0059 9th July - Moon Lake to Williston

Woke up to a perfect sunny morning overlooking Moon Lake.  While I was having breakfast, the camp host came round for a chat, and he said it was even better at 5.30 am when he went fishing on the lake, which at that time was covered by a light mist !!  I slept in till 7 am and missed it again !!!  Dang it !!

Coming out of the national park was a delightful morning drive on a small road through the forests and past numerous lakes, but once out of the Park and on the main road south, it was basically pretty flat, boring and uninteresting.  However, I will qualify that by saying that I was enjoying the nothingness – It is a part of the word that many people do not see, preferring instead to follow the more interesting and more frequented routes either down the west coast, or down through Colorado.

 

While I was driving I was having a chat to myself about everything around me when suddenly – I saw smoke signals over the hill ahead !!  Interesting !  I crested the brow not knowing what to expect – And there was an SUV parked beside the road, sending out big smoke signals – presumably saying “HELP” !!   Obviously effective, because the fire department from some nearby town was already there, and they were doing their best to put the fire out !   Only bit of fun for the morning !!!

Passing lots of canola / rape seed fields, bright yellow in the sunshine, and a Canadian Air Force base at McGill Field – Gave me a bit of a surprise to see the roundel on the fighter outside as I hadn’t ever realised the Canadians used the same roundel but with a maple leaf in the centre.  CAF ?  That means Currency Adjustment Factor in shipping terminology – All this got me so flustered that I only got half the fighter plane in my camera shot !!   Whoops !

As both lunch time and the US / Canadian border were approaching rapidly, I decided to stop and make and eat my lunch before I got to the border just in case customs decided they were going to confiscate my sandwich fixins, like my tomatoes and lettuce, or my fruit.  They did this last time I crossed when heading south 2 years ago, snatching my tomato almost from between my lips,  and so I was going to make sure I at least got my lunch inside me this time.

Lunch safely eaten, arrived at the “International Border” at Dunseith, North Dakota – Only to find major roadworks underway actually right in the customs area !  Nice to see suitable chaos in a normally orderly and regulated customs area !!    Normal questions – Any firearms or weapons of any kind ?  No.  Any alcohol ?   Yes, 2 bottles of excellent merlot and a six pack of beer.  OK – Any  fruit and veg ?  Yes, 2 bananas, and orange, and 3 tomatoes  (plus two in my tummy).  OK.   OK ?  Hey, he might let me keep them.     Can you open up the back please sir.  Yes officer, no problem, and I open up – A quick glance and he said OK, you can go – Drive carefully and have a fun trip.   What a nice officer !   Back in the USA with all my fruit and veg (and booze) intact !!  Woohoo.  

So I head off down the road singing “Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay………”  Uncle Remus would have been proud of me !!

Now back in the USA, the next bit of excitement on an otherwise somewhat boring road was literally hundreds of triffid-like wind turbines spread over numerous hills for a number of miles – I have never seen so many in one area before.  And they really are quite weird when you look at them more closely – I could just imagine them all marching over the fields – They had just momentarily stopped as I passed, trying to fool me that they were just plain old wind turbines.  But they didn’t fool me – So I put on the Moody Blues “War of the Worlds” music, and carefully drove on past them…….

Just 15 minutes down the road, I came to Rugby.  No school there though, and they certainly cannot play the game (yet ?), but I guess they should get credit for at least having a place with the name !!

Later on, I found the triffids were on the march again – Over a field of bright yellow canola, I saw one of them lurking behind a hill.  Then, as I approached Williston N Dakota, and the road got  busier and busier, I passed more and more donkey pumps pumping oil, and quite a lot of rigs, most of them  in the hazy distance.  The temperatures were up in the 30’s and there as an increasing haze over the flat country, and by the time I reached Williston, I was ready to stop – It had been a long day on the road.

I pulled into the first campsite I saw, went into the office, and asked for a space. “Do you know where you are ?”, the lady politely asked me.  “No” I said.   “Well, you are in Williston, currently boom town USA, and we haven’t had a free space here for 5 years.  No one round here has space because so many people are moving here for all the oilfield work.”   Well, this didn’t sound too promising, but I was really tired, and it was hot, and I need to do laundry (I was almost out of clean clothes), so I put on my best foreign accent, told her how tired I was, and that I only need a small spot to park my van.  She looked out the window at my van, saw how small it was, and said “ Weeeell, I guess I could put you over under the trees, in the area where we normally store trailers, but it will cost you $15”.   I will take it, I said quickly, and before she changed he mind, I paid my money, set up,  and went over to the laundry and got to work !!

Met several oilfield guys in the camp ground who came over to ask about my vehicle and trip.  2 of them asked if I had any foreign money as they collected foreign money – And it just happened that I had some 1000 Minat notes from Azerbaijan, which they were thrilled with – Worth about 2 cents, I think !!     

 Also met a nice guy Dennis Ross who cuts trees and lives in the RV Park, and he not only gave me a better route south to drive tomorrow, but also put me in touch with a camp site he recommended in Deadwood, down near Mt Rushmore, which was on my route tomorrow. I was to really appreciate his advice regarding the roads tomorrow.

 A lot of the RV’s and trailers in the campground have been “winterized” – lots of insulation and foam trying to keep out the cold winter winds that exist up here.  As you can see from the photos, they are mostly done in a fairly amateur manner, presumably often while they consumed a few beers, as they don’t really look very smart, to say the least !!

By now it had cooled down a little, so I cooked a quick (and yummy) steak, had a glass or two of red, and went to bed.

Pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0060MoonLakeToWilliston?authkey=Gv1sRgCNaExLmK67-DYQ#