8-16-17 (Day 16 - West End Campground, Fort Peck Lake)

                                                                 Foggy start today

I asked Lauren this morning, reckon how far we will go today, he responded, maybe 20 miles or maybe more, whatever we find that we like the looks of.   After about 150 miles we found the spot that we loved the looks of.  We have a campsite on a hill overlooking Fort Peck Lake.  Awesome, gotta stay here at least a couple of days

Ferny Kat decided to throw a few fits on the ride over here today.  At one point as she was raising heck looking out the passenger window of the back seat, Lauren rolled down the window. Usually, she would quieten down, cause she don't like her hair to blow in the wind.  It wasn't a usual day.  She stuck her head out the window like a dog, would do, and got some fresh Montana , I'm looking at the Big Sky, air.  Once we got her head back in, she settled down for the rest of the ride .

We decided it was a chill out kind of day.  We sat around in the shade in the 90'ish degree weather with very low humidity, (which by the way, was another awesome).  We took a long hot shower in the shower house right across the road, fried some fish, and watched a gorgeous sunset.  All the while, Amber sat resting under the shade tree patiently waiting to take us on a tour of the lake tomorrow.

We felt right at home when we talked to a fisherman catching land locked King Salmon and the words "Happy Hour" called out from the camp host site.


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8-15-17 (Day 15 - Trenton Lake, ND)

It was a great sleeping night last night listening to the rain peppering on the roof top.  We awoke to a cloudy, windy, cool morning, with a muddy road.  It was time to move on.

After 71 country miles, we are at Trenton Lake in North Dakota.  We have electric hookups and non potable water.  After smelling the non potable water, we opted to use our reserve water in the holding tank.

We had never been to a Harley shop in North Dakota. We made a trek to Black Magic Harley Davidson in Williston, ND to buy a tee shirt and a few other items. A very nice place with excellent customer service.

Ferny Kat came out as we grilled our Walmart steak this evening and gave her approval of the campsite.  We watched the boats, skiers, and tubers playing in the water.

The sun finally came out, helping to diminish the gnat population, as we watched the boats load at the boat ramp.


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8-14-17 (Day 14 - Teddy Roosevelt North Unit)

Turkeys came for a visit this morning while we were drinking our coffee.

We found out what we thought was a bumper crop of crab apples were actually wild plums.  They are pretty good when they get good and ripe.

We really enjoyed the South entrance of Teddy's National Park so we decided to check out the North side.  We traveled 73 miles to Summit Campground.

This is our kind of place.  3 RV sites with no hookups and no one here but us.   Shortly after we were parked, we saw a deer.  Lauren went to grab the camera while the deer was grabbing dirt.  Hence, no picture.

We took a ride a few miles up the road to the North entrance.  It was really laid back.  It was similar to the South entrance, only a much more diversity of colors and greenery, and  fewer tourist.

We saw a some longhorns, a few buffalo, some deer, and a bunch of pretty scenery.

It was cloudy, and looked like rain when we returned back to our prairie campsite on the hill. A few sprinkles, and a lot of wind, drove us inside.

We cooked hamburgers in the electric skillet while the batteries were charging from the generator. The down side to solar are these cloudy days.

We are in for the night with no rain as of yet.

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8-13-17 (Day 13 - Enchanted Highway)

                                                                morning walk

We were all snug as a bug in a rug this morning, until I made the mistake of hot flashing and threw my leg out from under the covers, invaded the Ferny Kat space, I then got bit, (pretty much just a nibble,) which woke everyone up.

It was on.  Ferny Kat never has anything to do with me, for the most part, she started PURRING!! She woke me up every time I dozed off to make sure that I petted her.  This cat ain't right.

                                                         cg view from the overlook

It was a cold, cloudy, in the low 50's morning.  We strolled around the campground a few times, hiked up a hill to the Buffalo Gap Overlook, (I slittered down the steep backside,) ate lunch, and waited for the sun.

Finally we had sunshine around noonish, time to ride.

We rode the interstate to Enchanted Highway.  We usually avoid the interstate but there is not much traffic in this area and the back roads around here are gravel.  A no brainier.

It was a splendid ride through the farming land.  At one point, we saw what looked like a blue lake in front of a Windmill field, realized it was a some sort of crop of blue.  Totally gorgeous.  Found out later the so called blue lake was Flax.

The seven metal sculptures in the 32 mile stretch are amazing and definitely enchanting!!

We stopped in town for ice cream and continued on our way.  We made a stop at Wally World for some chicken to grill and checked out another beautiful boondocking spot.

Of course, Ferny Kat was ready to come outside when we got home.  She has been chasing bunny rabbits and birds in her little part of paradise.

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8-12-17 (Day 12 - Teddy Roosevelt National Park)

It was a cool morning with the temperature in the low 50's.  Ferny Kat was all cuddled up with us, snoring this morning, when Lauren woke her up.  Pay back for all those mornings she woke Lauren out of a deep sleep, which by the way, doesn't happen very often.

It was a beautiful morning as we watched a flock of turkeys walking in our yard, while eating breakfast.

                                                                     turkeys

We rode a few miles east on I 94 to Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  There were big piles of hail leftover from last nights thunderstorm and leaves covering the ground that had been knocked out of the trees.  Luckily, our weather wasn't that bad last night.

We were very impressed with Roosevelt's cabin.  It was small, but all you really need to live comfortably.

It was a very pretty 36 mile ride through the Badlands in the park, watching thousands of prairie dogs, lots of buffalo, wild horses, and one buck .  It had a lot more greenery than the Badlands in South Dakota.

We had a great picnic lunch in the Cottonwood Picnic Area, motored the last 5 miles of the park, then headed through downtown Medora to catch I 94 east.

We took in some more gorgeous scenery at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center where we watched several wild horses on a ledge across the canyon.

It was time to head to the camper.  We decided to make one last stop to check out a boon docking spot.

We got on I 94 west then took some gravel roads on Amber, The Asphalt Queen, to check out another good looking boondocking area. It was secluded and beautiful.  Our kind of place.

We saw the dark skies in the direction of home.  We pulled over, put on our rain gear, and toughed it out.  Luckily, it was only 14 miles to the camper and only hard rain, not lightening and hail.

We hung up all our wet clothes in the garage, watched the lightening bolts dancing in the dark skies, thought we were done for the day, then this beautiful rainbow appeared on the hill.  We love rainbows.

We took a short stroll, grilled some pork chops and sweet potatoes while Ferny Kat explored the jungle in our back yard.

It cooled off fast tonight.  We are inside with all  the windows closed thinking about turning on the heater.

Da Pictures are here:

8-11-17 (Day 11 - Buffalo Gap Campground)

                                                           Headed north on country roads

We really wanted to stay a few more days near Sturgis, but wanted to get to our next adventure.  Been there, done that, never been to North Dakota, so it was time to move on.

We got off the interstate and took the country roads.  We had a great lunch standing outside at the South Dakota/North Dakota state line pull out, while watching prong horns grazing across the road.

                                                                 lunch stop

 After 279 miles of hay, horses, cattle, prairie dogs, grass fields, wheat fields, sunflower fields, dead deer on the side of the road, and numerous prong horn grazing, we have reached our little place of paradise.

We are at Buffalo Gap Campground in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, overlooking a hill of grass sweeping in the wind.

We have no electricity, no water, an awesome, somewhat secluded campsite, and are  living, (slightly), off the grid with the solar Lauren has installed.  We would not have phone or internet  service without weboost assistance.

Ferny Kat is in cat heaven.  She keeps going inside to rest, but doesn't stay long.  She loves hunting in the grass.  Another Ferny Kat approved campground.

After grilling a burger and calling it a night, (although it is still daylight outside), it came a thunderstorm.  Mother Nature put on a pretty show right about dark.

By the way, we haven't seen any buffalo at Buffalo Gap Campground.  LOL


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8-10-17 (Day 10 - Custer State Park and Needles Highway)

It was cold, cloudy, and in the low 60's riding today.  We listened, to classic rock riding through the country.  I thoroughly enjoyed singing along with the 80's songs.  It's a good thing the rumbling drowned me out so no one else had to hear me sing.

We went a short distance from the campground to Custer State Park and rode the Wildlife Loop.  The wildlife were scarce.  We saw lots of birds, prairie dogs, burros, and finally on the last mile of the loop, saw a few buffalo.  A little disappointing but still a pretty ride.

We puttered on to Needles Highway, pulling over to let the ones in a hurry go on by so we could take our time and enjoy the scenery.  We saw a few more buffalo,  one turkey, and several mountain goats. We stopped for a break at one of the overlooks and got our picture taken with some Italian bikers.  The next stop was The Eye of the Needle and it was as spectacular as before when we were here.

We came back through Mount Rushmore and Keystone, then took Highway 40 back to camp.  We saw a lot of deer on Highway 40 grazing in the fields.  Another peaceful ride.

We made a quick trip to Wally World, fueled up the truck, loaded Amber, and are pulling out heading North tomorrow.

                                                           Plenty of bikes in Rapid City also

I made a good ole' pot of chili tonight.  We sat by the campfire and could see the movie  on the drive in theater screen in the nearby field.  Campfires in August and Drive In Movie theaters are a rarity down South.

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