Mall of America in Minnesota

Thursday, July 5th: Today we drove on across from Jamestown, ND into Minnesota and dropped southward toward the Minneapolis area. The campground that we stopped at was rated pretty good in TL, but they were so crowded that they were even using the dog walk area for tents and even a Class C or two.
Friday, July 6th: Drove over to the Mall of America and walked around. It was impressive with four floors and a carnival in the center, complete with water slides, ferris wheel, a carousel, and a small childs area in the middle. We did get a digital picture frame that will rotate through 500 pictures, at in the Rainforest Cafe, and bought a pack of Cinnebons.
Saturday July 7th: They were supposed to have a hugh mass wedding for 7/07/07 in the mall today at (of course) 11:00 a.m. so we decided to drive on down the road instead of leaving on Sunday as we had initially planned.
Monday July 9th: Happy Birthday Carolyn
We are in Richmond, Indiana tonight at a nice little campground called "Grandpa's Farm". In celebration of her 39th Birthday we celebrated at the Red Lobster and had Margaritas.
Tomorrow it will be eastern Ohio then probably on to Williamsport on Wednesday and home on Thursday. It has been a memorable trip and we have enjoyed every moment. I hope to invite you all along the next time, this time in person and we can all enjoy it.

I will close this out for this year. Hugs to each of you and I look forward to boring you with our pictures.

Clark and Carolyn

North Dakota

Monday July 2nd: We pulled out of the Rafter J Bar Ranch, and drove on up to North Dakota via I-90 W to US-85 north up to I-94. US-85 is a good road through the Dakota, straight up through the rolling hills. Our altitude dropped from the 6000 feet (plus and minus) of the Hill City/ Custer/ Keystone area until we topped out at the highest point in North Dakota at 3506 feet and down to the 2000 foot range. We stayed Monday night at "On the Heart" Campground in Dickenson, ND. The campground was on the Heart River which meanders through the area.
Tuesday July 3rd: On across North Dakota and crossed the Missouri river which came in from Montana and had merged with the Yellowstone River there. We also passed about 100 miles south of the Geographic Center of North America in Rugby ND and pulled in for the night at Jamestown. We will stay here for the 4th of July and get back on the road Thursday morning toward Minneapolis, MN. Happy Fourth of July to everyone.

Bear Country Drive Through Zoo South Dakota

Sunday July 1st: Today we drove up toward Rapid City, SD to go to a drive through Zoo called Bear Country off of Hwy 16. The animals were in the open and the people restricted to their vehicles. On the way through we saw Elk, one had 26 points - a hugh set, Mountain Goats, Big Horned Sheep, Cougers, Woves, Black Bears, Fox, Bison, and many more just walking around. The only ones actually in cages were the Grizzly Bears and the Cougers.

South Dakota Mount Rushmore

Wednesday June 27th: Today we drove the few miles from the Rafter J Bar Ranch campground to Mount Rushmore. This is very impressive and well worth the stop. The scene here was taken looking down the Gallery of Flags with the faces in the background. They have a flag for each state plus each U.S. Territory, fifty six in all. The ampitheater is just beyond the flags and the start of a walking path up under the heads and back to the ampitheater again. Three men were working on top of Roosevelt the day that we were there. You would not have caught me hanging off of his hairline.

Thursday we drove down to the Custer State park and around it. Many more Bison here than we saw at Yellowstone and an altogether nice park. They had a forest fire in the park early in the week and we drove through the burned areas on part of the circuit. There was still a lot of smoldering and smoke and we passed quite a few firemen and equipment keeping an eye on things. We stopped for a picnic lunch and relaxed for while on the way out of the park.

Friday we drove over to Keystone, SD and walked through the old town section, the Holy Terror mine, and the old stores.

Saturday was a trip up to Deadwood, SD, where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane died. They had written about their reconstructed old town but it was just a major street with old buildings housing casinos. I guess that they were trying to hold on to their gambling reputation, but that didn't interest us much. The drive through the Black Hills was very pretty however.