North Dakota - Day 8 - buffalo, bridges, Louis L'Amour and history

Fort Ransom State Park, Fort Ransom

Thursday, 8 July 2021

today's route

On our way out of the campground this morning, a deer crossed the road in front of us and seemed to be completely oblivious to us.  They've sure gotten used to vehicles around here.

I drove back through Napoleon and discovered that the Napoleon Livestock auction was really packing them in - the parking lot was filling up before 8 AM.

I heard on the radio that the North Dakota legislature has come up with a tactic that I'm sure will be copied by others: they don't bother confirming nominees for state agency commissioner jobs but instead let them remain as acting commissioners.  Then when the acting commissioners do something they don't like, they suddenly hold a confirmation hearing, knowing full well they intend to reject the nominee/acting commissioner, who is then out of a job.  Interesting trick, isn't it?  That gives the legislature firing authority where none actually exists.

I passed several very large lakes (not the pothole variety), with cormorants, some drying their wings, and maybe a Canvasback and some kind of geese.  Also horses, lots of cows and vast fields of crops: grain, corn, and soybeans (or whatever they are).  The farther east I drove, the flatter the land got.

Jamestown

I came to town for several reasons, among them The World's Largest Buffalo.

Created in 1959, it's 26' high, 46' long,
14' wide, and weighs 60 tons.

Seen from a distance, it's still impressive.
Note the fence (see below).

I saw this sign near the National Buffalo Museum,
where I parked, and thought it was a joke.

But as I walked further, I got a view of this small herd of buffalo,
complete with calves (the tan-colored critters here).
That sign is definitely not a joke.  And that's the reason for the fence.

To get to the statue, the dogs and I had to walk through a small pioneer town, created especially for tourists, as far as I could see.  One of the little shops was a sort of museum to famed western writer and Jamestown native Louis L'Amour.  The woman there not only gave me a brochure for the Louis L'Amour Walking Tour in town, but also offered me a free L. L'Amour book - she said they had a surplus and were offering them to anyone who wanted one.  I used to read them on the fishing boat and enjoyed them, though they tended to be a lot alike, so I was happy to take one now.  And I was glad to learn from the brochure that he was born with the last name LaMoore - I always figured something was up with that last name of his.  He was born in 1908, when Jamestown was even smaller than it is now.  Though I shouldn't take that tone, because more than 15,000 people live here, making it ND's 9th largest town.

I didn't take the walking tour but did see several historic buildings in town.

Historic Stutsman
County Courthouse

Built in 1883, this is ND's oldest surviving courthouse, though the county tried hard to tear it down in the 1980s and turn it into a parking lot.  It took local citizens battling the county for 15 years before finally getting ownership transferred to the State Historical Society for preservation.  (Proving you can fight city hall.)

And the county must have had holes in its head, because there were several reasons why it should have been saved: (1) it is, after all, the oldest surviving courthouse in the state; (2) it's one of only 2 built in the Gothic Revival style; (3) the interior walls are coated with pressed metal, making it the most complete collection of pressed tin in ND and maybe in the Midwest; (4) it is the only remaining building directly related to the 1880s statehood activities.  Delegates to the state's constitutional convention were elected here, and in 1885 meetings were held to discuss the division of the Dakota Territory.

Masonic Temple, built 1916,
now replaced by a more sensible
but much plainer building.

Basilica of St. James, built 1914 in Gothic
Revival style, became a minor basilica in
1988; crosses are 23 carat gold leaf.

I passed the University of Jamestown, Collins Aerospace, a new school and the new courthouse (to replace the historic one).  All in all, this town looks like it's thriving.

As I was driving out of town, I saw a mail carrier walking his route and asked him to take a letter I've been carrying around for days, looking unsuccessfully for a post office.  Glad to finally get that worry off my mind.

Back on the road

I found the Red River Farm Report on the radio, and was interested to hear them give Canadian market prices for crops as well as American markets.  I've been getting used to North Dakota's very close ties to Minnesota - the 2 states are separated only by the Red River of the North, which isn't particularly wide, and there are bridges all up and down the river.  So I see Minnesota license plates everywhere and hear news reports from the Twin Cities routinely - in fact, I was picking up the Twin Cities Public Radio station for a while.  But I'd forgotten we're just as close to Canada, though crossing the border is a little more complicated in these days of COVID.

I heard on the radio that the State is warning folks of algae bloom in many water bodies, an apparent result of unusually hot weather.  Another result, I heard, is that western North Dakota is battling wildfires.  Of course, so is much of the western US, but the ones here seem to have no relation to those.  The North Dakotans I've talked to have no hesitation in believing climate change is real, making it hard for me to understand their strong support for Republican politicians who keep saying it's a hoax.  I guess they care about other things more than the environment their living depends on.

I passed a sign for the Sanborn County Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) and was curious.  What I learned is that this particular area isn't part of the national system of WPAs, which are managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, though this county one seems to function like the federal ones.  Those are parcels of land 40 to 3,000 acres, that have been bought using funds from sales of Federal Duck Stamps.  The aim is to preserve wetland habitats, increase waterfowl populations, and support other wildlife, all to benefit the public.  Among those benefits (besides the obvious ones of more duckies in the world) is that these wetlands and surrounding grasslands act as natural sponges to reduce runoff and help with flood control.  Thank goodness mankind has learned something in the last 100 years about the natural world around us.

I passed another large-ish facility for Hefty Seed Co. (the ones who apply additives and polymers to seeds).

Valley City

I came to town entirely to see the Hi-Line Bridge, a railroad bridge that crosses the Sheyenne River.

These photos are enlarged below ...
This is only part ...

... but I wanted to try to show the size.
... of the whole bridge.

I decided to keep in both photos, to give some kind of idea of how long this bridge is.  On the right side of the photo above right you can just see where the bridge and the land meet.  The photo above left shows it crossing the Sheyenne River.  I couldn't see the other end from where I was.

The reason this bridge is special is that it's one of the longest (3,860') and highest (162') single track railroad bridges in the US.  It was built in 1908 and is still being used.  Although it's on the very edge of town, the bridge is obviously important here, because the Valley City Jr-Sr High School's mascot is the Hi-liners.  A number of businesses also use the name.

At a population of 6,600, Valley City is less than half the size of Jamestown, but the gasoline was 10¢/gallon cheaper here.

Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway

This byway starts north of town, but I picked it up here and drove on to tonight's campground, farther down the Sheyenne - the byway follows the river.  By the way, at 581 miles, the Sheyenne River is the longest river contained within the state boundaries.

Well, the byway followed the river until I suddenly got routed onto a detour, consisting of a narrow, unpaved, winding road.  And after a while, I saw a sign saying, "Road Narrows 15'."  That sign did not give me a feeling of confidence.  The detour only lasted about 3 miles, but because of the road conditions it seemed much longer.  On the other hand, at one point there were trees arching over the road, which was very picturesque.  Just as well, because part of the drive was a washboard road, which we all hate.

I ended up in the tiny town of Kathryn (pop. 52), where I saw a beautiful new black Corvette convertible with the license plate WHY2KAY.

There was an informational display on the one street I found in town, and I thought these signs explained a lot about the history of North Dakota - and the US, for that matter.

I've been seeing grain elevators everywhere I drive in ND.

I don't remember hearing about the North Country
National Scenic Trail before coming to ND,
though the map (below) shows I should have, 
considering where I've been.

This is an enlargement of part of one of those signs (above)
and shows this trail begins in far eastern NY and ends
not far from here at Lake Sakakawea, ND.

Thanks to that detour, the Scenic Byway I was on goes around Kathryn instead of right through town.  So from Kathryn, I had a little trouble picking it back up again, but did manage to find it in the end.

I passed fields of cows munching on tall grass, with calves nearly hidden because they were lying down in the grass.

The road was so narrow with no shoulders, 3 times I came to a dead stop to let large vehicles coming my way have more of the road to maneuver in.

North Dakota has what it calls Points of Interest along the roadsides.  On this scenic byway, 2 of those Points were old cabins and 2 were old Lutheran churches.  The Lutheran church, by the way, is hands down the predominant denomination in North Dakota - 35% of them, per a survey done in 2001.  That same survey found that North Dakota has the most churches per capita of any US state.  I guess that accounts for most folks I've met being real nice.

Campground

We got here at 1:45, and official check-in time is 4 PM.  So I took up the park ranger's time with asking a lot of questions about the Sheyenne River Valley I'd been driving through and local natural history, and she finally checked me in to get me off her back I think.  But I agreed to wait a bit before going to the campsite and took a look at the displays in their lobby.

text enlarged below

text enlarged below

text enlarged below right

The Homestead Act is one of the reasons the local Indian tribes
got ousted from their land.

Still waiting to go to our campsite, I walked the dogs around a little and found this.

That's the entrance to another piece of the North Country Trail.
The trail goes right through the campground, and I think it's expected
that many hikers will stop here for the night.
I think that grass is beautiful,
but I spent a lot of time in its vicinity worrying about ticks.

And I have 2 more photos of the day.

This is a cabin that can be rented by the night.  ND's state parks are pretty nice.
If you want to play "where's Waldo?" you can try to spot the chipmunks hidden in the grass.
I found 2, but I was using a larger version of this photo.
In real life, Dexter found at least 1 and instantly tried to catch it, ignoring entirely that I was attached to his leash.  He not only pulled me over and dragged me through the grass, but even when my sea-anchor act stopped him, he kept on pulling.  I would likely still be there but for the good-samaritanism of another camper passing nearby who stopped to help.

That helpful person said, "You're bleeding."  And sure enough, blood was dripping from my little finger and from this scrape.  I had a hard time stopping the bleeding.  Fortunately, I carry an assortment of bandages of various sizes, so I could cover these wounds.  The camera's in the photo because the angle meant I had to take a photo of the mirror view.

These wounds were a real nuisance because they kept wanting to bleed and because they were in the way - do you have any idea how many times the middle knuckle of your little finger hits things?  But the real damage turned out to be in my muscles, tendons, and whatever else is in my arm.  I'm lucky Dext didn't actually dislocate my shoulder.  Instead, my arm was just stretched as if I'd been subjected to the Rack.  Hard to move, hard to stay still, impossible to lie down without pain - it was a mess.

And that campground turned out to be Chipmunk Heaven.  I saw 3 at one time outside my rear window.  Even when we couldn't see them, we could hear them.  Dext knows exactly what they sound like, and he knows to look for them in the holes in the ground, and he's very persistent.  I had no choice but to take the dogs out for one more walk before bedtime, but I spent the whole time being terrified.

You just never know what a day will bring when it begins.

North Dakota - Day 7 - Chase Lake NWR & nature

Beaver Lake State Park, Wishek

Wednesday, 7 July 2021

It was definitely chilly in Bismarck this morning, thanks to the front that blew in last night, and when I turned on my heater, I discovered that it still isn't working quite right.  Apparently bleeding the lines wasn't enough to keep it from turning itself on and off, on and off, on and off for no apparent reason.  Well, I'm turning on the thermostat, which is the reason it should be on, but it shouldn't be doing this on-off thing.  I guess at this point I just won't worry about it until it starts to be a problem, rather than worrying about why it might be a problem.

Before I left Bismarck, I wanted to do some laundry.  I didn't do it at the KOA because my campsite was on the opposite side of the campground from the laundry facilities, and the choice between schlepping my clothes across 6 rows of campsites or unplugging and driving the RV over and parking nearby where they didn't really want me to park - well, I went into town instead.

But the place I'd found a few days earlier that I was sure had a person inside (and their vehicle outside) fairly early in the morning turned out to be closed until 9:00 AM.  Fortunately, I'd noted the address of another one, but then got lost trying to find it and ended up touring the town a bit.  But I found it, and it was fairly clean, and the machines were the usual price, so I got that done and walked the dogs while we waited.  It was 9:25 when we left there, to head north and east.

Bismarck, by the way, has a Schlotzsky's.  I remember their very first one, established in Austin in 1971.  Fifty years is a while, I guess, though it doesn't always seem like it.

today's route

Just north of Bismarck, the "check engine" icon started flashing again.  I pulled over right away, and it stopped flashing right after I stopped.  I wish I knew why it was doing that, since the mechanic's test said the codes showed no problem.  Even though he said it wasn't a short, I'm starting to think it was anyway.

All day I drove through green rolling hills, past wind farms, cows, corn and another crop that may be soybeans.  I think that because I passed several facilities for Hefty Seed Co., which emphasizes its corn and soybean seeds and crop treatments, saying they've "spent years testing and experimenting with almost every possible active ingredient and polymer that can be applied to seed."  Sounds kind of creepy to me, but it seems to be a successful business.  Anyway, I think that unknown leafy crop I've been seeing may be soybeans.

I passed the Mine View Cemetery, which was backed up to large mounds of dirt.  But I figured there was a story in that name, so I looked it up and learned that the cemetery "overlooks the spoil banks of the Wilton mines."  And the Wilton lignite mines were the first large-scale coal mines in North Dakota, and were the state's most productive underground mines from 1900 to 1915.

As you can see by the map, the roads I was driving on today were never more than 2-lane roads (if that), and were mainly used to service the farming country I was driving through.  At one point I was just starting up a hill, and saw something silhouetted at the top of the hill with the sun behind it.  It seemed to be on the other side of the road and was huge - it looked like an arch across the road, and I had time to wonder why there'd be such a thing around here.  But as I got closer I could see it was actually a piece of farm equipment riding on very high tires.  I think those tires were maybe 7' tall.  I have no idea how the farmer actually gets into that equipment, but it was definitely a person doing the driving.

I drove past a string of tiny towns: Wing, Tuttle, Robinson - all farming communities.  Tuttle seemed to be about the largest, and has a population of 80.  (I'm almost sure I had a book when I was little about Tuttle the truck, who drove himself around town but couldn't find any place that would allow trucks to enter.  Then he got a job as a truck for the city and was allowed to drive all day in the park.  Incredible what's parked in a person's memory bank.)

Red-tailed Hawk

And along the way I passed multiple ponds, and multiple examples of multiple species of birds: lots of ducks, a Great Egret, White Pelicans here and there, Red-winged Blackbirds, some big brown hawk that because of its size I'm guessing was the western version of a Red-tailed Hawk (24") rather than a Sharp-shinned Hawk (10"-14") or a Cooper's Hawk (14"-20").  Those are the 3 hawks that breed in North Dakota, per the bird book.

This is an internet photo -
I only saw white boxes,
each group with dozens
more than here.

Besides the cows, birds and crops, I also saw lots and lots of bee boxes.  Apparently bees are a big deal here, agriculturally speaking.  At one place I saw a person working with the bee boxes and wondered if they were protecting themselves, because I couldn't see any special clothing.

I passed a big field of some crop that had white flowers.  Potatoes?

My knowledge of potato crops starts
and ends with The Martian.

Western Grebes

I was aiming for Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, said to be a primary breeding ground for White Pelicans.  As it turned out, I saw fewer pelicans at the refuge than I did at other ponds along the way. But what I saw lots of at the refuge were Western Grebes.  This photo of mine is a little fuzzy, because of being enlarged from a piece of another photo.  But these are decent-sized duckies, about 25", and with that distinctive neck they show up well at a distance.

The only access road to the refuge is an unpaved road that wasn't quite 2 lanes wide and had many holes.  The road twisted and turned, and my only instructions were from Google: "R on 48th St. for 5 miles; L on 24th St. for .5 miles; R on an unnamed street (that might be 49th St.) for 2.1 miles; continue (after a R turn) on 49th St. for 1.5 miles; continue on 27th St. for .1 mile."  Of course, almost none of those "streets" had street signs.  

After I'd come more than half-way down, I came to a sign that said, "Minimum Maintenance Road," suggesting that the part I'd already been driving on was being maintained much better.  (Pause for hilarious laughter.)  And later another sign saying "Chase Lake NWR 1 mile →."  That was the first indication I had that I was going the right way.  I spent a lot of trust on this drive.

At the end of it, the road ended.  There wasn't really much of any place to turn around in either.  It just stopped.  Where it stopped was at the top of a hill, but I knew I'd come to the right place because of the signs.

I backed-and-forthed quite a few times to get us turned around, and then took the dogs out for a quick walk.

Chase Lake, apparently

These photos are more legible when they're smaller but get a little fuzzy enlarged.  I think you can still get the information, though.  Note the amount of black on the wings of these pelicans.  It's a surprise to me every time I see them spread their wings, because the white that's visible when they're swimming is so very white, and then the black that appears on their wings is so very black that it just startles me.  But as I said, I didn't see many of them from the vantage point of the road's end.

There were a few other signs here, including these:

And then there was one more sign:

This is the whole sign, and I'm showing it
because I thought it was pretty.  Text is
enlarged below.

I figure this explained all those little ponds I've been seeing all day as I drove.

After we took a little walk, we all sat down for some lunch.  Just then a car with California license plates appeared, with 3 older women all equipped with binoculars.  I apologized for parking in the middle of that area, and explained I was so happy to have been able to turn around that I just stopped, but I'd be glad to try to move over.  But they figured their little passenger car (Honda Civic type) could turn around just fine.  The driver said, "Not the best-signed place."  Which seemed to me a major understatement, and I said so.  They said they'd recently been down in McAllen, on the border between TX and Mexico, to look for the birds that show up there in winter.  They stayed for a very short time, looked at the few birds we could see in the lake, and then took off.

The only other visitors we had were a zillion flies.  I'd opened up all the windows and the door, to avoid having to start the generator to run the AC, and I was really glad that my screen door now has an intact screen.  They were swarming.  It started feeling a little weird, so as soon as we'd eaten, instead of taking the dogs back out, I just shut everything up and we left.  It was probably the flies that drove those women out.

On the way in and out, I passed several bodies of water, one of which Google claimed was named Lake Louise.

possibly Lake Louise

In these various ponds, I saw what one of those women thought was a Bufflehead, but the bird book says they just migrate through here and it was more likely a Hooded Merganser, which does breed here and is remarkably similar in appearance (to human eyes, though surely not to the duckies themselves).  I also saw what I'm pretty sure was a Ruddy Duck, because of its tail sticking up, and the bird book says it breeds in ND.

Hooded Merganser

Ruddy Duck

Oddly, I saw a Great Egret that was being chased by Red-winged Blackbirds.

I saw several chipmunk-sized animals in the road, but from a little distance they looked like some kind of small weasel instead of like a squirrel, which is the way I remembered chipmunks looking.  Finally I saw one up pretty close and realized, from the markings on its back, that it really was a chipmunk.  I was curious about whether they might be related to weasels and found this information that explains a lot about chipmunks.   https://www.treehugger.com/things-you-dont-know-about-chipmunks

I saw a crop duster treating a field that almost didn't look as if there was anything planted there.  And the crop duster, when I saw it up fairly closely as it turned over the road I was driving on, didn't seem to be piloted - it looked much more like a very large drone.  But I definitely saw something being dropped from the plane several times as it passed over this field.

I saw a bunch of cows wading into a pond up past their chests and wondered if the flies were bothering them, because it really wasn't all that hot today.  Definitely warm, but I wouldn't have expected all this submerging.

I saw lots of gulls, which were apparently either Franklin's Gulls or Ring-billed Gulls, because those are the 2 types that nest up here that have wings like Mew Gulls, which is what I thought I was seeing.

I saw a beaver lodge.  And a turtle climbing onto a rock in a pond.  And many pelicans, one of them very near the road.  Those are truly big birds.  The American White Pelican is much larger than the Brown Pelican that's common on the southern coast.  The White Pelican is 62" and has a wing span of 108".  That 5' 2" is just barely smaller than me.

I saw all this in lots and lots of small lakes and ponds that, according to that sign back at Chase Lake, must be some of those Prairie Potholes.  And I started wondering if this is what Minnesota - Land of 10,000 Lakes - is like.  Because of my RV repairs, I won't find out until next year.  Always something to look forward to.

I saw several cormorants with their wings spread out to dry.

I came to the town of Medina, population 308 in 2010, that seemed almost like a metropolis after all those tiny farming communities I'd been passing.

I passed more green rolling hills and finally came to Napoleon.  I couldn't help but be curious and learned that the town was named for Napoleon Goodsill, a realtor who promoted the area.  Although I'm guessing Mr. Goodsill was named for Mr. Bonaparte, the town wasn't.

From there, Google told me to go down 71st St., then turn L on 36th Ave. for a mile, then turn on 70th St.  Here's what 36th Ave. looks like.

When I saw that, I stopped dead and pondered for a minute.  I'd seen signs directing me to tonight's campground, but there hadn't been one at this turn.  I'd turned off a nicely paved road onto this.  I decided this must be one of Google's bizarre little shortcuts and backed up and out onto 71st St. again.  And sure enough, farther along the road, there was another highway sign telling me to turn L to stay on 71st St., which I could take all the way to the campground.  Signs and paved road all the way.  Google's algorithms are insane.

After I took the dogs for another walk (somehow keeping Dexter from seeing any chipmunks, though he could hear them chattering away), I found a tick on my bed.  I'm assuming it came off one of the dog leashes that I'd dumped there for a few minutes, but it was still unnerving.

North Dakota - Day 6 - State Museum and Capitol - not ready to be read

Bismarck KOA, Bismarck

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

I'll come back to this post after I'm more caught up with the other posts that won't be as time-consuming, and I'll let you know when this one is ready to be read.

North Dakota - status update

My post for Day 6 will be about my visits to the state museum and the state capitol.  It's going to take some time, though, because I took a whole raft of photos that I still need to edit.

Since then, I've been traveling around southeastern ND and have been in Fargo the last few days, and it's likely I'll get those posts finished before the Day 6 post, just because I have fewer photos for those days.

What's holding me up is that on the 8th, Dexter chased a chipmunk with extreme enthusiasm, ignoring the fact that I was attached to the end of his leash which I was holding with just my left hand.  I got pulled over and dragged on the ground (fortunately grass, this time) and knocked over a sign.  The result was a bleeding little finger, a really bleeding gash on my forearm, and an invisible but very painful injury to my upper arm and shoulder.  Again fortunately, they're all on my left side, so life hasn't been totally impossible, but it's been much harder than before.

For 2 days I had to keep my left arm clamped to my body, because it didn't have enough strength to support itself, let alone anything else.  When I began to be able to move it, I found I could move it back but not forward, presumably because it was those forward-moving muscles that got over-stretched when Dext pulled me down.  Very gradually, I've been able to do more, thank goodness.

But using a computer is one of the things I just didn't have the strength to do - not at all in the first few days, and later only with my arm being supported, which it is now - on top of a stack of pillows.  I find one-handed typing very frustrating.  And even tasks, like photo editing, that I can do with a mouse, I still need my other hand occasionally to do some things - and I find I've had to lift my left arm with my right hand to get it in position to do things.

And then it gets tired very easily, and the pain is never very far away.  I've taken Tylenol occasionally - I can't take any version of NSAIDs and I'm allergic to all forms of codeine, so I'm limited on pain killers.  And the pain makes it hard to sleep, another complication.

Taking it all together, life has just been harder recently.  But it's been nothing like as incapacitating as when I had that stomach flu, so I'm counting myself lucky there.  And it's gradually getting better.  Still that's my excuse for why I haven't been posting anything recently.  I'll do my best to catch up as fast as I'm able.

Idiot dog.  And apparently chipmunks are common in North Dakota.

July 3 - 5 - in the Bismarck campground

Bismarck KOA, Bismarck

Saturday, 3 through Monday, 5 July 2021

I spent July 3rd catching up my blog posts, and spent the 4th and 5th planning my travel in North Dakota.  I went through the material I'd picked up at the visitor center a few days ago and realized I didn't have time to see everything in ND I wanted.  Instead, I picked out the things that I didn't want to leave the state without seeing and planned a route around those places.  Then I was left trying to find places to stay.  

North Dakota has a lot of state campgrounds, but it's got a lot of space, too, and there are whole areas of the state without a state park nearby.  That wouldn't matter except the towns in these parts of the state are pretty small and don't seem to be geared for tourists.  The most curious of those was Minot (pronounced my-not), which is the home of the annual state fair.  They once had a KOA, but KOA no longer acknowledges it and as far as I can tell the whole campground is closed.  And there are almost no other campgrounds in that area, so my choice was pretty limited.

I don't usually try to plan a whole month in advance - in fact, I don't think I've ever done it - but the combination of semi-post-COVID summertime competition for camping spaces and limited tourist facilities in ND has made me think that this time I'd do best by trying it this way.  Plus, what with spending so much time here in Bismarck, I started worrying that I'd miss things I wanted to see.  After several days of concentrated work, I've managed to find places to stay for most of the month, which is good.  Now I'll just need to find enough time with an internet signal so I can plan driving routes with Google.

We've had a very wide range of weather over these last few days.  At about 6:45 AM of the 3rd, we started getting constant thunder, very strong winds, and some really hard rain that lasted for several hours.  I was very lucky in having already taken the dogs out at 3:40 and at 5:40, so they'd gotten in 2 decent walks when this happened and nobody needed to do bathroom kinds of things.  I said the thunder was constant, and what I meant was that it kept on and on and on.  I thought thunder was a response to a lightning strike, so it seemed to me it should be one report of thunder per strike.  If that's what this was, then there must have been some major lightning event somewhere nearby that involved multiple lightning bolts over a period of time.  Because this thunder didn't let up but kept rolling away for whole minutes at a time.  In that sense, it was more like the noise from an airport or a highway than thunder.

That same day, after the rain stopped the temperature soared.  The official high that day was 106°, which was the all-time high, beating the old record of 101° set back in 1881, pre-statehood.  The next 2 days didn't make it up to that level, fortunately, but did hit the very high 90s.  And these temps are why I've been postponing my visit to the state capitol and museum until the 6th, when the weather's supposed to be substantially cooler - with highs in the 70s instead.

I saw something at this KOA I haven't seen before: prominently displayed on the door to the office is a sign, in all capital letters, saying, "The display of any political divisiveness in this KOA is prohibited."  I don't know if they were just being proactive or if there'd actually been an incident or two here.  During the political campaigns last year, I saw several campers with displays, almost always for Trump, and wondered even then why I hadn't seen any controversy arising over them.  So maybe there had been and I've just been missing it.  Or maybe these folks just wanted to try to nip problems in the bud.

One of the other things I picked up at the visitor center was a brochure about North Dakota's agriculture, complete with photos and descriptions of crops.  That huge field of yellow that I saw when I was driving north to Bismarck a few days ago may have been canola.  They say ND is the #1 producer of canola in the US (86% of the US total) and that "the distinctive, bright yellow fields can be seen across the state."  I've learned so much on this trip.

Speaking of which, at the dog park I met a woman who said her dog is trained as a support dog for people in trauma.  She said they'd been down to Surfside FL for a bit and might go back, but she said conditions were really difficult down there.  Because of all the displaced residents and hordes of media, housing was hard to come by; the Red Cross had found her a place to stay, but it wasn't exactly convenient and car rentals were almost impossible to find.  She told me about some of the people - grownups and children both - who her dog had helped.  It sounded like very difficult work to me, for both of them.

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.

North Dakota - Day 1 - driving to Bismarck

Bismarck KOA, Bismarck

Thursday, 1 July 2021

I can tell I'll have to spend a lot of time with the bird book in these next few months, because I'm not used to northern birds any more.  Early in today's drive I saw what I thought was a stint, but the bird book tells me I'm not likely to see any of those outside Alaska, because they're Old World species.  So I looked through all the other birds with longish legs and longish bills and came up with the Upland Sandpiper as being the most likely in this part of the country.

Upland Sandpiper

None of these bird photos, by the way, are mine of course; I took them off the internet.

I also saw quite a few grouse, and the bird book tells me that the only species I'm likely to see in the Dakotas is the Sharp-tailed Grouse (it's so nice not to have to guess which species).

female Sharp-tailed Grouse

What I saw was a female, which I know because the males are distinctly more colorful.  One of these grouse I saw was so dumb she stood right in the middle of the road until I almost had to come to a stop to keep from hitting her.

And while I'm doing birds, later in the drive I came to a bird that in Florida would have been an Anhinga, but they aren't in the Dakotas so I knew it was a cormorant.  And the Double-crested Cormorant is the only one found in this area.

Double-crested Cormorant

Such a distinctive pose, and that's what the bird I saw was doing - drying off its wings - though I didn't see a drop of water anywhere around.

I passed a herd of donkeys.  Really.  Must have been at least 15 of them.

Just north of the tiny town of Onida I came across an extensive marshy area that was alive with hundreds of ducks and geese and multiple species of birds.  And I can't find even a hint of such an area on any of the maps I've looked at.  Apparently the map-makers don't know it's there but the birds sure do, and they seemed real happy to find it.  So was I, actually, because it was a great sight to see.

And one more critter: this one was a chipmunk-sized little guy that ran across the road in front of me.  I wasn't quite close enough to see what it was, but I guess it could have been a chipmunk - they're known to be in the Dakotas.

Crops aren't as advanced up here as farther south, so I saw large fields of some beautiful golden grain growing, and the corn plants are much shorter here.

I saw one Trump flag today, this one in Selby (SD).

And then Welcome to North Dakota - Be Legendary.

North Dakota - my 30th state

Right now, the poor thing is hanging out all by itself, unattached to any other states.  It'll get hooked back up in September, when I go from South Dakota to Wyoming, which sits on top of Colorado.  I won't be able to fill in Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa until next year when I'll be on my way to those 4 southern states I missed 3 years ago.  Meanwhile, I get to explore what being legendary is all about.

Much of today's drive was across South Dakota, but here's the map for the portion in North Dakota.

today's route in North Dakota

I stopped for gas at Strasberg, which claims it's the Birthplace of Lawrence Welk, and has named US-83, which I was on, the Lawrence Welk Highway.

At the gas station was a sign saying, "Happy Fourth - Pray for Rain."  You could see from that drought map I linked to yesterday that every part of North Dakota is in some stage of drought - and at least half is in the extreme or exceptional stages.

After driving for a while, I noticed that ND drivers don't want to pass me on the roads - even when I slow down - even to a standstill - and signal and it's an utterly safe and legal place to pass.  I had no trouble at all getting folks in Nebraska and South Dakota to pass, but North Dakotans don't seem to know what's going on.  This may be a frustrating month for me.

For much of the drive today I was getting large bugs splattered on the windshield.  I don't know what they grow up here, but they're big and there's a lot of them.

I saw an enormous field of yellow in the distance.  Whatever it was wasn't tall enough to be sunflowers.  It was really pretty.

In Bismarck, I went first to a CVS to pick up refills on my prescriptions.  That's one thing that's worked out pretty well for me - using CVS, with its stores across the country and its connected computer system.

This KOA is quite large, with maybe 100 RV spots, plus a large area for tents and some cabins.  Only 1 dog park and 1 set of showers - both on the opposite side of the campground from my site, but otherwise not bad.  There're trees and bushes between the campsites, which are a decent distance apart.  The best part about the trees isn't protection from other campers but protection from the sun.  Temps are forecast to get up over 100° this weekend.

My reservation here is until next Wednesday, to give me time to get chores done as well as avoid fighting weekend warriors on holiday for the 4th.  This whole campground is expected to be filled over this long weekend.  I stopped at a rest area on the way into town and picked up some more tourist materials, and I'll need some time to look at those.  Plus, I'm not convinced I'll have a signal for my little hotspot in much of this state, so I want to make plans before I leave here.