North Dakota

The front wheel bearings on the truck were replaced Tuesday morning and we headed out of Fargo that afternoon. There were quite a few hours of driving along the flat prairies. As we came up to Dickinson North Dakota there were scads of grasshopper oil rigs along the highway and new hotels advertising "$600/week" prices, presumably for the temp workers taking advantage of the oil boom.

Just beyond that, after the hours of flat, we came upon this:

The gorgeous badlands of Medora ND

It appeared like magic! We pulled over to the look out point and took a bunch of photos. As we were leaving, this fellow had appeared at the side of the parking area:

I was beyond excited!! I madly took photos (he was right beside the road) until the bison, after looking a bit shocked and quite put out by my tackiness, trotted away. It's amazing how huge bison are!

We also saw this at a different rest stop:

A funny attempt to please the rest stop dogs :) 

We did an afternoon of riding on the Maah Daah Hey Trail. The section we rode was beautiful grasslands--although I didn't fair too well with the cloudless skies' sun with no shade anywhere. Thankfully there was an ever-present wind to cool us off. We saw prairie dogs and an unexpected antelope.

This was our campground for the night--the Sully Creek campground.

As the sun set we watched bats flying above us and heard rustlings in the bushes that turned out to be large frogs. There certainly were lots of bugs around for them to eat.

We're actually in Montana right now, but I don't have enough internet time to blog about that just now. So for now I'll just say that it is paradise!

photos

We're still in Fargo and while we're watching the movie Fargo I'm finally dealing with the limited photos I've taken. Here goes:

This is our first campsite, at Round Lake.

The Shingle Mill trailhead.

The ice on L'anse Bay across from our campsite in Baraga (taken on my cell phone)

My camera is now in a convenient place so here's hoping the blog photos get better!

Fargo

We are in Fargo and we'll be here until at least Monday, probably Tuesday since it's Memorial Day weekend.  A bearing is going on one of the wheels of the truck, which is making the wheel loose and dangerous. So we'll be here until we can get it fixed.
Fargo is very flat.

No photos? Only two posts? Bad Blogger.

The trip is going great so far! We haven't spent more than one night in the same spot, so we are covering lots of ground.

We started going up the Michigan mitten and spent the first night just north of Gaylord MI at a beautiful secluded camping spot at Round Lake. Our only neighbour was (I assume) a fellow biking the High Country Pathway--he was asleep in his tent/hammock when we arrived and waved as he biked away early in the morning. I have a photo of the campsite, which I won't post yet. More on that later...
We biked the Shingle Mill trail the next day. Luke already rode the 80 mile long High Country Pathway in the past and since I'm still needing a lot of work to get into shape we opted for the shorter trail. Sadly, it isn't the right time of year to see the famous herds of Elk that hang out in these forests.

However, we've seen lots of ticks. Lots and lots of ticks. I don't mind bugs very much and I don't even might the thought of having a tick take a blood meal...but I do very much mind the thought of getting lyme disease. Thus, I've had many paranoid tick checks (I think it's accurate to say countless).

Some more desirable sightings have been a baby eagle in its nest, a big beautiful owl flying right in front of us, a porcupine, coyotes, turkeys (one with it's tail feathers in full fluff like proper turkeys should) and many deer.

We then headed up to northern Michigan, riding the South trails in Marquette and staying at Baraga State Park and Copper Harbour. Sadly, our time there was rainy and cold. So cold you could see your breath. Luckily, it is very warm in the truck bed on our sleeping platform so we didn't have to suffer as we slept. Our camp site at Baraga was directly across from their beautiful bay that still has many chunks of ice and snow on it (like much of the water in that area at the moment). It was gorgeous. I should have taken photos but....

Since we have everything in containers on the bottom of the truck bed getting at my camera, which is in the back corner, is not very easy. So far, every time I think about taking a photo I think about what it takes to get at it since it's under the sleeping platform....I'd have to slide it forward...then climb over it without tipping it...then shimmy to the back and crack open the container...then shimmy.....back......meh.  That being said, I'm going to do a major re-thinking of my stuff and I think I'll end up having my camera somewhere more accessible. Then I won't feel so ashamed of my blog! For now, you'll just have to trust me that everything has been gorgeous!

We've spent the last two days in Wisconsin with the ticks at Wilson Lake and its trails. It was 29 degrees yesterday which was a rude awakening given we were in 10 degree and less weather the day before. I have a sun burn! It's equally as hot today, so I'll have to locate the sun screen.

Next stop: the Maah Daah Hey trail in the badlands of Medina, North Dakota!

Nomads

(Almost) everything we own! Except for a few items in storage and our bikes, this is it.