June 6, 2024
Moving on to Downstream COE in Hazen, ND
Well, we had a "first" last night -- we ran out of water in the RV. Not 100% but enough that we were having a hard time getting any water out of the faucet . We had enough to wash our face and make coffee this morning, but that was about it. When we filled at our last stop, it was so slow filling that Joe quit before it was full. He thought he had about 3/4 of a tank, but then we stopped along the way for him to go to the bathroom and we were parked at an angle and water poured out the whole time we were parked, so I don’t know how much that took it down but anyhow, the pump wouldn't shut off, we had to shut it off by hand last night.
We had to fill at the dump station as we were leaving this morning which we hadn’t planned on doing, and again it was really slow. He put in maybe a half a tank at the most and we thought we would have water at the campsite tonight so the plan was to fill up then. While he took on water this morning, I picked up a few pinecones.
The wind is really bad today. Joe is having a hard time getting the motorhome up to 50 mph. And the wind is supposed to go on all day. We traveled pretty well west all day so it was a long day. We’re seeing a lot more farm ground in North Dakota than we saw in Minnesota. Minnesota was mostly forest and rocky hills but here we’ve got a lot of flat ground and a lot of fields planted. If it’s not a ditch, it’s planted. We have also seen a lot more cattle than in Minnesota. While he took on water this morning, I picked up a few pinecones. Our speed today with the wind ranged between 45 and 55 miles an hour -- made for a long, slow day.
The wind is awful. Joe said this may be the worst we’ve ever driven in. An oncoming semi flashed its lights at us and so Joe started looking around and could see the side compartment door outside had blown open, even though it was locked. We pulled over and he went out to shut it, could hardly get the door of the RV open for the wind and then he could hardly get back in because the wind was blowing the door shut before he could get in. My phone said we had wind of 24 mph with wind gusts up to 42, but the wind gust were pretty much constant. The wind keeps getting stronger -- now it’s 27 miles an hour with 44 mph gusts. Not a fun driving day. But we have to keep going because we have an agenda now -- we have reservations for about the next week, starting tonight, so we have to keep on the move today. We made 115 miles in 2 1/2 hours -- slow going in this wind. We took State Highway 200 almost all the way across North Dakota. Fortunately, even though it’s mostly a two-lane, it’s not at all busy and on a windy day like today it was nice to not have to fight the traffic on the interstate. We went through very few towns on this highway. Most of them were a mile off of the road, which was nice. We crossed the Continental divide 3 times on this road. That doesn’t make sense since we’ve been going due west. Joe said we are going straighter than it is.
There wasn't a lot to see, except fields and flooded areas, whether regular ponds or floods in fields we didn't know. I did see this one church ahead that looked significant, standing all alone.
We traveled 194 miles, a little more than we had expected. We are about 70 miles north of Bismarck, and a little west. It was sunny and in the low 70s, but so windy we couldn't enjoy that. But we did sit outside on the picnic table for a little while -- with the wind, the bugs were not out. We are only here for one night, then we move on to Medora, ND for a few days. We will continue on Hwy 200 to U.S. 85, where we will turn south and head to Medora. I think tomorrow is supposed to be 125 miles, and no wind predicted.l
No comments:
Post a Comment