Turnaround on US 2 - Day 12 - Patterson Lake, Dickinson ND

 I am way way way behind in posting these blogs. I got the photos on and I never got around to finishing all of the dialogue. 

We left Fort Peck, Montana as the smoke was just getting to be way too much. 

We drove down a very scenic road but really couldn't see a lot of things. Once we reached highway 200 the smoke cleared up a little bit.

I was using my inhaler a lot, but also both of us had very itchy eyes and it was not comfortable in the least.

Just after getting out of Glendive Montana, a passing semi flung up rocks ... Danged if we didn't get a huge chip in our windshield!!!

We do carry a windshield repair kit with us. We contacted our insurance agent because we do have an extra glass policy rider on our insurance. They suggested if we could get to a location where Safelite could reach us it's better to let them do a chip repair than for us to put the goop in ourselves. With our policy we don't pay a penny if we opt for the chip repair. If for some reason the entire windshield needs to be changed it's only $500 deductible. Since it was a round circular chip and not spreading in any direction, we decided to just hold on and see how far we could get...  We were basically out in the middle of nowhere.

We crossed into North Dakota later that afternoon.

Now it was time to drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking!!!!

I know pictures can never do it justice. We tried to see about getting a reservation but couldn't get in. Just driving through was absolutely beautiful.

I think next time we get through this area, we will plan a few days stay at this park.

We'd pass through various areas of oil pumps scattered among the countryside. The strange sunlight coming through the haze really gave things a funny eerie yellow glow. It was almost like a Mad Max movie terrain where everything looks sandy and dirty.

There's actually sunshine on these fields, and some clouds but mostly haze. You can see the bright spots and then the darker spots. I guess maybe it was better that we turned around and kept heading back towards Wisconsin...

After we had driven 235 miles we decided to pull off at a small city run campground near Dickinson North Dakota. It was called Patterson Lake and their rates are $25 a night. But for seniors you get it for only $15.  We really didn't look too closely at the location, just that we were happy to pull into someplace. Like a safe port in the storm.  We had electric and water and a pretty level campsite. We really didn't even check out the shower buildings or the bathrooms. We walked a little bit down to the edge of the lake but came right back because the smoke and the humidity was just too much.

We decided to get some dinner going. Steve was working in the kitchen and I was checking the weather reports. As you can see on the screen, things are still trending warmer and there was a humidity spike. The big storms down south were pushing their way upwards along with the humid hot weather. Ugh!

It was so hot and muggy, we decided to set up the pressure cooker outside. I love taking my instapot along. We tossed in a big pork roast and when that was almost done, we opened it up and tossed in some potatoes and carrots.

The campsite was pretty nice. They were close together to each other but they were separated by rows of lilac bushes. Every time we opened the door, the lilac bushes were full of birds singing. It was a really pleasant effect.

Sooner dinner was ready. When I went out to release the steam on the final session, our neighbors were sitting out by their picnic table. They said it smelled so good they wanted to come over for dinner!

The campsites were long and narrow and backed up against a row of bushes behind where this picnic table on fire pit are. We really didn't go back there so we really didn't look that close and what was behind the bushes.

We went to bed early, and we had the air conditioning running full blast. We didn't know until the middle of the night what was behind those bushes. I guess you're just going to have to watch this video to find out what it was...

Lol!

We traveled 235 miles today

That is 1,357 miles so far 

We fueled up at a cenex for $3.69 a gallon diesel, and we're only averaging 12.71 mph gallon. We were fighting some headwinds and side winds and that made an effect on our fuel mileage

Westbound on US 2 - Day 11 WILDFIRE SMOKE TURNAROUND in Montana!!!

We left Little Egypt County Park in North Dakota, and headed further west. Stopped in Williston to fuel up. Prices were a little higher for fuel than they were in the Eastern part of the state for diesel. $3.74 a gallon, but that was premium diesel. We prefer to run premium diesel if it's available. 

We headed west and crossed into Montana, and things got pretty flat...  Big Sky country for sure.

Off to the North and the West, the wildfire smoke was getting thicker and darker.

We started pulling up some of the wildfire smoke warnings and the air quality reports being issued. This is basically the direction we were going... Right into the worst of it!

We cruised along, merrily enjoying the smoother roads and the gently rolling landscape.  Montana's roads were definitely in better shape than what they were in North Dakota. We encountered very little road construction. Most of it was already done with smooth roads ahead.

We saw some really pretty terrain, through the smoke haze, and wished the sun had been out to really see the details and the landscape.

We saw little vignettes in the countryside, like this little church. Perhaps it had been a school? I think it was a church because of the windows.  Made us think of the people who came through this area long ago. The hardships they suffered to get this far. Then to create a community and find a way to scrape out a living or achieve sustenance. And still have time to gather and worship and erect a building for meeting. The heart of the community.

Well, as long as we stayed inside the motorhome with the air conditioning on, creating a positive pressure outwards, we weren't smelling too much of the smoke. But when we would stop to fuel up, or walk the dog, the smoke was very heavily present in the air. 

For those of you who don't know, I had severe lung damage from a chemical spill years ago. I was on oxygen for many years. I've worked very hard to get my lungs to the point where they operate fully without needing assistance. I did use my inhaler three or four times during the day just to try to keep my airways open and functioning. I was not comfortable.

We had set our sights on going to Fort Peck Corps of Engineers Campground in Montana. We were checking the maps of ongoing wildfires in the area to the West and the North. That seemed to be where most of the wind was coming from. Things did not look good at all!  The air quality index was through the roof for any place we were thinking about going.

On top of the poor air quality, the other thing we were battling were the temperatures. Everything was going up up, and according to the weather channel they were going to see unseasonably warm high temperatures in the Montana and Oregon regions for the next two to three weeks.

What does that mean for us? It means staying inside with the air conditioning on and not even being able to boondock camp anywhere. It would mean that we would have to be in a park with electrical hookups, or run the generator constantly to have the air conditioning on.

We decided to forge ahead to Fort Peck Corps of Engineers Park. We had made reservations there for two nights. It is located down in a valley area right next to the dam. It's called the Downstream Campground.  We were hoping it would be a secluded area where the smoke would not bother us so much. 

It was a very nice campground with electric at our site for $25. After applying our Federal America the Beautiful Senior Pass, it was only $12.50 per night.

We tried to walk around a little bit. Just up to the attendant's booth by the host site and back. That was enough for me. The temperatures were increasing and it really was not very comfortable at all.

We stayed inside with the dog, and did a little internet research. The more we look ahead at weather and air quality, the less it looked like we would be able to continue our journey west.

We didn't even cook outside. I whipped up a meal of spaghetti and meatballs on the stove.  I'm glad I brought a variety of foods in the freezer, some that can be made inside and some that can be cooked outside on the Blackstone griddle.

We crawled into bed that night, hoping that maybe things would change in the morning. 

First thing looking out our window, we could barely see the edge of the dam and the distance. It's right at the edge of the campground. I think it got worse overnight.

These are the two towers by the electric generation plant, right next to the campground. We could barely see them through the haze.

So between the high temperatures and the wildfire smoke, we made the tough decision to abort the rest of our trip Westbound on US 2. 

As we were packing up, I made this little video about our decision. We did not make this decision lightly. We had really been looking forward to this trip.  

We notified the office that we would not need our campsite for the next night. That way somebody else could get it if they needed to. It was time to turn around and head back towards Wisconsin.

And if you think we are taking this wildfire smoke too dramatically, here is a shot of what it was like as we headed back...

We traveled 174 miles this day 

1,122 miles so far. 

Fueled up at $3.69 a gallon

We were fighting a headwind and side wind. 12.71 MPG 

Westbound on US 2 - Day 10 Little Egypt County Park on Lake Sakakawea ND

We left Devil's Lake on Grahams Island in North Dakota and headed on Westward. We were aiming our sights to get further west, maybe even into Montana.

The skies were dark and rumbly, and we had some intermittent rain on and off as we headed westward.

But it was soon getting worse in the skies were turning very dark. 

We stopped at a small town called Granville in North Dakota. They had a small city campground and we decided to pull over there and wait out the downpouring torrential rains.

Expected rainfall was approximately 2 inches, in torrential sheets. Good reason to be off the highway.

Here is a little clip while we waited: 

After the storm passed, we kind of glanced around the little city campground in Granville. If we really needed a place to pull over for the night, it would be pretty handy. But it was right by the highway.

Here is their website: 

https://www.granvillend.net/recreation

The only information we could find was that it was $10 a night. That might have been old information though. 

But once the skies cleared up a bit we figured we could head further west and maybe get into a little county park we had read about near Ray, North Dakota.

We love the changing terrain. We noticed some of the oil fields now as we were in the western side of North Dakota.

We even spotted out a couple "fixer uppers" in case we were so inclined....

The beauty of the terrain as it rolled out ahead of us. We were getting hillier and hillier and closer to our destination for the evening.

The sun managed to poke out a little bit, but notice the grey sky in the background. Those aren't clouds. That is campfire smoke blowing down from Saskatchewan, Canada. 

We saw some rangeland with cattle, and sometimes they were up near the road. Usually they were pretty far away. 

Soon we found our way down to this little county campground called Little Egypt in Williams County, North Dakota. We saw some pictures and read some reviews and thought this might be the type of place we would want to spend the night. 

Here's their website for more information:

https://www.williamsnd.com/little-egypt/

There are 21 sites, and a campground host. There are only pit toilets but there is a small dump station and water. We did read some warnings that the water had very high iron content, so we didn't use it. 

Most of the sites are pull through, all in a row up on the ridge overlooking the water. Four of them are down below in a little valley by the camp host site. Those might be nice if it's windy conditions?

These maps aren't the best, but it's what they had on their website that I could cut and paste.

The last section of road into the park is gravel, we drove along slowly admiring the beautiful Russian olive trees planted alongside the road.  The Russian olive trees extended through the campground along the backsides of all of the campsites. 

We chose a site and tried to get level. Up at the end where the trees were, to be in the shade, but it was really slanted and tilted. We had to pull forward on the site, almost to the front end of it to find a level spot. Now we were out in the wide open area and no shade.

If you are in a travel trailer you might have an easier time leveling yourself because a travel trailer will pivot in the middle. Raising the front or the rear helps with the leveling when there's only an axle in the center. 

But with a motorhome you are stuck with a more square shape, with wheels at each corner. It's a little more difficult to level. We finally did just as the skies opened up and started raining again!!!!

We could see the beach that was down over the ledge of the ridge, through the fence posts. We could faintly see the shore on the other side. It looked like it was going to be really interesting once the rain stopped.

It rainef and rained and rained for the entire afternoon. 

The best thing to do was to hook up the Starlink, which we did in the overhead skylight. Then we put on some old movies on Hulu and sprawled out across the bed. Nick enjoyed the afternoon very much, sprawled out between us.

Earlier in the day we had stopped for a few extra groceries. I was surprised to see our favorite brand of pizza that is made in Minnesota. We grabbed one and took it along for a quick meal if we were unable to cook outside.  It looked like tonight would be the night! Plus, it was taking up a lot of room in our little freezer.

I am so happy that we now have a propane oven in our motorhome. If you missed it, here is my YouTube about sacrificing a drawer and moving around a few things to have space to install this three burner RV stove with propane oven: 

https://youtu.be/lwlGvU7RPRg?si=h6kS85zINQPZCqVk

Also I am happy that a full size pizza pan fits inside of the oven. Turning on the oven light, I have an extra oven thermometer inside just to monitor the temps. We have to adjust the settings on the valve, we haven't done that yet.

Ahhhhhh in no time the whole camper smelled wonderful, and the pizza was ready. Nick helped us by eating a few of the crusts.

At just about dusk, the rain had stopped and we had enough time to get out and walk the dog. A tiny bit of sunshine was peeking through the clouds to the west. The weather report looked really good for the next day, minus of course the warnings about the wildfire smoke.

Ahhhhh The next morning was beautiful! We could now see across the lake. The name of the lake is Sakakawea, named after the famous Indian princess who helped with the Lewis and Clark expedition.  This is a full sunshine morning, but note the haze and the sky?

In this photo you can now see why we had to pull forward to get level on the pull through site. Back further into the trees is where it was tilted. If this were a hot day in the 90° sunshine, we might not have been so comfortable on this campsite.

We hooked the dog up to his harness and long leash. It was time to go to the beach!

What a wonderful time we had all morning out playing along on the sandy beach. Although there was a funny smell in the air, the smoke held off enough that we could really enjoy ourselves. I would love to stay here for a week if we could. This was a really really nice place...

I will let the photos speak for themselves:

Here's a YouTube that I made of our traveling that day with all the rain and then our evening as well as the morning on the beach. Please like and subscribe if you click on it? It's non-sponsored and I don't earn anything.  But the last part of the video is the fun part on the beach.

We made up a little lunch and then decided it was time to get moving further west. This was such a nice campground and the view out the front windshield was absolutely beautiful.  The winds seem to be coming up from the south which helped alleviate some of the wildfire smoke. The skies were actually looking blue again for a bit.

For only $15 a night, with electric hookups, this place really can't be beat. We walked up and down the rest of the sites. There were only three or four other campers here.

Just before we were ready to leave, three or four large trucks and trailers pulled in with a number of zero-turn riding lawn mowers and other lawn equipment. A whole crew of County workers hopped out and started working in the campground. It got noisy really quick. It was probably a really good time to leave!  At the other edge of the campground there was also a golf course that had mowing equipment out and about. I suppose after all of the rain, they were anxious to get things taken care of.

So off we went, heading towards Montana!!

We traveled 231 miles this day

That is 948 mi so far.

We fueled up for $3.74 for premium diesel and averaged 14.4 mpg