Maah Daah Hey

The things that make a place special, for different individuals, vary as much as the individuals themselves. For me, natural beauty, hiking and biking trails and a certain level of solitude create an unforgettable environment. Little Missouri State Park and Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Unit) are two such places. In addition, the Maah Daah Hey Trail, (the longest single track mountain bike trail in the US), located between the two, completes my criteria for an area bordering on  “perfection”. When we started this trip North Dakota was a state to get through to Montana. Now it’s become a place that will be very hard to leave. We extended our stay for a couple more days to enjoy near perfect temps (highs in the 70’s and lows in the 50’s) and because we’ve just scratched the surface of all the things to do here. Maah Daah Hey is a Native American phrase meaning “an area that will be around for a long time.” I certainly hope that is true!

Made it to the top

Prairie dog town

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Our campsite, at Little Missouri State Park, sits in a meadow overlooking the Badlands. Our first morning here we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise. When our son was small, a family friend went to Paris on holiday and sent Will a postcard of the Eiffel Tower. When I showed him the card he said “it doesn’t look awful!” I’ll never get use to calling this beautiful landscape “The Badlands.” We visited Badlands National Park a few years ago and were in awe of the surreal nature of the park. North Dakota’s Badlands are like South Dakota’s with lots of trees mixed in. Both are stunning and fascinating places to visit. Theodore Roosevelt loved this area and credits his Dakota experiences as the basis for his ground breaking preservation efforts and the shaping of his own character. TRNP is the only national park named after a person. Hiking in the Badlands is unique as trails wind through grassland to expansive views of the Badlands then down into the canyons themselves. It is so cool hiking “in the wild” and seeing Bison  and Elk. What an epic place!!!

Travel Day

Mark finds the best routes to take, from place to place, and we see the coolest little towns and points of interest. I love old signs like this one, at a full service gas station from the past, on a recent travel day. I also love that we are never in too much of a hurry to stop in unexpected places. Who knew Rugby, North Dakota is home to the geographical center of North America. I loved the three flags that represent the continents countries (Mexico, North America & Canada) and had to admit that if North Dakota is the center, I’ve never really comprehended how big Canada is!

We were happy, after a pretty long day, to make it to Little Missouri Primitive State Park for our last week in North Dakota.

The 50th State

We hated to say goodbye to daily coffee breaks at Caribou (I didn’t realize, until our visit, that the company originated in Minnesota) but we packed up and moved on to a brand new state for both of us. On the USA map, that many RVers add stickers to as they travel, North Dakota is sometimes referred to as “the 50th state” because it is the last state visited. Our camp host, in Minnesota,  joked, when he found out we were headed in this direction, that there were only two trees so hopefully, our campsite would be under one of them. This is a Great Plains State, but the first campground we stopped at, Turtle River State Park, has beautiful cottonwoods and varied topography. We have a great campsite with not only trees, but at nightfall, on our first night here, a visiting wild MINK!

Turtle River

Where did that mink go?

Itasca State Park

We traveled almost 300 more miles through the northern Midwest to Minnesota’s oldest State Park (Itasca) where the headwaters of the Mississippi originate. We traveled along The Great River Road, to get here, and loved the drive. I think this will be a beautiful place to spend the week. We were pleased to find cooler temps and actually fewer mosquitoes than the last campground. Of course to keep things balanced this park has more horse flies!

Crossing the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi!

Land of 10,000 Lakes

Land of 10,000 Lakes and 100,000 mosquitoes! We made it to Minnesota and discovered that this state has 51 different varieties of mosquitoes. We have really had to increase our repellent stock pile. The up side to battling the parasite world is discovering that the tick population here seems nonexistent compared to home, so in the big scheme of things, it all seems to balance out. We now set our net house up close to our fire pit so that we can sit in it and still enjoy a fire at night. The people in Minnesota are just as friendly as the mosquitoes and we were pleased to get to know campsite neighbors, Al and Missy, at Frontenac State Park. I couldn’t believe it when they shared they were quietly getting married at the overlook near our campground and needed a witness. What a cool but unexpected honor. Congratulations Al and Missy!

Hot Fourth of July Week

Even though our latest stop has been in central Illinois, we haven’t been far enough north to escape the heat wave settling across the Midwest. Mark and I have become thankful, very quickly, for campsites with electric hookup, trees, clouds and an air conditioned camper. I didn’t realize this part of the US could be as humid as New Orleans! Hopefully, in another week we will be far enough north, in Minnesota, to be out of the current jet stream’s “heat dome”. The other thing we’ve had to adjust to, with summer camping, is the increase in mosquitoes. Our screened bug tent has been a lifesaver. We are in a State Park called Morrison-Rockwood. It is a beautiful park near the quaint town of Morrison. We got up early one morning to explore the park and town on our bikes. What a great place to celebrate America’s Independence!

Cornfields and Covered Bridges

Markie’s first Illinois covered bridge