BBQ in the rain

The day started just beautifully at the lake and in the midst of the BBQ at my cousins it started to rain- that is Minnesota - but the day turned out just fine ending with a rainbow. You just have to work around the weather here to have fun.

to Milaca - St Cloud Mn

Some country side and farms along the way to Milaca.

The inside of a car wash, much needed for the truck after road construction and the coach throwing junk and tar up on it as we drove. That was remedied today as we had a mud flap attached to the back of the coach.

A baby bunny next to our campsite in the Milaca RV park.

Next on the agenda was the family reunion -- and staying awhile. We are staying here at least until the 26th.

to Devils Lake

Devils Lake is a huge lake that has increased in size and caused displacement of families and homes. But it is a beautiful lake on the reservation and the Rv parking is great on the lake.

The ducks on the pond were found on one of the many ponds we ran across taking the back way to my grandparent’s farmland.
Weather in Minnesota is the same as we had in North Dakota, hot 95 or so humid 75 to 80% and storms several nights. It sounds neat on the coach as long as we do not have to be in it.

We are under a tree that is dropping its berries or seed things and sounds somewhat like the rain. Bill said it is really mosquito eggs hitting the coach.

Double click on any of the pictures and they will be enlarged.

to Grand Forks then on to Devils Lake N Dak

A farm out of Grand Forks

North Dakota through the buggy windshield it started clean when gas was purchased and 500 miles later it gets hard to see through for good photos.

As you can see there is more road construction. That is one of the two seasons in the north. The other season is winter.

to Bismarck N Dak

The North Dakota Badlands

some countryside in North Dakota

found a dumptruck for Allstate to write. NOT......

Miles City stop over

There is a lot of farm country to see and not a lot of diversion sometimes.

However, we did come across a couple wide loads on a rather narrow road. The one pictured here is smaller than the other two as I did not have time to grab the camera, hang on and pray all at the same time. We were moved over as far as we could get on a shoulder that was probably a foot wide to the ditch area and the 2 trucks took their side of the road and part of ours.

Needless to say I am not in favor of narrow roads. Other than that – another beautiful day.

to Havre

There is a reason they call Montana the Big Sky Country. The sky seems to go on forever as do the roads.
It is dotted with housing enclaves along the way to the larger cities.

Fort Benton was a neat stop - lots of hystory with Lewis and Clark

As evidenced by the clouds you can see the weather we had for 2 nights in a row all at different locations. Even though it rained at night the days were beautiful.

I hope you enjoy seeing the travels as much as we are enjoying doing the travels. We also had a great time with the cousins I had not seen since I was about 5 or 6.

From Forts to clouds to bridges and the Missouri River there is a lot to see in Montana not to mention all the history of which I can only post a little.

Now on to Bismarck with a stop in Miles city for the night.

A bit of Butte

This shows some shots of an open pit mine and the results of a fire in it.

Heading for Butte Montana

Some of the scenery through the Rockies

Barb takes the wheel

Good place to take the wheel. Idaho that has long flat roads and no problems we thought. But we had one lane with road construction, passing slower vehicles, exiting the freeway and turning the big monster onto a roadway. We did just fine into a parking lot where Bill took the wheel after lunch. It was not as scarry as I thought it would be.
Barb

Scenery between Nevada and Salt Lake City

Some of God’s country.

The Great Lock Out

You meet the nicest people in roadside rest stops, (out of Salt Lake City) like the trucker who loaned his cell phone and the locksmith that came to the rescue via Good Sam. *** A word to the wise, if you accidentally hit the inside lock and shut the door you’re locked out. Oh yeah, the keys and phones were left inside as the intent was to step out for a photo op and leave the door open – oops I goofed and shut it not realizing it had been hit & would lock. 2 hrs and the help of our daughter in Ca and we were back in business.

First night on the road

Outside temp was 113 in Mesquite, hotel room for $25 and their air conditioning. Where was the choice?

leaving California behind

Does anything else need to be said?

on our way

We left the park on July 3rd to start the trip of our lives. I thought it was nice of them to help us remember everything.
Barb