Sept. 13 and 14
Spent 2 nights in Medora N.D. in a nice wooded campground. Our reason for being here is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Looks a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota but there are lots of wild animals in the park. We saw a few buffalo and deer but I wanted to see the wild horses people told us about. We took the loop road around the park and took any roads that took off from the main road. We finally found the horses. They didn't look too wild as they just stood and let everyone that came by take their picture. Tried a new recipe on Dick tonight. I call it Laundry Room Chicken. It really has nothing to do with laundry but I got the recipe from a lady also doing her laundry. Dick really liked it.
Sept. 15
Drove all the way across North Dakota today and spent the night in Fargo on the Eastern edge of N.D.
Again saw acres of feed corn and sunflowers waiting to be harvested.
Sept. 16
Dropped into Minnesota today and went down the Western edge to Pipestone National Monument. That was an interesting place. Pipestone was and still is quarried by Indians. Even today they are the only ones allowed to quarry the pipestone. They used the stone to carve pipe stems. Today they carve many things out of the soft stone.
Sept. 17
Our next stop is Iowa. We wanted to go into Iowa to see where our friend Pat was raised. She always said how beautiful the country is close to the Mississippi River. Everything was surprisingly green for being September. The corn again was waiting to be harvested. The hardwood trees that covered the hills were beautiful. The tops are starting to turn and sometimes a whole tree is turned color. They said in a couple of weeks the fall colors will be there. We found another National Monument, Effigy Mounds. The mounds are found in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. Many mounds were destroyed by settlers who turned the land into farmland. The mounds origin and meaning remain a mystery. We finally saw the Mississippi River after leaving the mounds area and traveled towards Lansing Iowa. There are tree covered islands in the river so it doesn't look very wide. We went up a hill to an overlook and could see the river valley and really see the river. Before we left on Saturday morning an Amish woman had baked goods for sale in the campground. I bought cinnamon rolls, rye bread and pickled beets. We saw several Amish farmers markets along the way this morning.
Sept. 18 and 19
We are in Wisconsin and staying for 2 nights. The campground is called Sky High and is on Cascade Mountain. We had to laugh at that because it's more like a hill. They ski on this hill and there are even ski lifts. This campground is very large and caters to families. They have planned activities every weekend. This weekend was Halloween. The kids in costumes came around to trick or treat.
We drove to the town of Elkhorn, 80 miles south, to eat dinner at Casa Maria. For the followers from Colfax it is run by a former Colfax man, Able, who's parents own the Mexican restaurant in Colfax. I also know Able from school.
Sept. 20
Today we spent the day in a diesel repair shop in Madison Wisconsin. Trouble with the compression break and they had trouble finding the part. We need to take it back in the morning so we are camped in a KOA nearby. I hope this is the last time we need to camp in a KOA because they are way overpriced. This is the most expensive place we have stayed and it is just a grassy field with a few trees. We hope to get on the road by mid morning to Chicago area. We are going to stay outside of Chicago and use the Jeep to see the city. We also have plans to meet up with my nephew and his bride.
Looking forward to seeing David and Makeba.
I will be able to add pictures to my blog as soon as I have time to figure out how to use the memory card reader I just bought.
Definitely Happy Travels, Barb
No comments:
Post a Comment