So far, so good...

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12   

As I type this we’re at the Cloquet/Duluth KOA in Cloquet, Minnesota.  We arrived yesterday, I registered for a site, after which I dumped the grey/black tanks at the dump station, and then we settled in.  We’re staying put today because I need a driving break, Navidad needs a driving break, and I want to get this blog posted today.  

When I travel in my truck camper, unless there’s really no choice, I generally avoid driving on the interstate.  Our beautiful country is best seen from state, county, and rural roads.  Over the years that I’ve traveled in my truck camper I’ve found it to be nostalgic fun and fascinating to drive through the small towns, checking out the old buildings, the downtown stores, the movie theaters, the local residents, the architecture of their homes, and, more often than not, the old cars and pickup trucks still on the road. 

For this trip, however, the interstate system has been my friend.  Since the incident with my truck in Fernley, NV, I’ve driven mostly on the interstate and that has helped me keep a steady pace and get the miles behind me as I now aim for Gatineau, Quebec.

Last Tuesday (6^th), Navidad and I got back on I-80 E and made good time driving from Winnemucca, NV to Wells, NV, where we then got on Rt. 93 N and headed for the Twin Falls 93 RV Park in Twin Falls, Idaho. 

I was fairly tuckered out after we settled in.  Navidad had again woken me up several times during the night, calming down after I gave him some food and, being that it was quite chilly, turned on the heat (no sense trying to be conservative with my supply of propane, ha!).  I had also been a bit tense during the drive, wondering if the truck was going to act up again.  It performed as it should --

The truck is okay

  And so I pray

    Please, please

      Stay that way!      

At 9:30 a.m. [on Wednesday 7^th] we were on our way, Navidad curled up in his carrier right next to me.  I had a better night’s sleep and I think Navidad did, too.  He woke me up only once, around 3:00 a.m.  I was toasty warm, having added my sleeping bag to my layers of blankets the evening before.  It really wasn’t cold in the camper, but Navidad wanted to get real close anyway.  At one point he even rested his head on my cheek!  Talk about being tickled by whiskers!

Around 2:15 p.m. we arrived at the Countryside RV Park in Dillon, Montana.  Our route this day: Rt. 93 N / I-84 E / I-86 E / I-15 N.  Oh, Idaho and Montana, you are gorgeous!

It seems to me Navidad and I have our camper travel routine down pat by now.  He has caught on to the steps I take in the morning before I’m ready to retrieve his carrier.  He resists the carrier, best he can, but that’s to be expected – he’s a cat!

He also, per routine, wakes me up sometime during the 3:00 a.m. hour.  Right on schedule the wee hours of Thursday 8^th, he pawed me awake.  As I turned on the overhead light, I found Purple Bear and Mousey right next to me!  Awww, what a sweetheart Navidad is!  To grasp one in his mouth, hop on the bed, deposit it next to me, and then hop back down to get the other one.  What goes through his mind when he does this?  I’d love to know!

Moving on from Dillon later that morning, we continued on I-15 N and then connected to I-90 E, driving steadily along up and over one mountain pass after another.  As I came down one pass, the truck camper that had been behind me pulled alongside and the fellow in the passenger seat held up a note letting me know that my camper’s brake lights were out.  As I gave him a thumbs-up thank you I let out an “Aw, gee!” groan.  David, my guy at Galaxy Campers and I checked those lights after the camper was loaded on my truck last week.  Looking for a gas station anyway at that point, I filled up and then checked both front and back lights.  Right and left turn blinkers – okay.  Hazard blinkers – okay.  Headlights – okay.  Not able to check the brake lights by myself, I spotted this young fellow hauling trash bags in a mobile cart and waved him over.  Standing behind the camper, he gave me the thumbs-up when I pressed the brake pedal.  All’s good.  So did my brake lights work or not driving up and down that mountain?  I’ll never know but I probably should check those lights every day now.  We eventually reached Billings (MT), got a site at the Yellowstone River RV Park, and I was glad to call it a day. 

From Billings [on Friday 9^th], we were on I-90 E for about five miles before we connected to I-94 E.  As the Rocky Mountains gradually fell behind I was looking ahead at eastern Montana’s beautiful rolling hills.  The grass that carpeted these hills was a blend of amber and green, which would probably have been a lot more bright and colorful had it been a sunny day.  The weather, incidentally, has been great, good, and acceptable.  I finally got rained on today.

I haven’t been taking any pictures, mainly because I haven’t been stopping to visit anything.  I did take this selfie this morning, just as we were getting set to leave Billings –

"Ready to head on out, Navi?"

On the approach to North Dakota I could see, in the distance, the range of the unique geological rocks and buttes that formed North Dakota’s Badlands.  Crossing into ND we drove through the gorgeous South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and, after driving for five hours on this day, arrived at the North Park Campground in Dickinson, North Dakota.

The next morning (Saturday 10^th) we were back on I-94 E, heading for Casselton, ND.  At one point during the drive, Navidad hopped out of his carrier through the unzipped top flap and laid down on the flannel shirt I’d tossed onto the passenger seat.  I thought, since he didn’t poop at all during the night, he was telling me that he needed to use his litter box.  Deciding to go ahead and get fuel, I stopped at a station and put Navidad inside the camper’s bathroom while I filled up.  He still didn’t go – but we had to go and so we did.

I traveled the northern part of North Dakota several years ago and I was intrigued then, as I am again now, by the hundreds – probably thousands – of rolled bales of hay that are haphazardly scattered everywhere on the fields along the roads.  What are they for and why are some bales even placed on the other side of private fences, fairly close to the road?  While many of these bales appear fresh, there seems to be an equal number of bales that look like they’ve been left on the fields for a long time, exposed to all sorts of weather.  Is rotten hay still good for something?  I’ll have to research this someday.

We spent the night at the RV Park section of the Days Inn in Casselton.  Nothing spectacular about the place but, on my return to the camper after getting some dinner at the Country Kitchen restaurant, I noticed that the dome of the Casselton water tower had lit up.  Thought I’d take a picture, standing just outside my camper’s back door –

North Dakota’s I-94 runs a straight 350-mile stretch through a landscape of agricultural land, cattle and crop.  Bismarck, at the 161 milepost, and Fargo, at the eastern state line, are the two largest towns along that route.  Reaching Fargo [on Sunday 11^th] and crossing into Minnesota, I decided to ditch the interstate and take Routes 10 E & 210 E through the Minnesota countryside towards Duluth, MN.  This made for a longer drive, timewise, but it was so good to morph from North Dakota’s vast openness to Minnesota’s abundance of trees and lakes.  Soon, we arrived at the Cloquet/Duluth KOA, in Cloquet, for our two-night stay.  We’re closer to Canada now and I’m looking forward to meeting, for the first time, Lee-Ann Pugin and her family!