Theodore Roosevelt National Park

As expected, we awoke at the Super 8 Eau Claire early, so we put the few things that we brought into the motel back in the car and headed West on I-94.  It helped that we were on Central Time which gave us another hour so although it was 5 am local time it was 6 am by our internal clocks still on Eastern Daylight time.

The drive through western Wisconsin and Minnesota were generally uneventful. The farms and fields where dairy cattle graze look exactly like we would expect. There was major construction in Minneapolis that had I-94 closed. We decided to go around the city to the south on I-494 but later learned that it too was closed. We had to drive north of the city on I-694 to get through the city and eventually back on I-94. We had a lunch on Ritz crackers and Jif peanut butter in a squeeze bag. Although we usually have peanut butter and crackers on many of our travel days, the squeeze bag made eating on the road so much easier.

Since we are big fans of the movie, Fargo, we had planned on stopping long enough to take a snapshot or two at some of the sites from the film. However, we learned that no scenes from the movie were actually filmed in Fargo so we kept on moving into North Dakota.

Eastern North Dakota is very much like Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, we came to a place in the western side of the state where the landscape changed dramatically. The fertile green pastures of the east gave way to Badlands with sagebrush and arid landscapes.

Our major stop on this day of travel was at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. The park was established in 1947 and was made a National Park in 1978. We were surprised that we had never heard of it before we planned this trip. An article we read identified the park as one of the most overlooked parks in the nation and, as such, doesn’t have the heavy visitor load that some of the more popular parks experience. The National Park senior pass that we purchased in California last year for $20 waived the $30 park admission for us. Using the map provided by the ranger at the visitor center, we drove through the park and stopped at many of the short walking trails to interesting site. Visibility was severely limited because of the forest fires throughout the west. While some of the smoke was being carried by the wind from the large California fires, numerous fires are burning in Montana and Idaho.

One of the longer trails took us to an overlook of a valley formed by strong winds that travel up the canyon. Another trail led us past a very large bison herd grazing on a hillside. Several times while driving, our way was blocked by a bison herd on or crossing the road through the park. We also saw a band of wild horses that roam freely through the park. Several prairie dog villages were along the road or on one of the hiking trails. 

Since it was the Labor Day weekend, there were a fair number of visitors in the park. It was not crowded, and many of the visitors were local. We did see one car with Kentucky license plates, so we approached them at one of the stops. As we neared we saw that their car was from Scott County, our home county. Upon meeting them we learned that they had lived just a couple of miles from us on Oxford Road. The husband was the retired principal of Scott County High School. We were amazed at meeting people from so near our home at this National Park.

We left the park around 6 pm and got back on I-94 west into Montana. A short stop at the last North Dakota exit allowed us to top off our fuel before getting into the higher gas prices in Montana. We split a rotisserie chicken sub from Subway that we both found very tasty. We were soon in Glendive, Montana, where we found our LaQuinta motel and went straight to sleep. We thought that the LaQuinta was very nice as well as being clean and quiet.

Idaho Vacation - Travel Day 1

We awoke around 4:30 am, ate our travel breakfast of Raisin Bran and Greek yogurt and got on the road a little after 5 am.  Most of the things had been packed in the car in days before, so only items in the cooler to be loaded.  We were able to load the car days ahead since we use the 2008 Camry as our daily driver and would be taking the 2018 Camry.  This would be the first long drive we had ever taken in it. The car was very comfortable and the advanced safety features were welcome on a three day drive across the country. 

We were happy to get through Cincinnati and Indianapolis before much traffic started.  Since it is a holiday weekend, we hoped that we would not have the weekday traffic that is typical around the midwestern cities. Mary started the trip by driving while I provided music by connecting an older iPod to her car’s audio system.  The drive through Indiana and Illinois was uneventful and with little traffic.  I took over driving in Southern Illinois sometime in morning.  The car was a pleasure to drive except when I would forget to signal during a lane change and the lane departure alert would sound.  It would take some time for me to get used to this safety feature.  As expected, traffic around Chicago was heavier but not terrible.  Certainly not what we would experience on a weekday.  Lunch at a rest stop was a cold cut sandwich and fresh fruit. 

Mary at the Castle Rock in Wisconsin 

Once we were in Wisconsin, we made a few stops at rest areas and places where there were attractions.  It was good to stretch our legs, look for a geocache and admire a giant cow figurine or other roadside stop.  One particularly interesting stop on I-90 was at the Castle Rock wayside, a monolith in the Wisconsin Dells area.  This large stone outcropping was over 100 feet tall and looked like the turrets on a castle.  We walked around it, found the Earthcache for the feature, and then continued our drive to the Super 8 in Eau Clair, Wisconsin on I-94. 

Northwest end of Eau Clair is the town of Elk Mound, Wisconsin.  Elk Mound is the corporate home of Menard’s, our favorite hardware store/builder supply.  The hotel where stayed was just a few yards from Menard’s headquarters and their flagship store. 

Since Culver’s Restaurant chain started in Sauk City, Wisconsin, specializing in quality beef and dairy foods, we decided to get cheeseburgers and fried cheese curds from there as carry out. With the resurgence of COVID, we were more comfortable getting the meal as carry out and having it in the hotel room.

The room was a fairly typical Super 8, near the highway, clean and quiet so it suited us just fine.