Road Trip across North Dakota 8/24/2010

What will you see while driving through North Dakota on Hwy. 2

Big oil drills

And small oil drills

Hay fields,

and hay fields and bails in road side ditches. (Which I think is a great idea)

Bugs splattering on your wind shield.

Golden fields,

and prairie potholes,

and more prairie potholes.

Blue skies and white clouds.

Still more prairie potholes.

Open spaces with few trees.

And more prairie potholes!

A few places with a few more trees, but not many!

Sunflower fields.

Some rolling hills,

and the first corn fields to be seen, while driving east.

After many little towns, we entered into Rugby, North Dakota. We stopped to get gas. When I stepped out of the Nest, the wind was so strong, it about blew me away. I have never experience such strong wind. I mentioned the wind to the gas attendant. He replied, "Try being here in the winter!"

Rugby, ND is famous for, do you know?

After our short stand in the geographic center of North America, we continued on. Everywhere are prairie potholes! At the time, I did not know what they were called.

What exactly are prairie potholes? After research, this is what I found out. The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is an area of the northern Great Plains and mid grass and tall grass prairies that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier activity in the Wisconsin glaciation, which ended approximately 10,000 years ago More than half of the potholes have been drained and converted to agriculture.^[1][2] Pothole loss is 90% or more in places.^[3] Those potholes that remain are important habitats for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife, supporting more than 50% of North America's migratory waterfowl.^[2] The Prairie Pothole Region is one of North America's most important areas for duck reproduction

We stopped in Devils Lake for the night at Wal-Mart.

Road Trip from Havre, Montana to Williston, North Dakota 8/23/2010

We continued to cross Montana.on Hwy.2

As you can see this part of Montana is open and flat.

With very few hills,

but a few dinosaurs, here and there.

We had a beautiful sunny day for the long drive across the eastern side of Montana.

Because it is so flat, it was very windy. 

We had a constant behind and side way wind, that Joe had to fight most of the way across.

Even though it was windy and flat, I could see God's beauty in this land.

There was a lot of color from the wide blue sky, to the different color of fields and grasses.

I got great pictures, due to the fact that we were heading east, and the sun was behind us.

The pictures were also good because we were still in a dry climate, and we didn't have bugs splattering all over our windshield.

The farther east we went,

the more the landscape changed,

 to more rolling hills.

But still there were the "Big Skies" of Montana.

I could live in  Montana, on a farm with goats and some chickens.

Especially if there were a few rolling hills to block the straight line winds.

Our drive across Montana was filled with sun, clouds, wind and then the rolling hills, until

 we reached North Dakota, at last.

Right across the western border of North Dakota we pulled into Wal-Mart in Williston, ND for the night

Two Medicine and Pray Lake 8/21/2010

This was our last day at Two Medicine Campground. This was our gorgeous view out our dining room window, as we ate. The lake out our window is Pray Lake.

We met a couple that has been coming to Two Medicine Campground for years. They were native from Montana They told us black bears roam the side of the mountain, that sits in front of our Nest. We got our binoculars out, and they showed us where to look. We watch a mother and her cub search for food.

Some flowers around the neighborhood.

Pray Lake
There are many trails from Two Medicine Campground, that we didn't have time to do. There is also a boat ride to a trail head that we tried to go on, but the boat was full, so we didn't get to go. Hint: if you want to do the boat ride/ trail in Two Medicine Campground area, get there early, or buy your tickets a hour before the boat is to leave.

8/22/2010

We left Two Medicine Campground in Glacier National Park, and headed across Montana on Hwy 2. We stayed the night at Wal-Mart in Havre, Montana. If you have not been to Glacier National Park, I highly recommend the trip. It is one of my favorites to date.