7/31/21 - Today we explored an 1820's trading post in the corner of North Dakota & Montana. Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a partial reconstruction of the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri, 1829-1867. The fort site is about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri River and its tributary, the Yellowstone River. We figure that Wendy's Great-Great Grandfather,who was a Canadian fur trader, would have traveled to this fort in the early 1800's. The fort is only 70 miles from the Canadian border and nearly directly below the area where he lived. It was pretty cool to visit and speak with the period tradesmen at the fort who were very knowledgeable.
Saturday, July 31, 2021
7/30/21 - Made it to North Dakota and our former neighbors Jon & Beth Luikart joined us at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Roosevelt in the early 1900's came here to hunt and ended up building a hunting cabin and eventually a ranch. To say the least, this is a very unusual landscape with eroding bluffs and buttes. We enjoyed a great day of touring NP. Lots of Bison, prairie dogs and whitetail and mule deer and we even ran across a rattlesnake.
In the the evening we went to Medora Pitchfork Steak Fondue and afterwards the Medora Musical. The pitchfork dinner was pretty good and it is cooked like it sounds. Lots of fun.
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
7/28/21 - Well the temp is lower today by 16 degrees, hit 97 and feels like a Spring day. Not really, but I'll take it. We headed out of South Dakota into Wyoming.
Just a couple hour drive so along the way we stopped at Sturgis, SD just before the border. Biker week is next week so lots of activity with vendors setting up. Harley Davidson who is sponsoring the week was busy with multiple tractor trailers to set up.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
7/27/21 - Well the story here still is the heat! Today it hit 113 degrees in the afternoon. It's hot, but with the lower humidity than in Maryland, somehow it is not totally unbearable. While I handled getting the oil in the truck changed, Wendy took care of housekeeping duties of laundry and found that the clothes dried faster on the picnic table than in the dryer. Go figure.
We now are in Rapid City, SD. Busy city to say the least and for the the midwest it's pretty big. Along our drive from Nebraska were buttes and rolling hills in the prairie. Our route skirted the Black Hills (small mountains) just about the entire way.
We quickly dropped the camper at the campground and headed out to explore Spearfish Canyon, about an hour outside of Rapid City. The canyon is narrow, with multiple waterfalls and 800 foot steep canyon walls. The 13 mile long road into the canyon is a repurposed train bed following a stream flowing through the canyon. Beautiful drive and short hikes.
Monday, July 26, 2021
7/26/21 - Today we visited two must sees if you are in the area of north west corner Nebraska. First up was Agate Fossil Beds. Note Wendy drove the truck (no camper) for the first time in 4,000 +/- miles! Woohoo!
Agate Fossil Beds NP near Harrison, NE was quite interesting. The property was originally owned by James Cook a cattleman who owned thousands of acres.On horseback, one day in the 1800's,Cook noticed what looked like a skull poking out from a cliff. Instead of digging it out himself he invited a paleontologist from Nebraska Unv. to investigate. Eventually unearthed was a 23 million old skeleton of a giant Dinohyus below. Since the initial find many more have been found. Ancient Camel.Sights on the two hour drive back to our campsite in Nebraska.