One for the Road

NORTH DAKOTA I arrived in Medora, North Dakota on Labor Day Weekend, staying a week at Medora Campground, right next to the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The town itself is an adorable little tourist attraction, with shops and restaurants located in Old West-style buildings. Stand-out facts about Medora are that it covers less than 1/2 square mile, has no traffic lights, and boasts four ice cream parlors. Boots Bar & Grill was my hangout during my stay in…

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Normally, I would have gone to Canada for the month of August but with the border closed due to Coronavirus, I needed to fill some time. Since my future plans for visiting Montana only include the western mountain region, this was an unexpected opportunity to see the eastern portion, which is very similar to North Dakota except they grow beef cattle here instead of wheat. I stayed in five Montana towns in just over three weeks and found something surprising…

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BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA Continuing my attempt to avoid Coronavirus, I arrived in Bismarck on August 3 and stayed a week at the KOA there. North Dakota is a very large state that pretty much all looks the same—wheat and corn fields—with some sunflowers thrown in just to break up the monotony. But for those who are curious enough to look beyond the fields that flank the interstate, there is some wonderful history here as well as interesting geology on the…

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PIPESTONE Leaving Omaha and driving to Southwest Minnesota took me through four states since both locations are close to state borders. I arrived for a two-week stay at Pipestone RV Campground on the outskirts of the town of Pipestone and directly across the street from Pipestone National Monument. The national monument offered a paved walking path through fields of wildflowers and past cliffs of red Sioux Quartzite and pipestone, ending at a pretty waterfall. Pipestone (catlinite) is a soft, dark…

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This post is a little shorter than usual because my next one is about my three weeks in Minnesota so it will be quite robust. OMAHA, NEBRASKA On June 28, I drove from Topeka to Omaha where I was positioned for what should have been an easy flight to New Jersey for Fourth of July. Whenever I want to fly home, I set up camp in a city with a sizeable airport offering a direct flight to either Philadelphia or…

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TRINIDAD, COLORADO On June 2, 2020, I left Albuquerque and headed north to Colorado. I would just be passing through the southeast corner of the state before driving across the entire length of Kansas so Trinidad was chosen simply because it was within the 4- to 5-hour time frame I like for moving days. As it turned out, Trinidad offered a spectacular scenic drive in the southern Rocky Mountains and it also had a top-notch walk-in clinic that I needed…

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DRIVING EAST ON I-40 TO GRANTS, NEW MEXICO: GRANTS, NEW MEXICO In mid-May, I drove east from Holbrook, Arizona to Grants in northern New Mexico, spending 10 days at the KOA Kampground. I had chosen this location because it was near El Malpais National Monument, which looked to have some interesting landscapes for hiking. To my surprise and delight, I discovered from the campground staff that the area is surrounded by 29 dormant volcanoes and miles of lava flows. The…

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MARICOPA, ARIZONA Coming from New Mexico, I arrived in Maricopa, Arizona—about 50 miles south of Phoenix—on March 17, on the brink of the global shutdown due to Coronavirus. I was booked at Wild West Ranch and RV Resort for two weeks and Mark was to fly out and spend a week with me exploring the Superstition Mountains. He had to cancel his flight and I ended up staying for seven weeks to ride out the worst of the virus and…

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I apologize in advance because this post is a bit on the long side with lots of photos but I hope you’ll hang in there to the end because I really enjoyed all the experiences illustrated here.    MIDLAND/ODESSA, TEXAS On February 25, I left beautiful Big Bend National Park and headed north to Midland, Texas. Midland is the heart of the Texas oil industry and nearly every business there supports it. As I approached town on I-20, all I…

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I arrived at Big Bend National Park on February 19 for a six-day stay. I would have stayed longer but couldn’t get more than six consecutive days at this popular time of year. There are several RV campgrounds here but only one has full hook-ups, or any hook-ups for that matter. All the others are dry camping with no water, electric, or sewer at the sites. I like my creature comforts so I stayed at Rio Grande Village RV Campground…

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