North Dakota - Day 2 - in Bismarck

Bismarck KOA, Bismarck

Friday, 2 July 2021

I spent much of the day running errands.  First on the list, of course, was getting that "check engine" warning checked out.  I needed to get my oil changed anyway, and a business advertising in the KOA's brochure claimed they could do both oil changes and repairs, so I figured they could take my RV since they were advertising to KOA customers.  And they could.

It took a lot longer than I'd expected, but it looked like they were being thorough, not incompetent.  One of them even took the time to get down on the shop floor to check the pressure in my inside tires on the rear axle, which usually don't get checked.  He said one of them was nearly out of air, so I'm glad he was that conscientious.

They'd told me if they found something wrong with the codes - the ones that show why the "check engine" light was one - they wouldn't be able to fix it for me, but they did check them.  And found not one of them showing up.  Nothing wrong at all.  We finally decided maybe my gas cap really wasn't in the right position (though I'd checked it and found it was on tight) or something.  The guy said it wouldn't be a short in the system (my guess) but he didn't know why the light had come on.  But we decided I must have gotten lucky this time.  What a relief.

From there I went to a local grocery chain called Dan's Supermarkets, which was much better provisioned than I'd expected for North Dakota.  And to the next door liquor store called WilLiquors.  Okay, I'm slow sometimes, and I didn't figure out that name until someone in the grocery store was telling me what a good liquor store it was.  It's a play on "whillikers" - as in "gee whillikers!".  And it is a good liquor store, though mostly for wine drinkers.

Next I went to the city's recycling drop-off center, which luckily for me was actually for recycling stuff.  Single-stream, so they took glass, too - yea! - and I emptied out my bathroom.  I may have to swing back by part way through the month just to dump off recycling.

I'd made an appointment to get Lily's claws clipped (badly overdue) but I had more than an hour to wait so drove us all over to the grounds of the state capitol.  I'd decided earlier to wait and visit next week, because the heat wave's supposed to break and Tuesday's temp is forecast to be low 80's.  It's not just the visit to the state capitol that concerned me but also the state's history museum right next to it.  I figure it'd take me hours to go over even part of the museum, and there's no way I could leave the critters in the RV all that time when the temps are hovering around 100° - even when I turn on the generator so I can run the AC.

So this visit was just to look around and give the dogs a place to walk in the grass, which they've got a lot of in front of the capitol.  I took photos today because I was afraid it might be raining when I come back on Tuesday.

North Dakota State Capitol (on right)

The capitol itself is the 21-story tower above right.  Built in the early 1930s in the Art Deco style, workers were paid only 30¢/hour, which was apparently low, even in the Depression.  After multiple worker strikes, the governor used martial law to get the building built - and I'm amazed it's stayed standing all these years if it was built by disgruntled workers.  This is the tallest building in the state.  I can't get a clear answer on the internet about what that wing is on the left side, but I think it's the judicial wing.  Everybody had expected the tower would be large enough to last for years, but almost immediately it became too small, so other buildings were built for the staff.  I think the legislature meets in wings added to the lower part of the building, but I guess I need to take a tour to learn anything more than this.

The walkway you can see runs along both sides of that large green lawn, and those are American Elms lining the walk.  I'm amazed they're still there, because I thought most elms had been wiped out in the US a while back.  Another reason for the tour, I guess.

The dogs and I decided to walk in an area out of the picture on the right side, because there were lots of trees and the day was getting hot.  We came across a very odd statue.

Pioneers of the Future

When I saw the statue, my first thought was that these people looked demented.  (By the way, what looks like a handlebar mustache on the guy is actually weathering on the statue.)  When I read the explanation (at right) and went back to look at the statue again, they made a little more sense.  I suppose it's hard to find the right facial expression for young people surveying the future.

Nearby is a war memorial with the names of North Dakotans who died during our country's various wars listed on plaques.

I thought the building was unremarkable, but I was struck (as I almost always am) by the names of the dead.

North Dakota had a staggering number of people die during WWI.  These 5 plaques
(and the ones on the other side) only go up to the the Ks. 
 And these are the dead - not all those who served.

These died in WWII, and I couldn't help but notice how many had the same last name. 
Look at that list of Olsons, for instance.  I'm sure some of these were in the same family,
but the list also shows me the ethnic background of the folks living here.

We walked around a bit, but it was so warm not even the shade from the trees kept us cool, so I gave up and took the puppies back to the RV, and we drove over to the office of the only vet I could find who was willing to clip Lily's claws.  Several places - including Petco's grooming service - told me they didn't do cats any more, which makes me wonder what's going on in this town.  This vet was willing to squeeze us in at 4:30, which was much later than I wanted, but her claws needed to be clipped a month ago so I didn't want to wait.

We got there more than a half hour early, and I turned on the generator for the AC to keep the dogs from passing out.  And in fact, they were able to work us even earlier than they'd said, so we were out of there by 4:30.  Just as well, too, because it was a small parking lot that my RV only barely fit into.  They were super busy because of being closed over the July 4th weekend, so I thanked them profusely for working us in.  They charged a lot more than I've had to pay before, but I got them to squirt flea medicine on Lily's neck, which she hates as much as having her claws clipped, so it was worth the price for me.

Despite Bismarck's decent-sized population, I'd managed to find a way back to the campground that didn't involve clogged major thoroughfares, so I got lucky there too.  I got back to the campground feeling like I'd really accomplished something for a change.