Not Potato Days

We visited my brother from another mother, Kevin, and his wife, Tammy, in Barnesville, MN. Our original plan was to visit during Potato Days, but the festival was canceled for 2020. So, we decided to visit them in June.

 We stayed two weeks in Wagner Park Campground, which is run by the City of Barnesville.  It's a gem of a campground, at $20 per night at the weekly rate for full hookups. Luckily, we were given the best site in the park, #28.

 I was able to smoke a brisket and have Kevin and Tammy over for dinner. They were the first guests to have dinner in our luxury apartment on wheels since the weather was not cooperative for outdoor dining.

On the weekend in the middle of our stay, we went to visit Kevin's mother, Marylou, in Keliher and to see Tammy's family of Karen and Lyle up in Waskish. Kevin and I drove up on Thursday evening after he got off work, while Tammy and Elizabeth followed us on Friday evening. On the way we had to slow down to allow a large black bear to finish crossing the road. Regrettably he was camera shy, so I did not get his photo.

We arrived at the homeplace just before sunset, and Kevin wanted to see if his favorite beavers had returned. Luckily for them they had not. I quickly found out that the state's nickname, which is printed on Minnesota license plates, is actually a lie. There are not 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. There are actually 11,842 mosquito farms!!!  I was out of the truck for about two minutes and felt like I had donated blood.  Those winged blood suckers were thick, but Kevin said that this was just the beginning of the season.....UGH!

When we sold our home in King George, VA, I thought it would be the very last time I would have to mow a lawn. Well, I was wrong... Kevin gave me the rare opportunity to operate a Hustler Super  Z commercial mower for over six hours while he completed some much needed tree trimming and brush clearing he was doing. He then took over for the last two hours it took to mow the large number of acres Marylou has....  I am glad that most of the 160 acres are wooded.

Just keep mowing, just keep mowing

The homeplace has its own fire tower, visible in the distance of the above photo. Kevin's father had purchased it and put it up next to the house. The view is amazing.

Can you spot Harold and Elizabeth at the top of the fire tower?

The view from up here is amazing

It is a wonderful place to visit, but don't think I want to live in northern Minnesota due to all those mosquitoes. I think that this was a trial run for our yet to be scheduled summer trip to Alaska, where I hear the mosquitoes can be thicker than those in Minnesota. We will have to see.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We headed north from Rapid City to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. We stayed at Sully Creek State Park, located in Medora, ND, just minutes from the entrance to the South Unit of the national park. 

On our way to Sully Creek, we stopped at Belle Fourche, SD, to check out the Center of the Nation Monument. It was a nice place to stretch our legs. The actual center of the nation is 20 miles away from the monument. You can get directions from the visitor center if you like. 

When we arrived at Sully Creek, they were starting an electrical install to the sites. The electrician had parked on our reserved site. So, we went and talked to the ranger. He allowed us to park in the camping area reserved for those camping with horses. Win! Though we were dry camping (no hookups), our site was a big loop with a horse corral in the middle. The site was big enough that we noted that they were planning for three electrical hookups in the loop.  The site was much more private, shady, and as an extra bonus, the view was better too. 

Our "horses" were pink and plastic

Evening view

Back to the national park, we drove the South Unit, taking in a few short hikes to overlooks and a coal vein. The loop drive had experienced a landslide and instead of being a loop, it was a 24 mile drive in and back out. We pretty much took the entire day to view the area. While we saw buffalo, it was the herds of wild horses that stood out.

Wind Canyon

South Unit View

We had one day left in the area. We had debated about driving to the North Unit, since it was an hour drive away. The ranger noted that it was the prettier unit, more rugged, and the most photographed spot in North Dakota was located in the North Unit, Rainbow Bend.  Well, that settled it.

So, the next day, we headed north to the North Unit. The ranger was right. We both agreed that the North Unit was more scenic. The first part of the park is driving through the badlands area. Then you arrive at the top of the buttes where miles and miles of grasslands greet you with herds of buffalo dotting the landscape. 

We hiked the 4.3 mile Caprock Coulee loop trail. It was considered a moderate trail, taking you through the coulee before going up through the ravines to the top for some amazing views and back down. It took us right at three hours with a couple of stops, including the most photographed overlook. 

We both agreed that the trail was about the max we would care to do in a day. We were sure glad we had hiking poles. There were a couple of areas that had lots of loose rock and other areas that honestly, made us wonder how safe it was. That bentonite rock has some serious erosion going on and the cracked surface made us think it was ready to crumble at any given moment.  All that said, it was worth the effort. 

Caprock Coulee Trail View - North Unit

Caprock Coulee Trail

Rock formations - North Unit

Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park has been on my list of places to see for years. Most of my family had been there, and the photos I had seen further heightened the desire to see the place. 

When we were there, the visitor center was closed due to Covid-19, and they hadn't started charging the park entrance fee. The nonprofit park support organization had a couple of EZups set up outside the visitor center with some select merchandise. They monitored the number of folks through the area at the same time. I was happy to get a stamp for our national park passport. We ate our picnic lunch in the picnic area there before continuing on our way.

We decided to venture on a couple of hiking trails. There's a parking area where you can access two handicap accessible trails - Door Trail and Window Trail - as well as the Notch Trail. We did all three with the Notch trail being the most fun with its ladder climb. 

When we got back to our home, still located at Heartland RV for this adventure, I checked to see if Star Trek had ever filmed in the Badlands. The rocks really have that alien world feel to them, and I could too easily imagine Captain Kirk and Spock radioing Scotty to beam them up. For the record, no, Star Trek did not film there. 

Still going up - going down was worse

This is the reward view for climbing that ladder

Custer State Park Wildlife Loop

Scenic drives through Custer State Park are just that. We drove the Wildlife Loop road more than once. The second time we took one of the dirt roads open to the public. Wow! We came right upon a herd of buffalo, complete with calves. 

It was a bit unnerving to see the big animals up close. I was concerned they might decide they didn't like us and put a dent in the vehicle. I'd read that they have been known to lick the salt off your vehicle. We made it through the herd without issue. We did wait a bit while two bulls decided to butt heads in the middle of the road though.

Antelope, deer, big horn sheep, burros, and even a few goats were seen throughout the park.  Thankfully, we did not see any of the prairie rattesnakes. 

Road Rage?

More road rage?

Mother and Baby Buffalo

Getting a little close for comfort

Cute

Well, there was that one buffalo...