July 3 - Progress Across the Prairie

Crossing the Missouri River at Bismarck

Allow me to bring the record up-to-date. After spending a few days touring the T. Roosevelt National Park, historic Medora, and the Chateau deMores, we took a couple days off to relax, catch up on work, and keep our activity level low to help deal with the high heat. We've had temps in the mid to high 90s every day since we've been here.

In a campground like Cottonwood, with no hookups, we're totally independent and self contained. If it's hot outside, it's hot or hotter inside. For the most part, we managed without discomfort, and actually grew to thrive as we adjusted and acclimatized to the conditions. We ran the generator (and A/Cs) for a couple hours on two of the worst days, which helped, and it did cool off enough at night to make for good sleeping. It really wasn't so bad.

This morning we broke camp and headed east... destination Bismarck. I had a little trouble snagging a full hookup campsite considering the warm weather and the busy holiday week... but eventually got one at the Bismarck KOA. This is the first time since starting the Sabbatical some 5 years ago that we stayed at a KOA, which have the reputation for being expensive and more oriented to families with kids. But we needed hookups for laundry and to give the bus-house a good cool-down while we hustled off for our Capitol visit, so I was able to get the KOA to take pity on us and give us the last site they had for tonight.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, we'll be moving again. We'd like to get back on old US-12 and think we might end up near Aberdeen SD for a night or two. Friday we have reservations (remember, it's still a holiday weekend) at a Casino RV Park near Granite Falls MN.  Sunday, we'll roll into the Twin Cities for our visit with good friends Sue and Jim.