Week ending Nov 1, 2018 Vulcan, Regina, Minot ND, Gettysburg SD, Calamus SRA NE, Ellis KS

Thursday night we hooked up the trailer and put most things away so we were ready to head out about 6:30 on Friday morning.

We spent Saturday with Karen and Dominique, helping them put up new covers on their outside door lights.  

On Sunday, Carol Dave and Alexis come in from Assiniboine for lunch.

Monday morning, the living room slideout was reluctant to start, but we did manage to get it going without having to find someone to lend a push.  We decided we would leave that slideout in until we get someone to look at it, hopefully while we are heading to Washington without the trailer.

Then we headed to Minot, ND through Estevan.  The highlight of the drive was a flock of pheasants crossing the highway.  We haven't seen pheasants for a long time.   At Verizon in Minot, we found out our Verizon number from last year was still available, so we got it activated, no new sim card required.  Then we got some groceries and wine before heading for the KOA.  It was not where the Garmin said it was.   It looked like it had been closed for a long time, the classic KOA building all boarded up.   We looked up the address for the new location, which we had driven by.  It is a bit odd as you go through an RV dealer to get to it, so if you don't see the KOA sign, you figure it is just the dealer.

Tuesday, we got up a bit later than usual since we are still operating on Mountain time, but ND is on Central.  We headed south from Minot on highway 83.  The first point of interest is Lake Sakakawea. 

This is a large reservoir on the Missouri River, and another spot on the Lewis and Clarke expedition route.  It reminded us of a TV series we watched a few years ago called 'The Travelling Bryans', two Canadians who canoed from Milk River to the Missouri, the Mississippi all the way to New Orleans. We passed on the opportunity to visit the Lewis and Clarke Interpretive Center in Washburn.     Just south of this was the Falkirk Coal Mine with a large generating station.

Falkirk Generating Station

 Further south, we took the bypass through Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. We stopped for lunch and a change of driver at the Apple Creek rest stop east of Bismarck.   The interpretive signs described the boat travel over time along the Missouri River.  When the railroad reached Bismark, it became the last great port on the Missouri.  We planned to fill the truck at a truckstop in Sterling, where we turned south off I-94.  However, there was only semi-tractor sized diesel hoses, and they were all occupied.  We continued 41 miles south to Linton where we got fuel for about 20c more per gallon.  We saw many fields that looked lie small sunflowers.
 
On our way to our destination in Gettysburg, SD, Joan was looking up the address for the City Park, which has 3 powered sites. The website she found said it was closed.  She started checking to see where the next stop could be, just in case. It would be Pierre, SD about another hour south.  We decided to drive the 5 miles off the highway to Gettysburg, which turned out to be worth while.  The park has 3 sites in the parking area next to a ball diamond.  Stays are limited to 3 nights, but that works just fine for us, as it is an overnight stop.
There is no charge, but they do have a donation box.  Since we will be using a fair bit of power, we gave them a donation.

Wednesday morning before leaving Gettysburg, we stopped at a service station for fuel, coffee and chocolate muffins. We headed a bit east before taking highway 47 south pretty much all the way to the border with Nebraska.   After about 100 miles, we crossed the Missouri again at Fort Thompson.

South of I-90, still on 47, we drove up and down hills just west of the Missouri until we got to the town of Gregory.  They are big pheasant country, still on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

From here the Missouri heads east, so we won't see it again on this trip.  A few miles south, we entered Nebraska.  They are working on their highways here.   We passed two 10 to 15 mile sections where they had repaved, and were putting hay down the edges of the highway, presumably to keep new grass warm while it develops.   Lots of cattle in the fields along here, even a few in the sand hill area.  We took highways 137 and then 11 south to Burwell. After refueling in Burwell at a shop that only took cash or cheques because their internet was down, we drove about 8 miles north to Calamus State Rec Area, a nice little park in the sand hills.

Thursday, we left the park, crossing 3 branches of the Loup River.  There is a lot of irrigation in this area of Nebraska.  We checked restaurants in Holdrege, just south of I-70 and picked Cozy Cafe based on the Trip Advisor reviews.  It was a bit of a challenge getting to it, as Highway 34 through Holdrege was under construction.  We got lucky, as we think we picked a 4 St instead of Ave on the GPS, but went right to it on the way.  The service in the restaurant was quite good, as the veggie options were limited.  They tailored a chef's salad by removing the meat and adding walnuts and raisins.  They serve primarily comfort food.  John picked the hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes, swimming in gravy.  Okay if only done occasionally.  We picked up slices of pumpkin and pecan pie to eat later.  From Holdrege, we continued south to Phillipsburg in Kansas.  At the service station, we were able to squeeze (with a trailer) behind a lady filling up several auxiliary tanks and the main fuel tank, and then going inside to pay.  Doesn't understand the time benefits of credit cards.   Once the car beside us left, we were able to go around her truck to leave as she was coming out of the station. 

Our stop for the night was Ellis Lakeside Campground on I-40, as it was the best reviewed in the Hays area, our 4 hour drive target for the day.   It is interested that today we crossed I-70 just before lunch, then got to I-40 about 3 PM.  There is a bit of a gap in the south to north interstate numbering, no I-50 or 60.  Apparently this is because it could have conflicted with US Routes 50 and 60, which were an older system.  See https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-no-Interstate-50-or-60.
Now  we are far enough south that it is warm enough at night to have water on in the campgrounds.   They turn it off here on November 15.  The campground is on Big Creek, which is dammed to create a little lake. 

Ellis is a railroad town from 1870.  There are several nice old churches in town.

 Nice stained glass