Teddy's National Park part two

This morning we toured the South unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  This part of the park is larger and seemed to have a more varied terrain.  We got more pictures today as there were more bison sightings plus several prairie dog towns plus a couple of wild horses.  The lone bulls were each a different sighting in different parts of the park.  I even got one picture of Jo sitting in our truck waving at me.

 This cabin was on the Maltese Cross ranch where Theodore lived for awhile after his wife died.  Shortly after this he bought and established his own ranch at Elkhorn as described in yesterdays post.

 In the museum this model sports Teddy's own clothes, saddle, and tack.

 pioneer women's clothes and side saddle

Teddy's National Park part one

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is actually in three separate parcels.  What they call the South Unit is close to our campground and the North Unit that we explored today is about 50-60 miles north along the  Little Missouri River.  The third part is a small undeveloped parcel about half way between the North and South units along the Little Missouri River.  This third part which is only reachable by jeep, horseback, or foot is where Teddy established his Elkhorn Ranch to raise cattle.  By the time he arrived in 1883 the buffalo had almost been eliminated and with the vast grassland areas there was good pasture for cattle.  This whole area of North Dakota is designated as the Little Missouri National Grassland area.

Most of the area along the Little Missouri River is North Dakota badlands which show up in most of our pictures.  These were all taken inside the North unit.

Westward Ho

Today the steering wheel didn't get much exercise.  It is a good thing that we have a large fuel tank (after we bought this truck I had the original 28 gal tank removed and a 50 gal tank installed) because the interstate intersections along this route are few and far apart.  Most of them have a sign that says "No Services."  The other thing to cause our fuel economy to be low was that we were pushing a head wind all day, not strong but evident.  The rolling scenery was nice with large fields of color, blue flax, yellow canola, and green grass for hay.  There were a few fields of potatoes in bloom.

After a lunch stop we passed a sign that told us that today was going to be 25 hours long for us, we are now in Vena's time zone.  This campground is not very scenic with tight sites and no room to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.  That is okay because our need to be here is to have a base for our exploration of the National Park and the area.

made a left turn

Ever since we left Kansas City we have been aiming for the north star up until lunch time today.  We stopped for lunch in Fargo, ND before we got on I-94 and headed toward the sunset.  The traffic was sparse all the way from Sioux Falls and those that were heading our direction just passed and disappeared.  With the speed limit at 75 mph and our cruise control set at 62 mph it was a calm drive with very little use of the steering wheel.

Tonight we are in Jamestown, ND and tomorrow we cross into Vena's time zone gaining an hour from CDT before landing in Medora, ND where we plan to spend a week exploring that area.

Sioux Falls

Another day northbound along I-29 without a lot of traffic or construction zones.  The past two days of driving have both been pleasant but our method of travels with the trailer is 2 to 3 days of driving and then a day of rest before pushing on further.  This trip's route works out to be 2 days driving, a day of rest (tomorrow), 2 days of driving and then 7 days enjoying the National Park.  The trip home is going to be 2 days on the road, a day of rest, and then 2 days driving back to home.

Sioux Falls is a very nice tourist area that we have enjoyed a couple of times.  This time I have left the truck hitched but if we decide to explore then it is no problem to unhitch.

On our way

This morning we headed out on our quest to tour the Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the western edge of North Dakota.  Our trip today brought us to Nebraska City which is just a few miles off of I-29 and it is a very nice campground, this is our 4th time here as it is a good distance from home and we plan to stop back here at the end of this trip also.

Today's weather couldn't have been better except for perhaps a few degrees cooler.  We had a storm blow through last night around midnight with some strong winds and this morning we saw a big limb down in our neighbors front yard.  A look around our property didn't show any wind damage.

This morning we took a side trip in the Kansas City area in order to cross the new I-35 Missouri River bridge, quite a beautiful structure.  On our way home through St Louis on the last trip we also took a side trip to cross the new Stan Musial I-70 bridge over the Mississippi, another strikingly beautiful structure.  You can't take the love of bridges out of an old bridge engineer.  Many routes in our past trips have been planned in order to cross well known bridges across our country.

back to the roost

Had lunch in our own driveway having arrived right at noon.  The washing machine is already running on the first load and a trip to the post office collected our mail that accumulated while we were gone.

Our next adventure, which is a trip to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, starts on Tuesday, July 8, 2014.

Stay tuned

Penultimate day ...

... for this trip.

This evening we are in Benton, IL with a short trip tomorrow to the Martin Manor.  Our GWF is surely looking after us.  After lunch today we drove through several rain storms, one was a real toad strangler with a need to slow down to 45-50 mph and turn no the blinkers.  We drove into one just three miles from our campground and I started to tell Jo what she needed to do to get us set up in the rain and then our GWF waved her wand and it stopped about a mile from the campground.  Our site is level and hookups are in the right place so it was a short time getting everything set up.  While I was typing this our campground host knocked on our door and gave us each a homemade cookie from their kitchen.

The Hermitage

The home and plantation of President Andrew Jackson.

This morning we drove just a short distance from our campground to tour this National Historic Site.  We were guided through the house with details of every room but pictures inside were not allowed.  The neat thing about this museum is that all the furnishings, art work on the walls , and decorations were all part of the home as decorated by his daughter in law.  His wife died before he became president and the house was rebuilt after a fire and again after he was elected so his daughter in law was in charge of the decorating.

 The kitchen is outside the house

 The dining room is inside the house but our view point was from the kitchen so camera's allowed

 slave quarters

 tomb for both Andrew and Rachel

 We don't know what flower this is but it is so unusual

 several big tulip trees on the property

 we also don't know what this is but unusual and quite pretty and thorny

This is a couple of pictures of our front yard at the campground.  We are surrounded by dense woods and the second photo is a view toward our nearest neighbors.  If you look close you can see a blue shelter tent over their table.

Back on Tulsa time

I think I have said before that we used to do a round dance to "Living on Tulsa time" by Don Williams.  Since Tulsa is in the central time zone, as is our home, it works for us.  We crossed into the central time zone a little before lunch time today.

Tonight and for the next couple of days we are at a COE campground near Nashville.  While near J. Percy Priest lake, we are in deep woods so no satellite connection.  We do have good over-the-air television so we can keep up with the news and network programming.

Our GWF is still with us as we drove through a brief but strong downpour today, it was clear and dry as we were setting up the trailer.  Our site is a pull through but on a curve which caused lots of maneuvering to get settled.  Here it is near 5:00 pm and we now have a good rain shower.  Thank you GWF for holding this off until we were totally set-up.

on the road again

Today started our homeward trip.  The drive was through some great Appalachian mountain range scenery all the way with many ups and downs.  Tonight we are in between Bristol and Kingsport Tennessee with our drive tomorrow taking us to near Nashville.  Our GWF has been with us all the way but it's just a bit hot with both AC units working hard to cool us down after the trip.

pain in the neck

No, not Jo.  I woke up this morning with a stiff neck and it's hard to turn my head.  I took some Tylenol and hope that it eases up because tomorrow we are on the move again.  Tomorrow we head further south along the Appalachian range to Bristol, TN before turning westward toward Nashville on Saturday.  Our truck almost drives it's self so we'll be fine.

Lighthouse

This lighthouse is on the campground property.  I went to the office and ask what this was all about as we are a long way from any ocean seaways.  They laughed and said that the original tower was built for some other purpose (windmill I think it was) but was then converted to a lighthouse just for a conversation piece.  I ask if I could climb up to take a couple of pictures that should be great.  They give tours and for $5 they would let me climb the 200+ steps to the top.  I won't be posting any pictures from the top as I didn't think that was worth either the cost or the effort.

Happy Father's Day

It's been good to have Phyllis with us even for a very short time.  The hug I got when she wished me a Happy Father's day this morning was special so I am having a great day.

Phyllis on the other hand is not having such a great day for her drive back to Baltimore.  She turned her ankle and fell down our three steps from the bedroom to the kitchen floor.  Other than a badly twisted ankle and a bruised ego she is okay.  We put an ice pack on it right away and then I went to a CVS drugstore for a compression wrap and an ankle brace.  She said that she will use her crutches for a week to give it the best chance to heal.

Our picture postcard front yard

This is our view of Summersville Lake from our campsite.

 

The original plan for this trip was to stay at a COE campground on the lake but when I went to make a reservation it was all full for this whole month so I searched for a private campground instead. 

Today we gave a lesson to a young local police officer.  After the photo trip we went to the local Wally World for some groceries and on our way back to the campground we got pulled over by the flashing red and blue lights.  The first question was "where is your license plate?"  My answer was that we are licensed in Missouri and for trucks licensed for over 12K lbs (our license is for 24K lbs) we are only given one plate to be attached to the front of our truck and there isn't any plate displayed on the back.  The thought is that with weights over 12K lbs a pickup is going to be pulling some kind of a trailer behind and the rear license will not be visible.  This is the second time in all our travels that we have been stopped, the other time was in Canada.  After taking our license and registration back to his car he soon came back and said, "sorry, and have a good day."  I think that Missouri is dumb to be the only state in the world with that license requirement.