickup pulled up, and he was PISSED!  It turns out that I had hit his open gas cap and bent it such that it wouldn't close.  I apologized profusely while he was cursing and calling me an idiot (I couldn't argue with that).  I offered to pay him for the damage, but that didn't seem to help.   After he ran out of breath and curse words he got in his truck in left.  It's a good thing Canadians can't carry hand guns.  If this had happened the next day in North Dakota I think I would have been shot. After he left I looked at the passenger side of the coach.  OUCH!  Faithful readers will remember the sine-wave shaped scratch a hiker put down the side of the coach during our passage to Skagway on the ferry.  Now I have a matching straight-line underscore to that one.  Unlike the Skagway scratch, this one was totally my fault and resulted from a moment of extreme stupidity. That makes it even worse.   I think I'll blame it on Dorcas; she should have stopped me (he didn't listen when I tried D).  We left Saskatoon without buying fuel.  I figured we should get out of town as soon as possible before the guy changed his mind and called the cops.

I saw a single hay bale in the median of the highway and remarked to Dorcas it must have fallen off a truck.  Then I noticed there were numerous hay bales in the median and along both shoulders.  Apparently the Provincial government allows farmers to harvest hay on the highway right-of-way.

Saskatchewan is big on farming

And filled with smoke

Dorcas, I thought I told you to clean the windshield! (Farm country!)

Our final border crossing was largely uneventful.  The customs agents did enter the motor home, however.  I think they were checking to see if we were smuggling Canadians or other human cargo across the border.  They peaked into the trunks of the cars ahead of us, but nobody seemed to be searched or detained.

We stopped in Minot ND, the first fair sized town we came to after we crossed into the US.  I wanted to have some lab tests done to be assured that my infection had cleared up before we entered the Boundary Waters for a two-week wilderness trip the next week.  This day we drove 378 miles and spent the night at the Walmart in Grand Forks ND.  We found that we were running a little ahead of schedule and could afford to slow down a bit.

Our camp at Grand Forks ND

We visited for a while at Itasca State Park in north central Minnesota.  Lake Itasca is the origin of the Mississippi River.

I always assumed that the word "Itasca" was an Indian word.  In fact, it is a combination of the Latin words veritas ("truth") and caput ("head").

Check out the cool solar array on the Visitor Center building

The big thing to do here is wade across the Mississippi River.

Wading the big(?????) muddy.

Wading the Mississippi at the mouth of Lake Itasca

Where else can you find a giant toucan, pink flamingo, Pegasus and rubber ducky all together?

The next day we drove only 248 miles and spent the night in Hibbing MN.

This is what it looks like shooting though a door screen

Hibbing MN is a mining town in the Mesabi Range mining district.  It's major claims to fame are that it is the site of the largest open pit iron mine in the world, and it is Bob Dylan's home town.  Rocks and rock and roll.  As usual, we spent the night at the Walmart Supercenter.

After sleeping late and having a leisurely breakfast we drove the final 82 miles to Ely MN, which will be our jumping off point for our traditional annual canoe trip into the Boundary Waters.

Zooming Across North Dakota and Into Minnesota

We left Theodore Roosevelt National Park on Saturday knowing we had some miles to make, but no particular stops along the way. We had a service appointment in Elk River MN, just north of Minneapolis on Monday, but planned to arrive there on Sunday evening. The drive across North Dakota was unremarkable and uneventful. We saw lots a hay fields and sunflower farms.   Except we did see the biggest cow and the biggest bison I have ever seen.  Must be good hay.

 

 

We made about 350 miles and spent the night in the Sam's Club in Fargo. There we bought groceries and topped off the tank with diesel. When we woke up on Sunday there was a motor home that had parked beside us that had three Australian shepherds on-board. When I first saw them, two were sitting in the cockpit seats, and the 10-week old puppy was laying on the dash board. Pretty cute. I was excited about being in Fargo because I love the movie “Fargo”. I figured we would visit some locations where scenes were filmed. Well, a little research revealed that not a single scene, neither interior nor exterior, was filmed in Fargo. Bummer!

Aussies on board

We left Fargo and drove only about 210 miles before arriving at our destination in Elk River. MN We parked the motor home, at Precision Frame & Alignment. Dick Lornston, the owner, is a friend we have been visiting for about 5 years. Each year we stop at his shop for lubrication, alignment and any other necessary frame and suspension work. Dick specializes in motor homes and is truly an expert in motor home handling issues. His shop has 4 electrical hook-ups for folks waiting for service; we usually arrive the day before our appointment and stay until the day after. This time, in addition to the coach work, he checked and adjusted the alignment on all four wheels on the Element and rotated and re-balanced the tires. Every time we have been there, we have left with noticeable improvements in handling. On the coach he did lubrication, alignment and adjusted the ride height.

 

Dick was born and raised in northern Minnesota, up on the north shore. A few years ago he came to Winston-Salem for a rally, and we entertained him and introduced him to Lexington style barbecue and sweet tea. It was a real culture shock. On this trip we cooked him country ham biscuits and grits. I think he liked them.



On Tuesday we left Elk River for a 3-hour drive to Duluth. We had a 1-night reservation at Lakehead Boat Basin. Lakehead is a marina in Duluth harbor. In the winter they haul boats out and set them up on the hard before the lake freezes. In the summer they use that space for about 30 RV spaces. It has a beautiful view of the harbor and the Duluth waterfront. When an ore boat comes in, we can watch it pass under the aerial lift bridge and sail by the marina. We walked up the Lake Walk to Fitgers, a shopping mall in an old historic brewery building and ate dinner on a high balcony overlooking Lake Superior.

Duluth aerial lift bridge

View from Lakehead Boat Basin

Duluth aerial lift bridge

Theodore Roosevelt National Park BULLY!

 


Teddy Roosevelt created many of our national parks. He protected more public lands than any other president, either before or since. However, he did not create his namesake park. Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created well after his death and was created in his honor. It is the only US national Park that is named for a person.

"Badlands"

Roosevelt first came to the “Little Mo” area of North Dakota for a bison hunting trip in 1883. The bison were almost extinct by that time, and it took him 10 days to find and kill a bison. But he fell in love with the area. He invested in a ranch near Medora, the Maltese Cross Ranch. When his mother and his wife, died on the same day in 1884, he returned to the area to grieve and heal and established his own ranch, the Elkhorn Ranch, 35 miles north of Medora. It was on the ranch that he lived “the strenuous life”, learned a hard work ethic, and it led to his interest in conservation policy. He said often that if it were not for his years in North Dakota he never would have become president.

Interior of Roosevelt's Maltese Cross cabin

The park is made up of three separate units. The South Unit is in Medora and right off I-94. The Elkhorn Unit, the site of his Elkhorn Ranch is about 35 miles north of the South Unit and is very remote. The North unit is about 80 miles north of the South Unit. The Little Missouri River flows through all three units before it joins the Missouri River.

Little Missouri River

Petrified logs

Petrified bench

We spent 2 nights in the South Unit and two nights in the North Unit at the federal campgrounds. Both units are characterized by grassland plains and eroded “badlands”. The North unit is perhaps a little more rugged than the South Unit and much quieter. Because of its relatively remote location, perhaps only about 75% of visitors go to the North Unit. Bison, elk, deer, prairie dogs and feral horses are found in the park. The park is enclosed in a 7' fence to keep the bison and horses in and domestic animals out.

Feral horses

"What are you looking at?

"Cannonball concretions"

Medora ND is an interesting town. It is a western style tourist town with a population of 112 people. However, the Chamber of Commerce lists 20 cafes and restaurants and 7 saloons. Somebody is doing a lot of eating and drinking in Medora.

Prairie dog town

I would say this is one lucky prairie dog.  I was hoping to see some carnage!

Little Missouri River: a little low for paddling