As I mentioned in my last blog, leading up to this one, we were really tired after driving all the way to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We had made some reservations at Patterson Lake campground in Dickinson, North Dakota. This is the second time we have ever made reservations on this entire trip.
Since we knew we didn't have to rush now to find a campsite, we took our time enjoying the rest of Teddy Roosevelt Park while we were in the comfort of the air conditioning in the motorhome. We did a lot of driving through the park, and only stepped out a few times in the high heat and humidity. It was wilting us!!
The campground at Patterson lake was just a bit out of Dickinson on the southwest side of town. I looked ahead on Google Maps and searched for Godfather's Pizza! If you are a long-time blog reader from the beginning of our trip, you will remember that I found a Godfather's Pizza in Minnesota, just before we crossed the border to Canada on our second day.
Now we were lucky enough to find one more in North Dakota before heading back to Wisconsin. There aren't any Godfathers in Wisconsin anymore. Sigh.
We ordered a Classic Combo in deep dish before going to the campground. We picked it up, and Steve actually grabbed the video camera and filmed a cute little bit of me bringing the pizza back to the motorhome. It is on the YouTube link at the end of this blog.
Can you almost smell it?
We each ate two pieces, and packaged up the remaining slices and put them into the freezer. They will make two more good lunches after we get home. We learned that putting leftover pizza in the air fryer at home really makes it taste great!
When we got settled into our campsite #2, (the same one we had last year), we turned up the air conditioning on full blast. It had been up to 93° today, and extremely humid. We definitely needed to run the air conditioning the moment we pulled in.
Each site has electric and water. There is also a dump station, dumpsters, and a nice swimming beach and picnic area. We didn't check out the bathrooms or the showers. But knowing this is such a nice park, I'm sure they are fine.
Something sweet that I noticed at this campground is that each site is separated by a row of thick lush lilac bushes. There's also some other plant mixed in with it that has little berries that attract the birds. Each clump of bushes is just twittering and warbling with bird songs. It's absolutely delightful, and what a great way to separate the sites from each other?
There are large cottonwood trees down the middle of the row of campsites that provide beautiful shade on a hot day.
Right now, the cottonwoods are releasing their little bits of fluff and seeds into the air. It's almost like little bits of snow along the edges of the drive, catching in the gravel. It reminds me of our large cottonwood in the backyard at home. I wonder if it is also releasing its fluffy seeds right now?
The only downfall to the campground is the railroad track that runs along the back side of the property. Where I am pointing with my finger down below. We only heard one train go through during the night. Either that, or we were sleeping so deeply we never heard any more?
It really never cooled down that much overnight, because the humidity was so high. We got up early and took our showers to cool off and have fresh dry skin for more comfort during the next leg of our journey.
The wildfire smoke from the North was increasing. We made our way quietly out of the campsite by 8:00 a.m. We didn't want to disturb anyone else. Although it looked somewhat clear to the East, we could see the haze in the North.
To keep out the smoke smell, we have to use the dash air conditioning on "inside circulation". It tends to freeze up after 15 to 20 minutes of operation. We have to turn it off to let it "thaw ". Literally, chunks of ice come spitting out of the vents at us as it thaws!!! Then we can start it up again and it works well for another 15 to 20 minutes. Repeat. We had recently had the control panel replaced to try to correct that very problem. There is a known service bulletin on it and I think it needs to be recalibrated by Mercedes-Benz when we get back home.
So in the meantime, we fired up the onboard propane generator. This allows us to also operate the rooftop air conditioner in the ceiling of the motorhome. This gives us more cool air throughout the coach, and helps with the lag times that we have the dash air thawing.
It also keeps the living room portion of the motorhome nice and cool for Nicholas. He looks pretty comfortable, doesn't he?
Yes, we are driving on the Interstate... as much as we don't want to. We do want to get some miles underneath these tires to get beyond the high heat, humidity and wildfire smoke.
We neared the community of New Salem. We could tell it was coming up in the distance because we could see Salem Sue!
Yep, that is exactly what you think it is. A big huge cow--- her name is Salem Sue. We had stopped to see her close up last time, so we really didn't need to do it again this time. But she is something that you should stop to see at least once in your life.
(Note the size of people in front of her)
The smoke was increasing as we entered into Minnesota. It was getting worse and worse as we were heading East. It was blowing down from the North and there really wasn't any way to escape it.
So we just kept on driving. And driving. And driving. There wasn't much else of anything we could do, other than find a campground and plug in and close all the windows and hide for the afternoon. And for sure, the next few days were all forecast to be just as bad, if not worse.
We decided to keep on going right across Minnesota. By 5:00 p.m. we were nearing Minneapolis and St Paul.
Oh goodness, RUSH HOUR! There were barrels on our side of the road but they were pushed aside and no construction was really taking place. Google Maps said entire huge sections were under construction, but they were wrong.
We flew through with only two small slowdowns, no stopping. We were on the 694 bypass around the North side of town. Mostly 65 mph all the way.
The oncoming traffic heading westbound at times were slowed down to a dead stop. Sometimes for miles and miles they were backed up. We are so thankful that was not our case in the Eastbound direction.
Before we knew it, we were out of the city and crossing the St Croix River. I cannot imagine all of those people out there in their sailboats enjoying the day with that heavy smoke in the air? We could barely see across the river to the shore on the other side. And it's not that big of a river...
There it was, that large brown familiar sign that is at all the major entrances to the state of Wisconsin!!!
We have pictures of ourselves as children lined up by those huge wooden signs every time we would go up to Michigan to visit family. On the way back, we would stop and get our picture taken as we headed back home to Wisconsin. Very fond memories of traveling and seeing that sign as we came "home".
We drove along to the first large town by the name of Hudson. We decided after 600 miles of crazy driving today that we would overnight it at the Walmart.
Nooooo no overnight parking allowed at the Hudson Walmart. Dangnabbit. We cooked up a little bit of supper, and debated about overnighting at a truck stop or trying the Home Depot which had a very small lot. Steve made the decision that we should just drive on towards Eau Claire. That town has a Walmart that overnight parking was allowed. It was 60 miles further, which meant another hour of driving. But it also meant we were another hour closer to home for the next day!
We made it to the Eau Claire Walmart and found a level spot to park. It was still very hot in the 80s. We did not want to run the generator all night. So we opened up the windows at bedtime and dealt with the humid and smokey air. It wasn't very comfortable and we didn't sleep very well. About 2:00 a.m. a crazy Zamboni-type street sweeper came along to sweep the parking lot! Then about 4:00 a.m. big tanker truck came to the gas station next door to fill their underground tanks. I could smell the heavy fuel odor wafting in through the open windows. By 5:00 a.m. we got up and took showers. It felt strange showering in a Walmart lot. Lol.
By 6:00 a.m. we decided to hit the road and head towards home!!!
It was only 200 miles further to get across the state to where we live along the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
As we got close, we had to be careful to not say the words "home" or "house" in front of Nicholas. It sends him crazy because he knows what those words mean.
We got to Oconto, and pulled first over to the dump station at our little Holtwood City Campground. We paid our $5 fee and dumped our tanks so everything was empty at the end of the trip. Steve gave things a good rinse so it took a little bit longer. Of course, we were anxious to get home and in the house and get comfortable and rest a bit.
Our central air conditioning is controlled through Wi-Fi, so we were able to have the house nice and cool as we rolled into the yard.
Little guy Nick was just beside himself to be back home. I quick turned off the alarms and the cameras so it didn't set things off coming through the door. He was rushing around and checking his toys and wanting to go out in his potty yard and just make sure everything was exactly the way he remembered it!
"C'mon, let's go potty in my OWN fenced in yard and not have to be on a leash!"
We put fresh water in his dish... and it was right where he expected it to be.
I kind of did the same thing too. I wandered around my She-Shed, touched my looms and my quilting machine, stroked my sewing machines and thought about the next quilt I'm going to work on.
After a rest, we called up the kids and grandkids and set up times to get together and hug and give them their souvenirs from Alaska.
After 9,502 fun and adventure-filled miles, it was great to be
HOME!!!
We will do a wrap up and budget of the entire 90 days in the next blog and on YouTube.
Here's the video that goes along with today's blog:
653 miles travel from Dickinson ND to Eau Claire, Wisconsin
then
205 miles traveled from Eau Claire Wisconsin to home!
Fort Peck Corps of Engineers Park, in Western Montana, was a lovely place to spend the night. For it's very generous acceptance of our America the Beautiful Senior Access Pass, our $25 site was only $12.50. Not too bad for electric hookup, water spigots within the campground at spaces where you can fill, clean showers and a dump station.
Although there's no waterfront-type sites right at the campground itself, there is a very beautiful reservoir on the other side of the dam to go and visit. If we had had our e-bikes along we might have pedaled over that way.
But the weather forecast was showing high heat expected as well as humidity on its way. We really wanted to get a jump on things and get ahead of it. Even though we're over in the westernish side of Montana, we wanted to hit the road early and maybe make it into North Dakota by the end of the day.
So we got up early, made up some coffee, and left the campsite by 8 am. If the weather wasn't looking so hot and uncomfortable, I would have liked to stay here for a couple more days. It was a beautiful campsite with shady trees and lots of space with a big beautiful open back "yard" for Nick to run on his long leash.
But Steve cracked the whip and said let's get a move on!
The skies were clear and blue, it was going to be a great driving day! We rolled along by the top of the dam and worked our way across onto Highway 24. This route would take us south and east to intersect with Highway 200. The scenery unfolded ahead of us, reminiscent of a beautiful backdrop in a western movie.
The landscape went on for miles and miles. To the north we could see a slight amount of wildfire smoke. It was predicted to swoop down and follow us as we headed east. Hopefully we could stay ahead of it.
That was our problem when we were in this area last year. The wildfire smoke came down and it was so thick and choking that we couldn't even see things down the road.
A lot of this beautiful scenery that we are seeing today was hidden by wildfire smoke last year. We were very fortunate to have such clear skies this time as we headed out.
As we came over a crested rise, we saw this little character on the side of the road. She evidently had either rolled under or jumped over a fence somewhere. She looked a little lost.
We pulled up and I rolled down the window. I gave her a little lecture, and Nick was furiously barking from the love seat in the back. He could just see the cow out the window, but that was enough. He was going to give her a good talking to! We told her that she was being a sassy cow and she needed to go home.
She listened to us. She trotted off in the other direction and looked for a spot in the fence to get back with her buddies.
I sure hope she finds her way back to them and doesn't become a casualty on the highway. Coming over a crest suddenly seeing a big cow in the middle of the road is not a good thing.
As we drove further east, the lands flattened out and we were doing some really good time on the perfectly paved roads. Not that we really needed to be any where at any specific time, but we were hoping to reach Teddy Roosevelt National Park by midday.
At the intersection of Highway 24 and 200, we knew of this really nice rest area. We stopped here in the parking lot and cooked up some breakfast. We were also able to top off our water tank, which we didn't do at Fort Peck Campground. We didn't want to drive deeper into the campground that early in the morning to use the potable water faucet. So we opted to drive with an almost empty fresh tank.
We usually fill it up before we leave anywhere, not knowing if we are boondocking the next night or not. I know it's added weight while we are traveling, but it's something that we choose to do so we have enough water when we reach somewhere for the night.
This wayside had potable water as well as a nice little fenced in doggy yard for Nick to run around for a little while while Steve filled the tank.
Now it was time to continue further east. Everything was pretty flat flat flat. Most of the route travels alongside of railroad tracks. The tracks lead into each little sleepy Montana town. They are lined with railroad cars waiting for grain. They have to split the waiting cars apart in sections where farmers need to access their fields or if there's a gravel road leading somewhere. So every now and then there's a break in these many miles-long stretches of railroad cars on a siding track.
Some towns still have operational granaries that fill the cars. Other sleepy little dusty towns have decaying old granaries that are falling apart and no longer being used. Modern silver grain bins instead line the railroad tracks in some of the larger towns.
We really don't know how people can prosper or even make a living out here. It is so far from anywhere to travel for simple things like groceries, medical care, heck even to get a full tank of fuel for your car or truck. There aren't many houses, but the few that are there must really have to have good planning to exist out in such a barren landscape. The wind blows constantly. So it's either hot sun or rain or snow I guess. All combined with the wind.
Soon we reached Interstate 94. As much as we do not like driving on the interstates, this really was the major route heading east to get towards Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
We noticed the landscape changing, and the beautiful levels and layers of the rock and sandstone that were exposed to the many many years of wind.
We wound along eastward and crossed into North Dakota. Now we were able to enter the Theodore Roosevelt National Park:
We were entering in the Southern Unit, and this park is absolutely huge! We opted to drive in and work our way through the park in a northern direction. The ranger at the gate warned us to not go any further than Buck Hill Road. He said our motorhome was not able to pass through any further than that. So we could only go up so far turn around and come back.
The road was great as it wound in through the textured landscape. It was absolutely amazing and looked like a movie unfolding in front of us on a big TV screen.
We drove along past the visitor center and in through the park and wound our way northward. We decided to not stay in the park because the campsites which were available were all non-electric in the entire park.
So again, we picked up our phone and called ahead to the town of Dickinson. We know the county campground at Patterson Lake had campsites with electric hookups. We had stayed there last year also on our retreat back to Wisconsin due to the wildfire smoke. Sure enough, they had campsites available, actually the exact same one we stayed in last year. So for the second time on our entire trip of 90 days, we made a reservation.
Now that we knew we had somewhere to stay for the night, we could deal with the heat while we were still driving. We actually fired up the generator and had the roof air conditioner in the camping portion of the motorhome functioning for extra cool air. That's a good way to help beat the heat when you are driving in an RV in the open sun with a very dark roof.
The landscape was absolutely beautiful and the sky was almost completely blue with only a little wisp of clouds here or there.
This may look like a little ridge line or a hill off in the distance, but it was huge----
After the first few miles into the park, we came upon what is known as "Prairie Dog Town". Of course, we had to immediately pull over and watch these little characters and their silly antics.
These energetic little guys were hopping up and down from hole to hole and chomping away on the fresh green grass and the pretty little white flowers dotting the prairie.
Just look at that adorable little face! If you watch the YouTube link video below, you can hear the sounds that they make. This guy stood way up in the air, stretched his paws way up over his head and made the silliest little screechy whistling sound.
Don't know what he said to all the others, but many of them in the area instantly dashed underground. Then bit by bit, they stuck their heads back up and came out to eat some more.
I'm so glad my new camera can zoom in and catch good details and close-ups of the wildlife.
We watched them for quite a while. There was even an old grandpa one that had silvery hair that wandered along at a slower pace. The young ones jumped around and pounced up and down quickly. The elderly one took his time and seemed to choose carefully of what delicious little thing he was going to nibble on.
Soon it was time to say goodbye, and work our way further north into the park.
Bye-bye, little critters!
We drove through some narrow canyons. This is looking straight up out of the passenger side window!
Winding along around each hill, we were watching for wildlife. We saw a lot of worn down game trails either from the mule deer, the mountain goats, or even possibly the wild horses.
We read in the brochure that there are over 200 wild horses that are protected within the park. They are descendants from domesticated horses that got away many many years ago. They are truly wild and are protected and kept safe within the park boundaries. We were hoping to see some?
Our eyes scanned the top of the ridges for any evidence of mountain goats looking down on us. Maybe it was too hot in the day and they were curled up underneath shrubbery in the shade.
We came around one corner and managed to see a big tan object moving slowly along through the shrubs. Here was a big beautiful bison all by himself. He was just wandering along, chomping on stuff, and making his way back through the bushes. What a massive animal. You can just see the strength of his muscles in the bulk of his body.
He didn't even give us a second look, and kept going on his way. Soon he just disappeared among the bushes and was gone.
We marveled at the differences in the textures of the terrain. The sandstone and the clay. The layers of dirt versus rock. The wind swept areas that eroded away the soft sands and left behind the hard surfaces. All playing a part of making this a beautiful panorama of this unique country.
We are so glad that someone had the foresight way back then to protect this land. To not let it be developed or bought up or changed into something it wasn't meant to be. Thank you, Teddy! It is great that it is preserved for future generations to see the "wild west" as it was, when the first explorers found it in this natural state.
We rounded another corner, and what was that? Off in the middle of the field, a flash of white coat with a grey mane and tail. It was a wild horse!
I was so excited and I snapped about 10 zillion pictures of it. I am serious.
But then we went around the next curve and look what we saw????
It was a whole herd of wild horses! My hands were shaking as I was clicking the camera over and over as quick as I could.
Some of the pictures are a bit blurry, but in my mind, they showed the beauty of the landscape behind, as well as the horses in the foreground. I tried as close as I could to zoom in on them.
Then I took the time to take a deep breath, brace my elbows on a pillow on the edge of the window, and I could finally get some good shots. Look at these beautiful healthy animals!!!
Yep, my bucket list was complete for Teddy Roosevelt National Park.
I saw the wild horses...
We went as far as the road signs directed us at Buck Hill. Now it was time to turn around and drive back through the same route that we came.
The temperature now had crept up into the '90s. We weren't even barely past 2:00 p.m. So we knew it was going to continue to get hotter throughout the entire afternoon. So it's probably best to work our way back through the park with our roof-top air conditioning going full blast and enjoy the scenery on the way out.
It was just as pretty as on the way in. We didn't see any other wildlife, but it was really interesting to have seen the things from another direction than we did on the way in.
We left the park and headed further east towards the town of Dickinson.
I had looked ahead on the Google Maps to see what was in the small town of Dickinson. I was quite pleased to see that there was another GODFATHER'S PIZZA!
If you remember, on our way heading out at the beginning of our trip the end of April, we found a Godfather's Pizza at a small gas station in Minnesota, right before we crossed the border into Canada. We splurged that time for my absolute favorite "classic combo" pizza with deep dish crust.
So we worked our way into the small town of Dickinson and ordered up another "classic combo" for dinner tonight. No cooking for us...
Silly Steve grabbed my video camera and made a funny skit of me bringing the pizza out of the gas station. You will have to go to the YouTube link on the next video to see it. I don't have it yet edited for the one posted below.
By the time we reached the campground, we were hot and tired and ready to eat our pizza.
That was enough traveling for us today...
Here is the YouTube that goes along with today's blog:
Now that we have crossed into the United states, it is time to make our way across Montana. I was snapping some photos and this one happened to be my absolute favorite! I think it's somewhere between Shelby and Havre on US 2.
I think that it's going in my top five photos of the entire trip...
To me, it almost looks like a woven tapestry
or someone stitched it with crewel threads
on a canvas and added cotton or lambswool
to the top section.
I am always thinking in fiber themes?
Anyhow, back to the trip. Now that we are in Montana, this is really "Big Sky Country". Looking about in 360°, and not seeing any mountains is really a big sensation change from the day or two before up in the Canadian Rockies.
As we neared Shelby, Montana it was time to turn and go east on Route US 2. You see, US 2 is close to my heart because it drives entirely across the top of the United States and right through my hometown of Iron River, Michigan. It rolls off the tongue in the common vernacular of people in the area, on the radio station, on TV commercials, or anyone giving directions or talking about going somewhere. US 2 means that main highway that takes you across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was kind of heartwarming to see that familiar nostalgic road sign.
We drove along quite a ways until we were getting close to Havre. Steve had found a little BLM land campground called Fresno Dam. It is sponsored by the Fresno chapter of Walleyes Unlimited. There's no fee to camp there, but they ask that you leave a donation if you can.
We pulled on in and found a beautiful spot right along the ledge overlooking the lower parking areas and the swimming beach. There was a nice breeze coming across the reservoir.
There were about four or five other campers there, but room for maybe 30 or so?
There aren't any hookups, but there is a pit toilet and picnic tables available. It was just perfect to get off the road far enough that we don't hear any noise from the highway.
We found a perfect spot in the shade...
There was a little donation box attached to the wall by the pit toilet. We popped in a $20 bill and hope it helps. We appreciate having a nice safe spot to park for the night.
On the path down to the lake, we saw this little sign showing appreciation for our donations and who is sponsoring and maintaining this area.
Some stairs led from our camping level to the two layers of parking lots below as well as the harbor, boat landing and swimming area. Further up above us there was another road that swung off with additional campsites. But we think it would be a lot windier up there.
We looked on the map, and this reservoir was really very large. I suppose it is a favorite among the fishermen. We didn't see too many there, but it was during the week and there were pretty strong winds blowing. Maybe not the best weather for fishing, there might have been a storm cutting across from the West to the East on the weather map.
Another family had pulled in to the campground, and donned their swimsuits and headed down to the beach for some swimming. On their way back up, they said it was nice--- but the water was cold.
By sunset, some of the wildfire smoke began to appear. It made for an absolutely beautiful sunset but we could catch a whiff of it in the air with the increasing wind.
All in all, we had a pretty relaxing night. We heard a few fishermen pull in early in the morning and go down to the lowest level of the parking lot.
We hit the road early and started our Eastward trek across the state. We had actually made reservations for the first time on our entire trip. We knew the temperatures were going to increase today as well as the amount of wildfire smoke in the air. We had decided we wanted to be sure of having a campsite with full hookups or at least electricity to get through the evening. So we started by hitting the road by 8:00 a.m. then we could maybe be somewhere by noon for our reservation...
We first stopped in the small town of Havre at their Walmart and stocked up. Remember, we had used up all of our produce and eggs and any fresh meats for the border crossing. So we were able to grab all of our familiar items that we wanted to reload the refrigerator. Enough to get us through the next few days.
We really enjoyed this gorgeous scenery along the way! But we could see the smoke coming down from the north...
To the south, as we drove heading east, it wasn't too bad. We loved seeing the ranches, and the rolling countryside. Every now and then there were herds of cattle. And a lot of open space.
Some areas look so barren. I'm not sure if this is windswept so much that nothing grows here, or was something already harvested?
Every now and then, we passed a little crossroads. Once in awhile there were little buildings that are like this. Kind of scrabbled together or added on. I wonder if originally this was a schoolhouse, or maybe a church, or maybe an inn?
Once in a while, sticking up out of nowhere, would be a clump of cottonwood trees. You can pretty much bet there's a spring underneath there, allowing them to flourish in the wide open prairie.
Many of the little towns we were driving through exist right alongside of the railroad tracks. Almost everyone has an abandoned or defunct granary. This is where the farmers would all bring their crops to be shipped out on the next train. Nowadays, shiny new harvester silos line the railroad tracks instead of these huge old buildings. They are rusting away and falling apart.
As we drove along, the terrain changed off in the distance. We could see the faint outline of some mountains through the smoky atmosphere of the wildfires. Yes, the smoke was catching up to us!
The clouds were also looking darker, so I don't know if the storms were going to circumvent around us or if it was just going to be a rain shower. Not being familiar with this area, I don't know how to "read" the clouds or their formations. To me they look ominous and scary!
But as we drove a long, some of them seem to reduce in size and whisp away in parts. This would expose patches of blue dky overhead. I looked on the wildfire maps and the air quality hazard distance. They are kind of random in this area. Some showed high and some showed low. So I think we were right on the fringe edge?
"Oh beautiful for spacious skies
and amber waves of grain"
How perfectly said.
America the Beautiful.
I think it was maybe written about exactly this... We saw how vast the fields are and watched them undulate and dip and sway in the breeze.
We drove along until we needed to make a turn to the south towards Fort Peck.
This was our FIRST time making RESERVATIONS on this entire trip!!!
We were already familiar with this park because we had been here last year. We had been attempting to drive on US 2 all the way out to Washington State. But we got this far in August 2024 and the wildfire smoke was so bad that we turned around and went back home.
So here we are again, almost a year later, trying to hide out here with electrical plug-ins so we could keep the windows shut to hide from the smoke.
We already knew the layout of the park and knew every single site was level and beautiful and shaded. So it was very easy to go online and look for a site. We had gone online the day before and there were no sites available. But Steve went back online again towards evening, and we found one single site available! Someone must have canceled, and we were able to snap it up!
This is a very nice park run by the Army Corps of Engineers. They also honor our America the Beautiful Senior Access Pass which gives us half price on their $25 camping fee. So we were staying here with electric hookups for $12.50.
There is a dump station near the entrance to the park as well as water spigot spaced around in the park at various places to fill your holding tank before you get into your campsite.
They have showers and firewood available to purchase.
We were reserved on site number 3. They are long deep sites with tall shady trees overhead. But not so many that it obstructed our Starlink. The electric posts are located nice and deep in the site so you don't need a long electric cord or extensions to reach the post. The picnic tables are heavy concrete and was a little more forward than we would have preferred. But it would work out just fine to grill out our dinner for the evening.
The temperatures were rising throughout the day, and the forecast was get into the high 80s and low 90s. We sure were glad to be able to be plugged in and turn on the air conditioning.
This was the "backyard" to our campsite. Such lovely wide open space of neatly cut lawn. It was just perfect to take Nick out on his long flexi lead to burn off some of his energy.
Nick will never, ever be let off lead no matter how much we think he will listen. Because he suddenly thinks he can fly after birds or airplanes or anything else he will launch his little body up in the air and try to follow whatever it is he sees. He turns immediately deaf to anybody calling him, and focuses only on the bird. He thinks he can fly with them!!!
So in this photo below he is definitely on a secure harness double clipped to his collar and the harness with a sturdy flexi lead cord.
We have taught him to run around us in large circles, kind of like a horse on a lounge line. We can get him to burn off his energy by racing around and around and around. We encourage him by chanting "run run run" to keep him moving and burn off all of his pent-up energy. By him going around us in circles while we stand in the middle stationary, he gets in a lot more exercise than if we were just walking him on the leash. Just look at him go...
While I was exercising the goofy boy out back, Steve was getting out the grill and starting to cook our dinner.
While at Walmart earlier in the day we had picked up some steaks. We know they are not top quality. But we were going to grill them up anyhow. Steve had marinated them in the fridge in a Ziploc bag for most of the day while we were driving. While he got out the grill, I made some baked potatoes and some salads with our fresh new produce.
I know it looks like a lot of meat for two people. We would slice up the leftovers into little strips and freeze them to use in a stir fry later. Actually, they weren't too bad.
TOAST to another day of safe driving and seeing beautiful vistas across the state of Montana.
Dinner wasn't too bad after all, steaks were surprisingly tender. Nick got a little teeny piece as he waited patiently under the picnic table.
We relaxed outside for the evening for a while, but traveling over 500 miles in the last 2 days has worn us down a bit. It wasn't too long before we were toddling off to bed.
Thankful that we had a campsite with electric hookups to run the air conditioner because things were getting more hot and more humid and a little more smokey...
Steve sat out to finish his beer while I headed inside to make up the bed and get in my jammies.
Sweet dreams.
Here is the YouTube video that goes along with today's blog:
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