September 6, 2016 – Theodore Roosevelt National Park to Dickinson, ND

Theodore Roosevelt National Park has several different areas.  If you have the time, we recommend visiting both the North and South Units.  We drove from the North Unit to the South Unit.  On the 36-mile scenic drive in the South Unit, we saw many prairie dog towns, wild horses, a coyote trying to catch a prairie dog and lots of buffalo.

Camping:  North Park Campground, Dickinson, ND

Full hookups, showers, great WiFi, laundry, good Verizon cell

September 5, 2016 – Fort Peck Lake, MT to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit, ND

Welcome to North Dakota!  BAM!!!  Feathers flying everywhere.  Feathers under the windshield wipers, in the radiator and all over the ground.  I saw the pheasant rising - coming in low from the left just as it hit and exploded.  It cracked the grill but didn’t hit the windshield.  Now I understand the importance of a grill!  Is this what you call “bagging a pheasant”?  Terry keeps saying I “blew up a pheasant!”

Our first rainy day!  The rain made the colors in the badlands appear more vibrant.  While driving the scenic drive we saw the herd of long horn steer, lots of buffalo and a jack rabbit but no long horn sheep.

Camping:  Juniper Campground, North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP

Dry camping, dump, bad water, $7/night with pass, no Verizon cell reception

September 3-4, 2016 – Fort Peck Lake, MT

R and R days.

MONTANA:  Along Hwy 2 the dress is jeans and a sweatshirt-not fleece!  The vehicle is a pickup-preferably a Chevy.  Most side roads are dirt.  Many people still refer to the Farmers Almanac weather predictions and talk about it.  It’s going to be an early winter this year…

September 2, 2016 – Fort Peck Lake, MT – West End CG to Downstream CG

Today we rode our electric bikes again for the first time in over two months!  Montana is NOT great for cycling.  The shoulders tend to be non-existent and the speed limit is very high.  That said, we took the back roads to the Fort Peck Interpretive Center over dirt/gravel which worked well.

FORT PECK INTERPRETIVE CENTER (Fort Peck Lake, MT)

This center explains how the dam was built but also has a dinosaur/fossil exhibit.

POWERHOUSE TOUR (Fort Peck Lake, MT)

This hour long tour takes you into the powerhouse and allows you to touch the spinning turbine drive shaft and see the generators.  You sign up for this tour at the Interpretive Center.  The requirements are  that you have an ID and a motor vehicle…We had motorized bikes. They gave us a head start to get to the gate before the cars.

SURPRISE!

On our way back to the overflow lot, we checked with the campground to see if there was a cancellation and there was one!  They agreed to give us time to ride our bikes back to the RV, pack up and get back down to claim the site which we did.  We’ve got power, water nearby, level site, showers, in the shade, dump station nearby, and reasonable bike ride into town.  Perfect!  We’re set for the Labor Day weekend.

CAMPING:  Downstream CG, Fort Peck Lake, MT

Electricity-only, showers, $10/night with pass, good Verizon cell reception