On to South Dakota

We are now in South Dakota after a fantastic 6 weeks in North Dakota. We pulled into Spearfish S.D. and set up camp at Chris's RV Resort.
 What is that big structure? Is it a mountain? Are those longhorn cattle? How did they get there? Or..DO.DO DO DO are they actually...DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO...ALIENS! Where could this be.Is this earth or.....are we on an Alien planet? Naw, were at Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.It is only an hour and a half from Spearfish.We are back on sightseeing mode.

Jeni and I were in awe of this massive rock.We took the 1 mile hike around Devils Tower for a Birdseye view up close and personal. The movie "Close Encounters of the 3rd kind" was filmed here.They had these telescopes set up along the trail so you could get a close up view of the rock and the mountain climbers.If you look close at the picture you can see a black speck mid point on the rock. That is one of the rock climbers.
 The park had a nice visitor center and cafe.The best thing as with all the National parks and monuments we have been to....They are all free entry for us! Before we left.on our trip we went to Yosemite and bought a Lifetime "senior Pass" for $10 bucks which is available to anyone 62 years of age or older.This pass gets you into all the Parks and monuments for free and half price camping at most all the national park and monument campgrounds.We have really got our money's worth out of the senior pass.

Hey I didn't find any funny stuff going on here. No aliens,no extra terrestials,no E.T. Hey.......Wheres Jeni.....that is strange!
Well back to Spearfish where we are staying while we tour the area.We hit Perkins for dinner and were very impressed with this place.We have been to the Perkins in the Fresno area and it was so-so but the,food,the service,and the price at this Perkins was fantastic.We will be back.
We will probably be here for a few days before we head to the Black hills and Custer.

We drove the scenic Spearfish canyon byway (hwy-14) which winds thru the foothills that leads to the town of Deadwood S.D.The scenery was breath taking at every turn.The steep canyon walls of granite and the ponderosa pines were a striking contrast of dull grays and vivid greens.At every turn it was a Kodak moment.

Water falls dotted the area,and they had some nice hiking trails that we took full advantage of.Of coarse we took our "high dollar"walking sticks to aid us as we traversed to trails.
The weather here has been great as with the weather on our travels so far. We hope this nice weather holds while we are in South Dakota.

More scenic shots of The Canyon,and a pretty lady too. NO I'm not rocking the cradle,The years have just been very kind to my lovely wife.She just gets more beautiful with each passing year.
OK back to the trip.We are heading out of the canyon and headed to Deadwood.

If you watch HBO you have probably seen the western series "Deadwood".It was a notorious western town in the1860's.As with many western towns that prospered back then gold was the
fuel that made them prosperous

We walked the historic downtown area to get a feel for the area.Most of the buildings have been restored to a more modern look which kinda took that western flavor away from this place.To us it was more tourist trap than old west.We were a little disappointed.

More restored buildings on "ole main street.

A shot of the downtown main street.A little modern a little western.

This was where "wild" Bill Hickock was shot. But the saloon is gone.
The western looking sign is a nice touch though.
Well we are off to the wild and woolly motorcycle mecca Sturgis S.D

Our kids told us if we go to Sturgis stop by the Full Throttle Saloon and get them a Tee shirt.Well we found it! A very large saloon in fact it is probably the biggest and strangest bar we have ever been in Wild is the only way to describe this place.They have a big gift shop on site with a variety of clothing options.Jeni sent pictures of some of the items they have and by the time she got off the phone she had bought the kids a ton of merchandise from the bar.The kids told her "buy it we will pay you back".Man I hope so as I pulled out the old visa and tabbed $500 to it!

The sign says it all. Plus,as I was enjoying a cold brew in this odd colored lounge chair recuperating from that harrowing shopping spree,a little burro strolled up next to me I hollered to the bar maid "what the heck is this burro doing inside the bar"? Her reply..."he lives here. oh, her name is Emma"."JEN,were outta here"!
I guess to really appreciate Sturgis you have to be a biker.
Heading back to Spearfish tired and hungry we decided we would give Perkins a shot again to see if everything would be like it was the first time we ate there.....It was.

Our last day we decided to check out  Wall S.D. Many RVers have told us "you gotta check out Wall Drug" so we decided to see it.
The place was huge.Anything you want or need is probably here.It has been here since the 40s.The story goes that at first wall drug could not get interstate travelers to stop in so the owners placed signs on the interstate offering free ice water to anyone who stopped in.The rest is history.It was a fascinating place that we really enjoyed.We had lunch in their 545 seat restaurant that is under the same roof as the many other stores.wow,you have to see this place!
Tomorrow we will head to Custer south Dakota  for more adventures.
When we were driving from North Dakota to Spearfish a rock hit our windshield and put a ding in it.when we arrived here I set up safelite glass to come out to the RV park to fix it.They came out this morning and did a great job.you can't even see where that rock hit.
We will give Wall Drug our thumbs up for best place for us in the area.It was assume.
Well all for now as we continue on to South Dakota.

Camp Hosting at Teddy

We are still at Theodore Roosevelt National Park as we signed on as their Camp Hosts til Labor Day.We decided to help out as they lost their hosts at the height of their summer season.

The host site is fantastic. Beautiful views all around,full hookups with 50 amp elec, shaded,and away from the campground..Just a great site.The Rangers are very friendly and they tend to our every need.We do a morning,afternoon,and evening camp check.We also do a couple of hours cleaning the fire pits and sites.The campers are mostly vacationers that only stay a night or two.The campground empties out in the morning and fills again in the evening.The sites are never very used so cleanup is minimal.

We have plenty of time to hike,enjoy all the ranger led activities,and view all the wildlife.

Wild horses roam the park freely.They are descendant's of horses bred and used by the Lakota Indians.The park periodically sell off some to keep the population in check.The lakota horses are in great demand and bring a hefty sum for the park.

Probably the most entertaining animal in the park are the Prairie dogs.You can spend an hour just watching them.

Au some beauty at every turn.This is the view from a lookout point called"Buck Hill".We go here and have lunch sometimes.Better than a view at a 5 star restaurant!

Occasionally we have visitors at our campsite.This little guy  couldn't keep his eyes off of us.We were standing in our doorway just in case the Mother got protective.

We got to enjoy the town of Medora North Dakota which was right outside the park.Medora has a lot of history as Teddy Roosevelt ranched here before he became President.Another guy,The Marquis DE Moires came over from Europe and founded Medora.He named the town in honor of his wife whose name was Medora.The Marquis ranched and built a Slaughter house for processing beef and shipping it east.He also built a fantastic place called"Chateau De Moires.Jeni and I got to tour this place.

Very big and what a view!

This is our transportation in the park.

This is our supervisor Ranger Grant.Just the nicest person you could ever meet.

The other Rangers,Adam,Dave,and Jerod.Some of the best we have ever worked for. We signed on hoping to help the park out during our stay.We put our Vacation on hold for these folks but we got back as much of even more than what we gave.This was by far one of our greatest hosting jobs we ever have done.Thanks a million to all the TR NP people.                                                   

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Well we have finished our host job and we are headed for South Dakota.Back on Vacation mode! While in S.Dakota I have to get the Motor home windshield fixed.A rock put a small break in it.I'm hoping to get one of those Mobil guys to come out where we park and fix it before it grows and we have to replace the whole windshield.
We spent 6 weeks at the National park and wouldn't trade that experience for anything.Too much vacation,too much work,too much idle time is not a good thing so a little hosting was just what the Dr. ordered.So its back on Vacation mode,visiting places in South Dakota.I don't know if we will ever be back this way,but if we do, we will again be Camp Hosting at Teddy!

Canada to North Dakota

Our Canada run has been a blast as we start to head for the good "ole" USofA. We have learned a lot about southern Canada like the miles and miles of canola fields along the route,how flat it is.Kinda like the Midwest at least until you get to Banff National Park.The people are very friendly and treat you very well.
The cost in Canada is about the same as California for goods and services.The exchange rate is pretty much even.Gas was higher than we paid in the US but luckily because the roads were flat we got a little better gas mileage.(7 miles to a gallon compared to 5)
Probably the most awesome sight we saw in Canada was the Glaciers in Waterton,Banff,and Jasper National Parks.Pictures don't do them justice.This picture is at the Ice fields in Jasper Natl.Pk.They will let you walk out on the Ice but its very slippery.Tour buses actually drive out on the Glacier with specially made tires that are slip resistant.From the visitors center they looked like a line of ants going up a mountain.We declined that excursion!
We got a feel for the "Stampede" in Calgary and moved east to Swift current and Moosejaw where the gangster AL Capone used to hide out.We were going to check out the underground speakeasy's that were the haunts of the demimonde back in the day but they were so rundown and seedy that we decided the tour wasn't worth it.
We rolled south through Saskatchewan and close to the us border we noticed oil rigs popping up over the landscape and the absense of any agriculture.When we crossed into the US and headed south into North Dakota we really started seeing oil rigs everywhere.Hummm...Can you say Keystone Pipeline!

Teddy Roosevelt Natl. Pk. South UnitAdd caption

Road construction was a nightmare but we finally made our destination,Teddy Roosevelt National Park.The first night we stayed in the north unit witch is 70 miles from the south unit which we didn't know.So we headed for the south unit the next day to tour it.Medora is the town just outside the south unit and it was a charming and very hospitable place.Lots of eateries,shop,museums,and entertainment.

The park is amazing with breathtaking views at every overlook.We moved inside and camped in their campground figuring we would spend a few nights here and get a flavor of the park and the town.

Jeni is looking out at what the Sioux Indians called the Badlands of North Dakota.Tales told that many outlaws in the 1800's hid out here too.












Jeni and I found a nice place for lunch in the park.This spot is Called Buck Hill. It is one of the scenic pullouts along the 30 mile loop drive in the park.Jeni was taking the picture but she sat beside and had lunch too.I took our binoculars up with us and we spotted wild horses and buffalo or as they call them here,"Bison".








The town has an amphitheatre built right into the side of a hill that looks down on the town.Every night they have a western themed show called the "Medora Musical".It is a high energy production that really was fantastic.It draws people from all over and they are packed every night.Jeni and I were very impressed.









The park has deer and Elk which roam freely through the park.


















Wild horses also roam the park.These horses are Lakota horses which descended from the Lakota Indian tribe that inhabit the area.When the park has too many they sell them to a following of Indian people and ranchers that covet them.They bring a hefty sum to the park.





More high stepping entertainment from the Medora Musical.















"Have walking sticks will travel".The saga continues.Jeni and I hiked all of their trails around the loop.Some were a little tough but all were fantastic.Oh,by the way we bought 2 more National Park medallions for our sticks.Now we are up to $90 worth of medallions on our sticks!









We are hiking "Jones creek trail".A 4 mile loop.It was nap time after!













We hiked the "Ole east entrance trail" Only 1 mile and pretty flat.Jeni is standing in the prairie loaded with wild yellow "Sweet clover" which is everywhere.












The "Ole East entrance".















OH YEA, they also have Bison! I guess they liked partying at our camp.But we didn't invite them!












Our favorite breakfast place.Good ole western hospitality.















Our favorite ole general store still operational today.Great stuff inside.













Our favorite ice cream place,I guess i should mention all our favorite places are in Medora North Dakota.Yummy!



















And last but not the least is our favorite "Honky tonk"Boots Bar and Grill.Great "Buffalo" burgers and cold brew.



















One last look at Canada as we crossed the border into North Dakota.




















The royal Canadian Mounties were at the border to make sure we made it across OK........Aye












One last tidbit about Canada,when we were in Cardston we heard about a local gal that made it big in Hollywood.It was Fay Wray of King Kong fame.Some years after she retired from show business she came back to her hometown and this memorial fountain was built in her honor.
While we were staying at the campground at Teddy Roosevelt we saw flyer's posted on the restroom doors that said"CAMP HOST NEEDED".Jeni and I did some inquiry's and found out the hosts they were expecting to have canceled for personal reasons.The height of the summer season and no host.That's tough.We checked out the host campsite and it had full hookups,it was shaded, It was very nice.We had no hookups in the campground and it was warm so Jeni and I decided to apply for the position.we would try it for a couple of weeks to see how it went. We have never hosted in a National Park before,well we really enjoyed it.It was one of our best hosting jobs ever.More on the host job in our next blog post.
Our travels continue as we cruised across southern Canada from Calgary Alberta to Moose jaw, Saskatchewan.Turning south toward the good ole USA.We saw amazing sights,breathtaking scenery,and sampled great food and drink on our travels from Canada to North Dakota.