The Wild West

Youngest son, Jeremy, and my hubby have been mulling around a trip out west for about three years.  Granddaughter Ellie turned eight in July, so she was now old enough to make the trip and enjoy it, and The Whitney notified me that they'd be reopening the restaurant on September 9th for public dining and Afternoon Tea, so with a definite back-to-work date that didn't conflict with the trip, it was doable for me without jeopardizing my job.

The only remaining obstacle was COVID-19, but at an appointment with my physician's assistant she actually encouraged going if precautions were followed.  None of us have pre-existing health conditions, and she felt we all needed to get on with living.

Jeremy rented a 40-ft. Jayco RV that was ready for pick-up at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17th near Shipshewana, Indiana.  Jerry and I left home for Chelsea around 2:00 o'clock to help daughter-in-law Samantha put five bikes on the bike rack before Jeremy got home from work.  Mission accomplished [bikes on rack in background].

Loading up the RV in Indiana.

[Izzy]

After a completed checklist and Jeremy's instructions from the owner, we were on the road at 7:15 p.m.  Jerry and I followed behind in our SUV with blue skies for clear traveling!

We drove until midnight and stopped in Wisconsin Dells [technically Baraboo, Wisconsin] at a Holiday Inn.

Day 2 was a full day of travel.  We drove through Minnesota and stopped for the night at Comfort Inn Suites in Fargo, North Dakota.

[Landon]

Day 3 [July 19th] we reached our first campsite at Lewis & Clark State Park in Epping, North Dakota by mid-afternoon.  

There was lots of countryside to see.  Six things particularly noticeable while traveling in North Dakota:  [1] Fields of yellow colored flowers.  A Google search revealed they were canola flowers [rapeseed].  North Dakota is the nation's dominant canola producer.  Canola oil is one of the most widely used oils in the food industry, and the meal is used to feed livestock as well as a high-quality, organic fertilizer.  It also has non-food uses including biofuels.

[2] Lots of oil wells - both active and inactive.  Thanks to satellite towers, WiFi in cars and iphones with Internet capabilities, a lot of research can be done while traveling, and it helps to pass the time too.  The oil boom in North Dakota reached its peak in 2012 and has slowed down now due to global decline in oil prices.  During the Great Recession [2007-2009], the state's oil produced enough jobs to provide its population with the lowest unemployment rate in the United States.

[3]  Fields of wind turbines [called wind farms], and when you see them at close range they are huge! North Dakota has more than 1,500 of them and they're ranked 11th for installed wind capacity, getting more than 20% of their power from wind resources.

[4]  Lots of beehives in the fields.  North Dakota is the #1 honey-producing state in the nation.  

[5]  Many ponds and lakes of various sizes in fields and by roadsides [as seen in the photo above by the wind turbines].  We wondered if they were underground springs or a form of irrigation??  I haven't  researched it yet, but if you know do tell.

[6]  Michigan is not the only state with orange road construction barrels everywhere.  There was lots of road construction throughout the ten states* we traveled, totaling 4,655 miles!  The photo below was the tricky construction zone we had to navigate through to get to the state park.  In some places it narrowed down to one lane.

We finally arrived at the first campsite!

We spent four nights in Lewis & Clark State Park.  I know I studied the two explorers and their expedition in American History class, but it's on my 'to do' list to refresh my memory. ;-)

There was lots of fun family time.

We played games...

Grilled...

Had campfires every evening...

with S'mores...

while Izzy entertained us with her ukulele...

and we watched the sun go down behind the mountains.

* Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, South     Dakota, and Iowa in the order that we traveled through them.

to be continued...