2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 4

Day 4 - even though both of us are still working a bit (Kimberly waaaay more than I), it's now starting to feel like a real vacation. This morning we got to sleep in past 7, or at least attempt to. Then it was time for this, which was far too early.

  

 

Yes, that is the world's (or at least Bismarck, ND's) smallest merry go round.

Since we needed very little prep (KOA pull-thru site FTW), we were on the road in no time, headed for Teddy Roosevelt. We passed the bravest bikepacker in the world (the 75mph speed limit is a suggestion, largely ignored by the biggest rigs and triple trailers) on the shoulder - I hope he has some quality earbuds.

Next up was a metal sculpture, which we had seen makeshift billboards for over the past 10 miles or so. Something about the 'Enchanted Highway', which of course prompted us to research it. Again, either look it up or drive out here, I can't be doing all of the work for you. Kept the sign in there to give you an idea of scale.

We decided that the North Dakota state flag should be an oil rig surrounded by 'hay barrels' as Jordan describes them. All you see is this.

Once we got close to the park, we turned north on 85, and this is the traffic scene we encountered.

The tanker trucks basically drove as fast as they wanted, and the one behind us may have stolen the spare tire off the Jeep as he was a foot away. We found out yesterday that venturing north of 65mph drops our mileage below mpg, so not even Lord Humungous himself was going to get me to go any faster. Also, with all this Mad Max talk, blatant plug for this trailer. Even though a reboot of the Mad Max franchise is blasphemic at best, I will likely be in the theater the moment this is released.

 

50 miles beyond Thunderdome, we crested a hill and saw this.

The park entrance and visitors center was closed - for a brief moment I was about to go into a Wallyworld (mind the Fs in that clip) rage, but then we found out that the temporary visitors center was 5 miles further, and that the park was open despite the orange cones across the entrance. Some marketing intern just got fired.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the campground to find that the new temporary visitors center was closed for the next hour for 'lunch break'. I get that we are 200 miles from anywhere, but a tiny bit of effort would be cool. We proceeded to head in and pick a campsite, settling on this guy...

...with this view about 50' out the back of the site.

Not terrible, especially for 10 clams.

Fast forward to setting up camp, taking the top down on the Jeep, and heading to the visitors center to check out the child-friendly exhibits.

We chatted up the park ranger and found out that less than 15% of visitors to Theodore Roosevelt NP go to this North Unit, likely because of the oil tanker Frogger challenge and the park playing defense against visitor entry.

I'll save you the 100 pics we took of all the badlands and formations, but these couple give you the gist of the place.

We drove the 14 mile scenic route, seeing some Bison 10,000 yards or so away, then did a non-ginger-friendly hike across the prairie grass for a few miles to a poorly identified point with little rewarding value.

Just when things were looking a bit down, this place came through and totally redeemed itself. We chose one more hike, a few miles to a place called Prairie Dog Town. 

You do not get a 6 year old all excited about the promise of an entire village of giant hamsters without delivering, so I was quite nervous about this hike. After about mile and a half or so, Jordan was running on E, and we were doubting whether these guys were going to be putting on a show. Then in the distance I caught a few of them popping up to check us out, and over the next hill we were in the middle of this (the little guy is at her eye level in the background - too lazy to add a circle to the pic and the video failed after 20 minutes of loading).

 

 

Jordan even decided to mimic them, knowing that she could expend energy having bartered a free ride on the return hike.

 

The hike back had us all feeling a bit lazy, so while the ladies are relaxing at the campsite, I have the difficult job of heading up to my office (high enough to get cell/internet signal) to bang this out. There are worse places to be scrolling through pics/videos from today.

And while I'm typing, this guy just strolled up to look over my shoulder.

 

A couple of sunset pics to follow, then it's off early tomorrow for a big day - 12+ hours (depending on cool things between here and there, such as Kettlehouse Brewery) to Glacier NP.

 

And here they are. As we came back for the sunset, we ran into the Bison herd. Tough day out here.

 

2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 3

Sorry about some of the formatting issues, with the pictures showing up as gigantic images cluttering up the page.  Apparently posting from a phone with half-ass coverage does strange things to the layout. We left a donation in the UP so they could consider a cell tower or two at some point.

Today was all about making good time across the heartland's heartland of the American heartland. Following 28 and US2 out of the UP, our route would take us across northern Wisconsin, all the way across Minnesota, and halfway across North Dakota.

Earlier I mentioned that our new RV tires along with the newly lifted Jeep were not playing nice. That was an understatement - on the way up to Ontonagon (check with your friendly local yooper for the correct pronunciation), each tiny input to the RV steering resulted in the following response from the Jeep.

A few times the big truck and the Jeep achieved a resonant frequency (I know) and caused some clenching of cheeks.   Since the towbar/hitch adapter have a bit of side to side play, the new arrangement of a Jeep with worn 37" tires, a lift, and nothing more than a driveway tape-measure alignment was using the entirety of that range of motion. Weird that this thing wouldn't be perfectly smooth on the road.

 

 

 

A couple of beverages helped unleash the inner MacGuyver (or MacGruber) that resides in all of us, but especially me.

 

 

Enter the low-budget temporary solution - a deck of playing cards. Yeah, I know it's a huge bandaid for the real issue, but we're in the middle of nowhere and it worked. We now have a euchre deck worth of shims that tightened up the hitch in the receiver, and gone is the death wobble. Score 1 for simplicity.

Now that we were on the road, we recapped the first couple of days because this drive is BORING. I felt like this quote from Jordan needed to be included, just to help young gingers out there realize that it's ok and there's nothing you can do. Last night after the rain subsided, Jordan and I headed out to play on the rocks & go to the playground. When I mentioned that the skeeters were killing me, she offered this explanation, "Well, you're the specialest boy ever with your orange hair and orange beard and they like that." I'm sure she meant well.

Let me sum up the rest of the drive.  Duluth - Kim fired up some instant internet research and we learned something about a freshwater aquarium, iron ore, a twin port city, and wheat. Oh, and a big hill.

 

North Dakota - leads the US in per capita beer consumption at over 43 gallons per 21+ year old, actually has something called Bonanzaville USA, contains Fargo, and allows bicycles on a highway whose speed limit is 75mph. Seems wise.

 

As we pulled into the gas station, we discovered that North Dakota is also a leader in preserving the 80s. I defy you to find something in this picture (taken this afternoon) that would imply it is anything other than 1986.

 

And I'd be willing to bet that our RV with Jeep attached is faster than that IROC, which originally came equipped with a 155hp 305 V8. That's right, 155hp out of a V8. At least it had a lot of stickers and inspired a cult following from dudes like this.

 

About 11hrs into the drive, including a quick stop at the least helpful retail outlet in North Dakota to find some local beers (the plan for this trip is to drink beer brewed in the state we are in - North Dakota has slim pickins, but I managed to score some Iron Horse Pale Ale from Fargo Brewing Company), we finally rolled into our campground.

 

Since we need to get to the National Park campground early tomorrow (first come first serve), we chose a KOA in Bismarck, about 2hrs away.  It is serving its purpose as a roadside stop, and of course Jordan found what she needed.

We grabbed a pull through site, so no unhooking of the Jeep is necessary. I celebrated with a novelty beer, and it was a huge mistake. The best thing I can say about this beer is that they were accurate in their description. It was hot (yeah, I know - habaneros), and not at all refreshing.

 

Tomorrow brings Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We did a little preview tonight, and we're hoping to see some Bison, prairie dogs, and bighorn sheep. I'll settle for some views like this.



 





 





2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 2

The day started with a quick bike ride from the trailhead I had scouted last night. I was expecting some tough trails - what I got was a beatdown. In the first 100 yards I was already off the bike walking the hill. Baby head sized rocks mixed with wet roots and steep inclines made for quite a workout. A couple of miles of this

Led to this

Then a descent down this, which left me with a near glowing brake rotor and just a little bit of terror at not knowing the trail while going over 32mph.

Once I got back we decided to head up to Lake of the Clouds, then Presque Isle scenic area.  Jordan and I had to get in a quick round of 'attack the awning pull down strap thingy as though you were a ninja' (our game needs a more catchy name), during which she manged to injure her armpit.

After some brief pit-triage (not a lot you can do there, and I'm definitely not kissing that ouwie, and I'm sure that's not how that is spelled), we loaded up the Jeep and headed up to Lake of the Clouds. On the way, we ran into a group of Harleys, likely headed to Bike Week in Sturgis - either that or a costume party, or possibly a Village People concert. Whenever they were headed, it is certain that it will take a long time and involve lots of revving the air cooled engine to save lives at stoplights.

Once we got there, Jordan spent a nanosecond acting interested (captured below)

before breaking into full rock climbing mode. That would dominate the rest of the day, except for this brief Wall-E impression.

We did get to see what we came for, and it's pretty cool. We did learn that it's only 15 feet deep, and figured out what 'escarpment' means. You'll have to look it up or drive all the way up here.

From there we headed out to the Presque Isle River to see some waterfalls.  Once we got there, we decided to do a little hike out to the mouth of the river, and on the way we got to cross this little suspension bridge.

The trail led us out to Lake Superior, where an impromptu rock-skipping contest broke out. The winner was pretty clear cut, especially after I picked out a 1lb rock for her.

Next we went for a quick beach-themed selfie, which was ruined by the sheer size of my dome.

 

It is a pretty cool spot, very remote with great views of Superior.

We headed back toward the waterfalls, following Jordan as our trail guide. She prefers the more challenging routes.

Along with some mid-hike tomfoolery,

we saw 3 official waterfalls plus countless smaller ones and a bunch of rapids. The water looked like someone had dropped a million or so of these in it.

3 waterfalls and almost 500' of elevation change later (yeah, I'm one of those GPS dorks), we had completed the hike and it was time to head back toward the campsite. Here's Jordan doing her best Hannibal Smith.

We made one final stop at a place called 'overlooked falls', and it was apparent that it was time to call it a day. It was cooling off quickly, as was our child's patience. We did manage a quick stroll to check it out before previews of a meltdown told us to wrap it up.

Finally, back at the campsite, we took a break to grab some snacks, and Jordan decided to do her gymnastics tricks on the overhead bunk with one hand while crushing a yogurt smoothie with the other one. The result was not dissimilar from this.

We are now in the middle of some light rain, with possibly more on the way

so we may be laying low and calling it a night soon. Tomorrow brings an early departure, and many miles to try to get close to Teddy Roosevelt NP so we can grab a site there early Wednesday.

Tonight's blog brought to you by Brewery Vivant's Undertaker, which while delicious, will never compare to the original.