8/11/15 Madora, North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park

North Dakota's Thousands of Acres of Sunflowers 

Up at 5:30 a.m. in Fairfax, Virginia; on a plane flying West to Minnesota at 8:30 a.m.; driving the truck with RV in tow in Minneapolis heading West at 1:30 p.m.; laying our heads on our RV pillows still in Minnesota, just outside Fargo, North Dakota at 9 p.m. (11 p.m. EST).  A very long day....  

Custer's House 

Old Mission Along I-94 North Dakota

             
 Next morning, continuing on I-94 a short distance we enter North Dakota for the first time and add another state sticker to our RV travel map.  About 2/3's of the way across the state we stop outside Bismarck and tour Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, where General Custer's 7th Calvary launched their ill fated trek to the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.  Reproductions of Custer's home, barracks, stable, and commissary can be toured with photos and artifacts from the Fort.  It is unseasonably hot (100's) and very dry.

Downtown Madora, ND

Red Tail Campground

On ND's western border, we stay just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the little town of Madora.  After another long day's travel, we wait till the sun goes down a bit and the temps cool to take the short walk from the Red Tail Campground around the five streets of Madora. Then right back into the AC since at 9 p.m. it is still high 90's and the town is closed up anyhow.

We take the truck into the park by 8 a.m. the next morning while the temps are the low of the day (mid 70's) where the smell of sage greets us along the 35 mile loop through the Badlands South Unit. Although geologically not as spectacular as South Dakota's Badlands, it is not as arid thus more vegetation to support wildlife. Shortly after getting into the park we come upon the first of three buffalo herds.

Why do they like to amble and rest on the roads?  Maybe the pavement is cooler than the land at this time of day???  As we are stopped waiting for them to move, John says "get out to get a better picture" -  yeah right mister! You get out! Many people in these parks get gored or killed every  year by these 1,000-2,000 pound animals who can run 40 mph.  Anyway...

Wild Horses in TR National Park

he was just kidding. Only way to get them off the road is to inch through them very slowly.  The big bulls are not happy with this maneuver and growl at us as we pass within inches of them.  We are about the only ones in the park right now except for a few vehicles at the badlands overlook so we pull in to see what is going on only to have our photo taken by a professional photographer who is shooting a TV commercial for ND Department of Tourism.  The smell of sage is aroma therapy at its best as turkeys cross the road in front of us, wild horses graze all over the area and a lone mule deer watches us drive by.  Also saw lots of magpies, blue birds of some kind and hawks.  Must come back her in Spring or Fall when we can spend time camping and hiking in this fantastic park.   

Back from the Park by 10 a.m., we have the camper hooked up heading to Montana where we look like locals with our Montana license plates.  After several thousands of dollars in RV and truck maintenance over the past few weeks, the truck has another bucking episode…..