Oh where to begin…the last few days have been full of fun in Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND.
We officially made it into North Dakota on Friday afternoon and drove to South Heart, where we stayed at our first Harvest Host on their 10-acre land plot. The dogs and little boys loved having so much space to run and play after having been cooped up in the RV all day. An antelope guest made his surprise appearance on the edge of the field and watched us watch him before bounding away over a hill.
We arrived at the south side of the park on Saturday around mid-morning and drove the scenic route as far as we were allowed in our big rig based on turn-around space. Along the way, we spotted bison, feral horses, and prairie dogs.
There were also a couple of scenic outlooks we hiked to off the main road. One unfortunate part of the high altitude was the hordes of “no-see-ums” that swarmed us as soon as we stepped out of the RV. There was an awful lot of arm and face slapping because as a book once said “They sure ain’t no-feel-ums!” With the exception of the bugs, the outlooks were lovely and worth the short hikes to get to them.
Later that evening we went to Medora’s 5th annual rodeo and enjoyed the western experience, especially with the rugged Badland backdrop. The little boys were excited to participate in the Kids’ Boot race and Levi proved to be one of the faster runners, although he had a hard time finding his shoes in the pile. It was a very eventful rodeo, with bronco and bull riding, barrel racing, calf roping, breakaway roping, and more. It was a great way to end our first evening in the West.
Yesterday morning, we attended Medora’s tiny Union Congregational church service where there was a total of 17 attendees, of which we provided eight. The church is currently without an official pastor, but the guest pastor Jules Ostrander and his wife Lynette led the service. The sermon was very powerful, challenging the congregation to consider whether they are truly pursuing Jesus fully; Are we willing to go wherever God wants, when He wants, in order to do whatever He wants? After service, we enjoyed connecting with Pastor Jules and his wife for a while. He gifted us with a copy of his new book God’s Cowboy which we’ve begun reading together as a family.
After church, Dad, the big boys, Maleah and I hiked Butte Trail, which proved to be more intense than we expected. What looked like stairs from the bottom of the path ended up being a cable ladder. On the descent, there were large sections of the trail that were about 18 inches wide with sheer rock going up on one side and a cliff on the other. No guardrails or handrails, and packed dirt paths…definitely not a trail that should be hiked when wet. We survived though and absolutely loved it! Probably a good thing though that Mom and the little boys stayed at the bottom :)
After working up an appetite during that strenuous hike, we were ready for a good solid meal. The Medora Farmhouse Café had amazing food for very reasonable prices, and no one had any complaints about their food. We were planning to leave for Montana right after we ate, but discovered we had a black tank issue when dumping…and it didn’t prove to be an easy fix, especially for newbies like us. We're enjoying the learning curve of how to live in an RV and manage all the resources/utilities, both on and off the grid, but it does slow us down a bit.
The guys and Mom worked on clearing out the tank for several hours last night and most of this morning. We are theorizing that the previous owners of Kram-A-Lot Inn didn’t do a great job taking care of their black tank because we were cleaning out way more waste than we should have been. Wasn’t pleasant, but it was necessary and most of the “poop pyramid” has been removed. There’s still some more cleaning to be done and a potential sensor issue to be dealt with, but that will happen once we reach Billings, MT which is where we are currently headed. We’ll be staying with another Harvest Host tonight about twenty minutes east of Billings and arrive in the city tomorrow morning.
Wow, that’s a much longer post than usual, but there was a lot to catch up on! North Dakota was a beautiful place to spend a few days, and a couple of us are already talking about wanting to return there someday. God’s handiwork and creativity was truly displayed in this rugged, but lovely state, so different from the hustle and bustle we are used to in the Twin Cities.
Until next time, God bless!
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