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Published: July 10th 2018
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We arrived at our “WIFI away from home“, the Spearfish Public Library around 9:15, worked on finishing yesterday’s blog, sent it out, and were on our way at 10:00!! We are getting very good at this process!
As we left Spearfish, we were almost instantly out of the Black Hills as they started falling behind us in our rear view mirror. Our horizon quickly widened out for sure. We drove through Belle Fourche around 10:20. About ten miles north of that little town is supposedly the geographical center of the USA. We never saw a sign which disappointed us as we would have liked to take a picture—just have to trust that it is there I guess!
The part of South Dakota we drove through today is VERY sparsely populated and the roads, which have been great for the most part on this trip, are the worst that we have traversed. We drove up US 85 N. Along the way, we saw a few prong horn antelopes. The biggest hit was the vastly varying geological formations. We saw what we thought of as mini Badlands that were melting away. There might be a small butte in the middle of
a vast field of crops. It was amazing. Along our trail today we saw HUGE fields of sunflowers, grains, corn, what we think was canola, and the all important oil pumps! Laura, this one is for you—we saw road signs pointing in two different directions—one pointed to Buffalo, the other pointed to Bison!
Our thermometer showed 94 degrees at noon so don’t feel so envious of us anymore, please. We crossed the border into North Dakota at 12:20. There was an IMMEDIATE difference in the quality of the road. Suddenly we were in smooth road city once again. Mufasa likes that MUCH better! Once we crossed the state line, we were also surprised to see that the population was much larger. We stopped for a (this one is for you Jackie J) “food-food” meal for lunch at a local eatery in Bowman, ND. It was quite good and John was pleased that they had rhubarb pie for dessert! He said it was no where near as good as yours Barb A!
We stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center just before we arrived at our destination for the evening, Medora, ND. This is where the “WOWZER” part of
the title for today comes in. Who knew! The view was spectacular to say the least. I took a couple of pictures and we listened to a lecture by a park ranger on geology—Ernie B...we really needed you today!
We made a quick stop at the visitor’s center as we plan to do a loop driving tour of Theadore Roosevelt National Park tomorrow. We can’t wait. Neither of us had any idea that this area was like this. I think it is truly going to be amazing.
Tonight, thanks to the suggestion of Carol O, we plan to go to a musical in the VERY small town of Medora. I will give a report tomorrow. We are in Red Trail Campground at the edge of town, arriving here at 4:00. I am going to try to get this out before we have to get on the shuttle to go to the show.
Our campground is so-so as far as appearance is concerned. We have a pile of dirt right in front of us as we are at the back of it. We are however, perfectly level, the electricity is good, and we are told that the router
for the WiFi is on the storage shed which is right next to us! Not very attractive lot, but all is good!
We drove 202 miles today.
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Lora Carbary
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Wow is right
Well this is a beautiful National Park can’t wait to see your next pictures. Glad you have good WiFi so close did John ask them at check in. I don’t think the pictures can do it justice. Safe travel hope the a/c works might cool off at night. Enjoy your adventure.