Blogs from North Dakota, United States, North America

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Wishing everyone experiences at least a single moment of Thankfulness on this special day! I often wonder how other people and other countries celebrate today? I have had the opportunity to be on foreign soil multiple years and have been pleasantly surprised by how the world really understands the thankfulness for others. The military missions never stop but there is something so very special about being deployed during the holidays. During the buildup to Operation Desert Storm (November 1990), there were about half of the 500,000 Coalition troops on ground in Saudi Arabia and in my location at the Port of Jubail, we kept Thanksgiving quite simple. President Bush, General Schwarzkopf, and First Lady Barbara Bush showed up in a Marine Corp helicopter! Quite a surprise for a young Soldier who had been ... read more

The following story has reminders of war embedded. Just a warning… I would like to recognize today in somber commemoration of a tragic occasion. Twenty years ago, on 19 August 2003, a massive explosion tore apart the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Twenty-two UN colleagues and friends were killed in this appalling attack. More than a hundred people were injured. Although the attack on the Canal Hotel targeted the humanitarian community, ordinary Iraqis were not spared either: Today, in observing World Humanitarian Day, I am paying tribute to all victims of humanitarian terrorism. Around the world humanitarian workers, healthcare professionals, civil society specialists, staff of international organizations; countless brave women and men who put themselves in considerable danger to assist individuals and communities affected by conflict and disasters. World Humanitarian Day... read more

When I start planning a journey, there is often one overarching goal. This journey was no exception. Chuck, Lucie, and I had never been to North Dakota, and it was the one state that still eluded us. Today we fixed that 50th state oversight. As I think I have mentioned before, one of the most important things upon which to concentrate when studying the L&C trip is the Native American tribes they encountered. Establishing trade with the various tribes, and forming relationships that would facilitate other trade were two of the prime goals of the expedition. Among the Native American tribes, through whose lands the expedition passed, intertribal relationships tended to be some fluid and disjointed. Today's enemy could be tomorrow's ally, and one band of a tribe might be far different in their approach than ... read more

What we asked for was some cooler temps. So we got them. Sleeping like the very grateful dead in our CarV, we both managed to get quite chilly last night, even as snuggled in together as we are. We forgot to get our weighted blanket out before we hit the sack. So next time... Ah well. Beautiful, quiet, and very cool morning here in the park. Promises to be a dry, sunny day. (I come from a dry, sunny planet, so this is good news for me.) We got up, hit the lukewarm showers, and are now making coffee and catching up and cleaning up. We'll pack up here, go to the local post orifice, drive around the badlands (they're not so bad, really... ) for a while, and then meet a realtor at 11 AM ... read more

We were up and at ’um at 5:30 this morning because we wanted to make a stop at the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park on our way to Minot, ND via Williston. We pulled out of camp at 8:00 heading north. Along our route we started seeing many oil pumps. The North Unit formations seemed to be taller than the ones in the South Unit...maybe because we were driving more through the “canyon” of formations rather than along a rim. The valleys between the formations were further apart also. Note of interest: we saw a lot of buffalo poop in the road! Therefore we were not so surprised when we did see one buffalo bull lying in the grass close to the road and a herd of maybe at least 25 or 30 buffalo ... read more