RV Adventure Summer 2014

July 19, 2014

Medora, North Dakota

THE DAKOTA BADLANDS

There is not much in Medora. It is a small, quaint little community - one of those, "Don't blink or you'll miss it" type of towns. Still, it is obvious that the people here are proud of their town and do everything possible to make tourist like us comfortable.

What is here that I have longed to see are the Dakota Badlands. They are majestic, different and speak of history at every mountain, mineral formation and grassland.

We started our tour of the Badlands by entering Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The "loop" through the park is about 36 miles - much less than we encountered in Yellowstone. The scenery is breathtaking. There is nothing on the east coast to compare to this.

While we have previously encountered Buffalo, or Bison, in South Dakota and Wyoming, it was still exciting to come across a heard of the huge animals in this park. But, perhaps one of the most interesting animals we encountered were the little Prairie Dogs. There were thousands of these little critters either playing, standing outside their underground burrows or digging new holes. It is hard to believe how dangerous the underground homes were (are) to horses that could easily drop a hoof into a hole and come up lame.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is also home to wild horses. They live, breed and gallantly run across the plains unencumbered by man or his saddle. I was told that they are occasionally checked by a Veterinarian to be sure they remain healthy and disease free.

Nancy, Margaret and I decided to visit the "Petrified Forest" in the park. Here you can see the fossil remains of trees that stood tall and mighty some 58 million years ago. This entire area was formed by volcanoes, ice sheets, rain and wind. The softer rocks quickly dissolved away from the more dense material leaving behind some pretty strange looking formations. Anyway, to get to the petrified forest we had to drive 7 miles down a red dirt road and then hike another 1-1/2 mile through the Badlands. The red dust from the road billowed up in huge clouds and penetrated every crack and crevasse on the truck. Poop from wandering cattle and Buffalo along the road splattered up under the fenders coating the rear flaps with the grassy mess. Fortunately, I was able to wash much of the dust off today thanks to a kind manager at the campground. Vehicle washing is not normally allowed.

Torbin and Patty joined our caravan yesterday - we now have four Cedar Creek's heading for FROG. Skip and Susan should join us when we reach Superior.

Tonight all four of us (couples) are going to the Medora Musical, billed as a fantastic outdoor on-stage show and an event called the "Pitchfork Fondue" where steaks are put onto the prongs of a pitchfork and roasted over a bed of hot coals. It will be interesting to see just how this works out.

I will share some photos and comments about this event the next time I have a chance to add to the blog.

Tomorrow we leave Medora and head completely across North Dakota to Barnesville, just east of Fargo. Barnesville is actually just a overnight stopping place.

For those that asked, Oscar is doing just fine. He constantly enjoys exploring the new smells found at each campground or stopping place. Nancy gave him a bath today and the red dirt just rolled off discoloring the water in the bottom of the shower. He is not too keen of baths but we now have a nice clean puppy. I hope he can stay that way for at least a few days.