Blogs from Medora, North Dakota, United States, North America

Today started out in Spearfish, SD and headed for Medora, ND. North Dakota is one of the 6 states I’ve never visited. Medora is a small little town that you probably have never heard of. It is one of the entrances to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I discovered it by watching travel shows and quickly became interested in their outdoor show called the Medora Musical. While driving through northern South Dakota, Terry said it was the most boring drive ever! Miles and miles of nothing….no homes, no towns, no businesses, NOTHING!!! Who’s taking care of all the cows and crops? We didn’t see even one farmer! Once we crossed the border into North Dakota we began to see houses, gas stations, farm buildings, and farmers. We started seeing more rock formations and buttes. As we neared ... read more

I'm so tired my teeth hurt. I can feel my eyes move in their sockets. Even my hair has regained its sensation. We just got into the Medora Campground in the North Dakota badlands in the SW corner of the state. Thirty straight hours on the road, save for the stop at the Big Chief Cafe for breakfast and an hour spent not-resting at a rest stop in Minnesota. The plan was simple enough. Keep going until we decided to stop. Make it to our first property if possible. Trade off driving and sleeping. Head straight up to the North, where the air would be cooler and dryer, and the skies are not cloudy all day. And it was a good enough plan. But it did not account for the fact that I would find it ... read more

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 ... read more

I wanted to mention yesterday about the names of the towns here in ND but when the body is tired the brain in sluggish too. When I first crossed the border it struck me how simple the towns name's are. There is Wheatland, Chaffe, Alice,Mapleton, Buffalo, then they got creative Tower City and Valley City, where I am. Just seems like there was so much more to do here when settling the state than be creative about names. They were a hardy stock coming into a very hostile environment, just "get er done!". Oscar continues to be a terrific traveling companion. We are in a routine now and he plays his part. When there is someone close to the camper he will bark about 4 very aggressive barks then he'll look at me to see if ... read more

Geo: 46.9167, -103.523Weather: 70, off and on light rain on the roadLocation: Fargo to Medor, NDHighlights: Lowlights: My salad #of Swearwords: 1 (not at anyone)People we met: Activities: Bismarck State Capital, Medora Musical, Pitchfork Steak FondueHotel: Americinn MedoraHelpful hint: Order Medora Musical tickets ahead of time.Restaurants: Wood House "World's Best Hamburgers."Today we have spent the day crossing the prairies of the Mid-West. I as the pilot guiding us across our beautiful countryl...including Amber waves of grain. I hated that song in elementary school music class. All eyes on me. Ugh. We traveled from Fargo to Bismarck, the state capital, for lunch. About 3 hours. We buzzed by the capital building. They got jipped. The most boooring building. You could pass it and never know that is what it was. We stopped for lunch at Wood House ... read more