Geographic Center of North America

Stopped by the service department and they told us the part was "emergency' ordered. it could be in tomorrow around noon. If not it could be Monday or Tuesday (eh).

After 2 days in the parking lot, a day at the state park (and showers) were called for! It was nice to spend the morning here and enjoy the lake. We read the paper and did some trip planning to change our route to follow the Lewis 7 Clark trails.

About noon we took off for Rugby,ND to see the Geographic Center of North America. We got to Rugby and couldn't find the center, so we stopped at the tourist info center. We asked the lady and she walked to the windo and pointed to a stone monument at then end of a parking lot across the street. We decided to take a ride around Rugby and then come back to the monument. On our way through town we saw another Coach House! We didn't have a chance to talk with them, so we went back to the monument. We took pictures and laughed about being such "tourists". We took Rte 2 back to Devil's Lake. There really isn't anything of interest on this road and it convinced us to change our trip plan. The folks we met at Fort Totten told us about the North Dakota Passport which is a travelers guide. We picked one up and it will help us along the way.

Back at camp we relaxed (in the lot) and then went to the Spirit Lake Casino for the diner buffet. The food was good...gambling was bad... The casino sits up on a hill over the lake and we watched the sunset - it was great!

Hope there is good news tomorrow..

Devils Lake - A Real Discovery

Well the service guys can't get to us until about noon, so we went exploring. After a stop at the visitor center we found out a lot about the area. North Dakota was ranked the friendliest state in the U.S. just recently and Devils Lake is proof. It is a friendly city and an inexpensive vacation destination. Devils lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota (who knew North Dakota had lakes) and is prime for all types of sports.

We took a ride down Rte 19 that goes around the lake. It is very different - almost like driving on a causeway and then you have fields on both side of the road and then back along the lakeshore. The lake is strange as it has groves of dead trees sticking out of the water (very erie), then there are marshy areas and then open water again. It was really unique and beautiful in it's own way. We continued down the road and found the Graham Island State Park. We didn't go in the park, but may come back if we have to stay longer. We continued around the lake and onto Rte 281 S. We saw signs for Fort Totten and decided to go take a tour.

Fort Totten is a great place. It was constructed as a military post, became an Indian boarding school, Indian health care facility, and a reservation school. The fort served American Indian policy from 1867-1959. Initially, the fort policed the surrounding reservation. The soldiers enforced the peace, guarded overland transportation routes. It was decommissioned in December 1890. In 1891 the former post became an Indian boarding school and operated until 1959. In 1960 it became a historic site. Today the fort includes seventeen historic buildings which date from 1868-1871. One of the buildings has been adapted as the Totten Trail Inn bed and breakfast. This is a beautiful place with several nice rooms and would be a great place to stay.

We met a group of RVers from North Dakota who invited us to join their tour group. They gave us a lot of information on things to see and do in this state. They suggested we alter our route to go further south and follow the Lewis and Clark Trails. We are going to look into it further.

We left Ft Totten and onto Rte 57 heading back to the coach. We passed a wildlife preserve and casino. We will go to the preserve after dinner when it cools off. It's very humid, in the high 80's and still windy. We will have more chance to see animals at dusk.

We got back and Ken checked with the service guys. They couldn't find a problem when they test drove the coach so Ken went out with Neil. He showed them the problem and they agreed to order a new Master Cylinder after talking with the service manager. However, they have to find one and have it shipped in. It could be Friday or possibly Monday or Tuesday. Looks like we may be living in the parking lot for the weekend. We have decided we won't leave until we are comfortable with the brakes. It's not too bad, the flood lights a little bright, but it's all part of the adventure....

Dinner tonight was a place called the Pizza Ranch (a pizza buffet - eh). Never seen one of these before. Probably won't do another one.....

The Sully Hill National Game Preserve was established in 1904 when Teddy Roosevelt expanded the nation's park system. It is one of only two big game preserves in the United States. Over 60,000 visitors come to visit each year to see it's bison, elk, deer, and black tailed prairie dogs. We followed the driving route through the park with various overlooks. We saw seven whitetail deer as we drove through the meadow areas but no elk or bison. We stopped at the Praire Dog Town and watched the Black Tailed Praire Dogs. They are really funny to watch. We continued down the road and came into a marsh area and saw several deer, we sat quietly and turned off the car. Eventually we saw 4 large elk come out of the trees across the marsh. They were feeding along the edge and moved slowly toward us. Then a group of mule deer across the road to our left with one buck with small antlers passed by us. It was getting dusk and the sun was pretty much set. All of a sudden in front of us to the right from behind a fallen tree comes the largest male elk I've ever seen with a huge rack (10 points). He was awesome! We took pictures but it was pretty dark. All of the elk eventually crossed the road to a pond at the entrance of the park. It's dark now and hard to see, so we left the park. It was a great night and a real treat to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitat.

It was a good day and Devils Lake has become a pleasant surprise.

Uh OHHHHH

Headed up Rte 59 N to Rte 1 W on our way to Rugby,North Dakota. Rugby is our interim stop on our way across North Dakota to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. It's sunny and hot as we crossed into North Dakota at 11:26AM. This is our 9th state!

We are out of the flat country and into rolling hills with fields of hay, grain, corn (still not very tall) and a crop that has bright yellow flowers and is a gorgeous contrast to the other lush green crops along the road. The wind is getting stronger as we turn onto Rte 17 W and we had to pump the air ride up to 70 for a more rigid ride. We crossed over the Red River North this morning. You can see for miles on the plains. It's like being able to see where you're going before you get there. If you close your eyes and picture open flat fields of lush green and bright yellow and then all of a sudden there is a huge grove of trees. As you get closer you can see flowers and gardens surrounding a farmhouse and barns. It's like an oasis!

We were breezing down Rte 17 enjoying the open farm land and getting ready to turn onto Rte 20 which is a fairly main highway. Ken started to slow down and when he stepped on the brakes there was nothing..... Fortunately we had already started to coast to a stop. We had little choice as we rolled towards the stop sign. The car in front of us had made the turn, and there were no cars coming down the highway and we were able to roll through the intersection. We had two choices - roll up a narrow dirt road or into the drive of a deserted building. We chose the second as the driveway had an outlet back to the main road. We checked and found no leaks, we called Ford and they found a Ford dealer 20 miles away in Devils Lake (great name). Ken found he had some brakes when he pumped them, so we unhooked the car and limped slowly to the Ford dealer. The dealer couldn't check the coach until tomorrow and suggested we might want to find a campground. We said no we weren't going to take a chance and drive the coach with faulty brakes. They were nice enough to let us stay in their parking lot for the night.

Atleast there are restaurants in the area and WalMart right next door. We went to a restaurant called Felix - was OK - but the waitress didn't know Merlot was a wine when I ordered - very scary! We drove around town and then went back to the coach. We have to wait to see long we may be here. We hope they can fix the brakes as they don't have a lift - then we will have to think of something else! Atleast this is some what of a resort area with a big lake, so there is some hope - I think....