rvingwithapurpose

2025 Spring Road Trip – Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Friday, May 23, 2025

Wednesday morning May 14, we packed up and headed the RVs to Medora, ND. Almost immediately the winds whipped up to 30 mph with gusts higher. We also had intermittent rain. It was going to be a hard 328 mile day. Max and Randy were our drivers and did an excellent job handling the wind. We broke things up a bit with a stop in Jamestown, ND to see the “World’s Largest Buffalo” known as Dakota Thunder. Dakota is a concrete sculpture of an American bison that is 26 feet tall, 14 feet wide, and 46 feet long. He weighs approximately 60 tons and is visible from I-94. Dakota gets over 100,000 visitors each year.

An hour or two later we took another break to visit Salem Sue, also just off I-94 and visible for five miles. Salem Sue is a giant fiberglass Holstein cow sculpture in New Salem, ND. She was built in 1974 for approximately $40,000.00. Her dimensions are: 50 feet long x 38 feet high and she weighs 6 tons. Sue was sponsored by the New Salem Lions Club to honor the local dairymen in the area.

It’s hard for a picture to show how big she really is.

Next stop was the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Painted Canyon Visitors Center just outside of Medora. Max and Anne had fond memories of this stop from 2014 when they were on the way home from Alaska. It’s the first great look at the Bad Lands and makes such an impression. Beautiful scenery.

Painted Canyon panarama

Finally, we drove on to Medora, ND where the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located. We arrived at our campground just after it began raining again. We were able to get set up before the storm really kicked in. It was a long sleepless night for us all between thunder, lightning, and wind shaking the RVs.

Thursday morning, May 15, we slept in a little after the hard travel day and little sleep. However, there was lots to see so we began our visit to the national park about 9:00. We drove the wildlife loops, first in the south unit and then after lunch, the north unit. The scenery and wildlife were great. We were concerned the rain would keep the animals in, but the only shy ones were the prairie dogs. Otherwise, the two drives were a wonderful way to spend a gloomy, rainy day.

Statue of Teddy inside the South Unit Visitor Center

We saw many bison, some in herds …

… some with calves …

Even on a rainy day the scenery was beautiful.

Apparently prairie dogs don’t like the rain.

These are cannonball concretions. According to the information sign, no one really knows why they formed in round balls.

2025 Spring Road Trip – A Day In Fargo

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Debra and Anne are good planners. They had fully planned Tuesday, May 13th. We would begin the day with an Agricultural Equipment and Manufacturing tour. We like manufacturing tours. After God got through laughing, we realized that it was going to be too hot Tuesday afternoon for our planned visit to the Red River Zoo and for some reason the Agricultural tour couldn’t be done Tuesday so, Gumby visited, and we went to the zoo first thing Tuesday morning. In the cool of the morning the animals were active and so fun to watch. The two river otters were the most active of any we have ever seen. So darn cute. The Fargo Zoo is relatively new – opened in 1999. The collection plan of the Red River Zoo primarily focuses on species from around the world with climates similar to North Dakota’s. We think they were so smart to do this because it allows them to have animals that thrive in the bitter winters of Fargo. The zoo can have their animals on display year-round because they are cool/cold loving animals.

This cross between a tiger and a bison stands guard at the front door

We never could get this laughing kookaburra to laugh.

First of many prairie dogs for this trip

After lunch when it was hot outside, we visited a close by air conditioned air museum. It was well done and displayed many restored planes from previous wars as well as some that are a work in progress. Most of the planes are being restored by veterans.

Part of the collection of model airplanes

In addition to the aircraft, the museum displays this motorcycle built to resemble a stealth fighter.

Since it was such a warm day (one of just a few since leaving SC) after the air museum, we found some ice cream. Who needs a healthy supper? We had a good lunch. So… ice cream it was. It was a good day.

We walked by this really nice mural on the way to the ice cream shop.

The ending of another great day with family

2025 Spring Road Trip – Iowa to North Dakota

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

This is a road trip so we must keep moving. Monday morning (May 12th) after a nice walk around the campground (got to get our steps) we left Pulpit Rock en route to Fargo, ND. Since this route had us traveling through Minnesota we made a not so short stop at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. We will let the pictures tell that story.

The Lego store had these huge creations above it.

Of course we had to visit the M&Ms store. (They’re cheaper at the grocery store.)

After a good lunch and good time at Mall of America we drove on to Lindenwood Park Campground in Fargo. Lindenwood is nice Fargo city park with great places to walk/run/ride bikes and children’s play areas.

This pedestrian bridge that connects two parts of the park can be lifted out of harm’s way when floods threaten.

Spring 2025 Road Trip – National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

We left Park Terrace Campground Sunday morning May 11th. Our plan for the day was to drive to Dubuque, IA, arriving about 10am when the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium opened. We arrived a few minutes early and while waiting discovered just how large a museum we were visiting. The museum opened in 2003 and continues to grow. The city of Dubuque is built on the shores of the Mississippi and has experienced horrible flooding over the years. It seems appropriate that Dubuque is the location of the national museum. It is very well done with all sorts of exhibits. Very educational for all ages and there are several areas dedicated to children. In addition to information on the river itself there is also information about life on the river. There is an old Corp of Engineers dredge that can be toured. There is a calliope from an old paddle steamer that has been restored and now played for visitors. There was also a belt driven machine shop from one of the old boat builder companies on display. Much of the equipment still worked. They have freshwater fish aquariums spotlighting the Mississippi River fish and saltwater aquariums. They even have a yellow stingray pool where they allow visitors to gently touch the stingray. It was a fascinating place to visit, and we are so glad Debra scheduled this for us.

This is the strangest looking fish in the freshwater aquarium.

The lion fish is an invasive species, and the strangest looking fish in the saltwater aquarium.

It’s hard to get a good closeup of an active river otter.

The Corps of Engineers dredge boat we toured

The pilot house was also known as the hurricane deck.

One of the staff gave us a detailed demonstration of this belt driven machine shop.

The trail up included lots of stone steps.

The calliope was VERY loud!

After leaving the museum we drove to Pulpit Rock Campground in Decorah, IA. After getting set up on our sites, the four of us decided to hike to the top of Pulpit Rock. It was a fun hike and reminded us of how thankful we are that Randy can now hike with us again. God is so good!