July 4, 2013 - Refrigerator Issues and a Travel Day

Happy Independence Day to All!

Well, I woke up at 2 this morning, checked the refrigerator and it was 55 degrees - Crap!  That was the end of my sleep for a while.  Andy got up and we spent the next hour discussing what to do.  We did go back to bed for a few hours and then we were up and packing up.  At 8 AM, we started the generator and tried a few of the things mentioned in the service manual.  Didn’t work at all - .  Between the heat, humidity, bugs, and frig - I was not a happy camper.

So off we went..... Andy went to Watford City with the MH and parked in the fairgrounds area.  I went to a few stores for ice and Styrofoam coolers.  This is fourth of July - finding both was not easy.  I did get enough ice between two stops but only found one cooler.

I caught up with Andy at the fairgrounds where we broke down the ice into smaller bags and stuffed in the freezer and refrigerator.  We were able to pack a few things in that smaller cooler and hopefully that will be okay. 

So off we went to Minot City where there are a few RV repair shops.

We took SR-23 east out of Watford City.  They are still drilling east of here:

And still putting in pipes:

But there were still some great sites along the way:

Lake Sakakawea:

East of the lake we started to see a lot of water.  We do not if this is normal for this time of year or if they had experienced a lot of rain:

Notice the dots in the above picture?  Well we went thru a couple swarms of bugs - BIG bugs.  What a mess!

Looks like a bug - or maybe a spaceship - LOL!:

We were going to stay at the Moose Lodge in Minot where they had RV camping (according to the Moose site), but when we got there, there were a few signs that stated “No overnight camping.”  The lodge was locked up and the two numbers I called did not help - Oh my! Not what??   Well, we had lunch, while I looked up places to stay.  I called four places and guess what - no answer.  Sheesh.  So we unhooked the Tracker and off we went with the addresses of the campgrounds.  At the first one, the office was locked up and it looked like they were all long term.  The second place was the fairgrounds - could not find the campground nor could anyone tell us where it was .  The third place we just drove on by - scary!  The fourth place had two spots for overnighters.  Turns out that they are mostly all long term sites too.  We talked with the hosts who were great folks and told us they could give us one night. 

We started back to the Moose Lodge to pick up the MH with a short stop at Wal-Mart for coolers first.   Back at the campground we set up and turned on the AC - it was HOT!  And on a lark, we put the refrigerator on electric to see what happens.  As the hours passed the refrigerator got colder and colder and started to work again.  We will wait to see what happens overnight.

This was not one of my better days but as we listened to the news tonight about the memorial for the 19 Arizona firefighters, I thought to myself “And I am upset about a refrigerator working and about being too hot”! - Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it.

Please keep those families in your prayers.

Enjoy today and stay tuned for our next adventure!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 147 Miles

Routes Traveled:

North Dakota: US-85; SR-23; US-2B; US-2

July 3, 2013 Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit

This morning we woke to this guy visiting the campground area:

Oh-Oh.  He sees me:

We made our way to the visitor center to watch the movie on the park and to take in the exhibits.  We found out that the visitor center is shutting down as of July 17, due to the ground shifting and making the building unstable - .  They will be housed in a temporary building in the campground.

We talked with the ranger on some of the hiking in the park and where I could find a prairie dog town.  Hopefully we will get there over the next day or so.  (I just love watching the prairie dogs.)

After our visit, we decided to take the 14 mile scenic drive through the park.  The route has 10 overlooks; it starts first in the valley where we are looking up at the walls; it then climbs to the top with views of the grasslands and the canyons below.

So come along with me on our drive:

We have now climbed up to the plateau.  That is the Little Missouri River:

The end of the drive.  Grasslands as far as we could see.

Flowers all over:

What a wonderful drive!  We headed back, had lunch, and then took a little drive south and north of the park.  This is a beautiful area.

Back home, we cooked supper over the fire.  But we did not sit out very long - too hot and bugs galore - .

We may be having a problem with our refrigerator.  Since we are boondocking, it is on gas.  It seems to be having a problem keeping cool.  We are not sure if it just the outside temperature or if we are having a problem.  Tonight will tell.

Enjoy today!

July 2, 2013 Travel to Teddy Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

We left our little spot this morning heading north to Glasgow then east on US-2.

Past large stretches of farms and ranches - the railroad tracks on one side and electricity on the other.

The pictures do not really reflect the vividness of this yellow color - it is beautiful:

As we got closer to the border of Montana and North Dakota, the scenery started to change.  This is where the big oil boom is now taking place.  Lots of construction all over.  For miles along US-2, each side is being dug up.  In some areas, it looks like they are widening the roads, in other areas, they are laying down pipes - water? oil? or both depending on the area???

We were through this area in 2007 when it was all sleepy little towns.  Now it reminds me of the stories I read about with the gold rushes and the stories I heard during the building of the Alaskan pipeline.  There are lots of jobs here, not only with the oil business but with all the infrastructure needed to support the increased population.

Burning off the gases:

Oil rigs all over:

Lots (and lots) of temporary housing:

Oil Storage Tanks all over (notice the horses in front):

Many of these dot the landscape:

And in between - farms and ranches.  I love this contrast - there was a cloud overhead:

Drilling a new oil well:

More temporary housing:

Farms and oil rigs in the background:

This is Watford City - most of these buildings are all new since the oil boom. 

And we finally made it to Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit.

The campground was almost empty and it was beautiful.  There is no hookups and it is suppose to be hot so we will see how long we last - LOL!  We are hoping to stay thru the weekend and for $5.00/night - pretty good deal!  However there is no internet or cell service - .  Oh well, I could always go into town.

We did decide to head into town to check it out - plus we needed gas for our generator.  As we left the campground, the local herd was crossing the road.  The babies were so cute - .

Town was so crowded - WOW!  We stopped in the American Legion for happy hour and supper.  We talked with a few of the locals and it was interesting to say the least.  The pros of this boom is that it brings lots of jobs.  But the cons is that prices have gone sky high.  We met one woman who lived here most of her life.  Her landlord doubled the price of her apartment and she is now living with friends - she could not afford it any more.  (These stories really remind me of the books on the gold rush days.)  Very interesting.

Back home we were entertained by the herd close to our RV.  Dusty and Bella were fascinated.  I could not get any pictures because of the dusk and I did not want to use flash.

Tomorrow we will be exploring the park so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 199 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Montana: Yellowstone Road; SR-117; US-2

North Dakota: US-2; US-85