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Bill Souders

The SECOND leg of our westward excursion, through the Central Time Zone (JUL 2023)



We departed the Great Lakes region and explored dense forests, beautiful rivers, cool towns, National Grasslands, and the Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.


We crossed into Wisconsin at Land O' Lakes and headed west at Eagle River into Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. We drove deep into the Northwoods, and spent the night on forest road near Clam Lake.


The next morning, we drove into Minnesota to do some hiking on the Two Rivers Trail in the beautiful St. Croix State Park.

It was a perfect way to break up the travel day to our destination, a dear friend's home in Marine-on-St. Croix. We spent the Fourth of July weekend there, in a flourish of patriotic Red, White, and Blue. And, perhaps even more apropos, her closest "neighbor" was an eagle's nest! We would walk into town to shop at the General Store, or for a meal, and then float home on the river. It was a lovely stay in a quaint little town.



We picked a stormy day to proceed on our journey as we headed for the North Dakota border. Despite the rather intense thunderstorm along the way, the sun was shining brightly by the time we arrived in the Sheyenne National Grassland.

We had a completely private spot on the edge of the pasture. We treated ourselves to an afternoon nap, some dinner, and then to an evening stroll along the North Country Trail. It stretches 4,800 miles across eight states, making it the longest National Scenic Trail in America.


The next morning, after an interesting encounter where we experienced the circle of life, we refilled our water cans and began our meander through southeastern ND, on our way to Fargo.






and what a beautiful meander it was...






We honestly saw more Lutheran churches than we saw people, and way more cornfields and haybales. It was a beautiful ride on a glorious day.



We spent the night in the surprisingly eclectic city of Fargo, population 125,000. Sal had to do some remote work, so we got a room at the splendid Jasper Hotel. It was fun to explore the coffee shops, the book stores, and the other interesting retail shops. We topped it off with a delicious meal at Mezzaluna.



We continue the trek to our final destination in North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We begin our journey on Interstate 94 with a plan to get back onto the backroads quickly. It was just days before the Summer Solstice so Sal chose a podcast by Natural North Dakota from Prairie Public Broadcasting to listen to along the way. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s46/audio/2023/06/june17-solstice.mp3?sc=siteplayer&aw_0_1st.playerid=siteplayer It talked about a Medicine Wheel, similar to ancient sites, used to predict the positions of the Sun the sky around the summer solstice. As luck would have it, it happened to be at the next exit so, naturally, we pull off and met Dr. Joe!!! Not only did we get to visit the Medicine Wheel...


... we even took a walking tour of the Solar System!



That entire experience was such serendipity that we took it as a cosmic sign that our roadtrip was going to be magical! It proved to be true, including our visit to an ancient Medicine Wheel during our exploration of the Bighorn National Forest (see our next blog post).


As planned, we left the Interstate at Jamestown, up to Carrington, and made our way through the heart of the state to our next stop, Lake Sakakawea State Park. After a pleasant dinner near the dam, we did a sunset hike, beginning at the western terminus of the aforementioned North Country Trail, and then stayed awake to watch sunset at nearly 10 pm on the western edge of the Central Time Zone. The next morning was spent provisioning in Killdeer at a wonderful, all-purpose neighborhood grocery store, prior to our drive into the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.


It turns out that North Dakota is another one of those 13 states that straddles two time zones. The Park is split between the North Unit (in the Central Time Zone) and the South Unit (in the Mountain Time Zone), both straddling the Little Missouri River. This was such a very pleasant surprise with its rugged beauty, amazing vistas, excellent hiking, incredible views of the river and its canyons, limited crowds, and incredible badlands formations! [slide show below]



And the most prevalent wildlife we saw along the trails? Grasshoppers!

(Although, the prairie dog towns certainly deserve honorable mention...)


On the move, south and west as we enter the Mountain Time Zone (in the next blog post).




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