June 19th - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit, North Dakota, USA

We woke up this morning, a little disorientated, but alive. No hangovers to report about, just a bit tired!! After breakfast and a shower in the disgustingly yellow shower blocks (yup, every part of it was yellow, except the floor. Inside and out. Yukkk.) Then it was time to face the music, otherwise known as US customs. Again!

We drove down more of a narrow road and then were confused because it said the ‘Canadian port of entry’ was closed, so weren’t sure if we’d be able to get back into the US through there or not. But the next one was a while away, so we just continued on anyway. Another tiny narrow road with not many cars going the other way. None going our way! Finally we got to the border crossing and saw that the side where people drive into Canada was closed. Just the side to enter the US was open. So we drove up and I must admit I was a little nervous about having our car pulled apart again. I’d even tried to tidy up a little so when they pulled out the mattresses etc., there wouldn’t be too much stuff on top.

So we pulled up to the little building and got out of the car. The customs guy said ‘Welcome to Montana’ and proceeded to tell us that we were the first customers to cross the border here today. And it was 1pm! Apparently it was mainly used for agricultural transport during the week and this was a Sunday. It was much colder than I thought once we’d hopped out of the car! They guy seemed nice and asked if we had any apples on board, but I said we only had pears. He took one look at them and said they were fine (actually they were about dead, but at least they were ok to cross over the border). Will opened the side doors and the guy stuck his head in but didn’t want to even go inside! He looked at our passports and was quite happy to let us through. He couldn’t really help us with our visa stuff-up, but he did give us directions to Deadwood, South Dakota! The other guy only popped his head out for a second and I think he was checking out our number plate. Probably so he could run a check on it and see if it was stolen! While they conferred it was so chilly Will and I had to put jumpers on! It was pretty overcast. Anyway, the main guy told us to drive a particular way to avoid road works and if it was possible not stop for gas until we were out of the Indian Reservation. Apparently it’s not an area you want to stop in!

Stop sign...with no road. 

So he didn’t check our car, he didn’t care how much booze we had with us and suddenly we were free to drive into the US! Too easy! A bit sad that my first time into Canada had to be so stressful, but hopefully it will be easier next time. So we drove off – but not the way he suggested as we decided we’d brave the roadworks and head back to Williston. The roadworks were long but we weren’t held up – just like previously in North Dakota, we just had to drive on muddy gravel for about 25 miles. We ended up stopping for gas in Plentywood and then we kept driving. Straight road…

Finally we were in North Dakota (probably not something many people say!) and we headed down to the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As we crossed into North Dakota we saw water EVERYWHERE. We drove down the highway and there was water lapping at the sides of the road!! Crazy! 

More water and power poles in a 'paddock.'

We got gas at Watford City where we turned onto the dual lane highway. We drove through it looking for an RV park, but the only one we found didn’t have anyone in their office/shed and everyone parked there looked pretty permanent! So we decided to continue on down to the actual park. We stopped in Alexander because there was a cheap campground there that we had found on the free camping website. However it looked like everyone there was permanent and letting their trailers rot. And there was no room. So we drove around the corner and saw a paddock with the taps and power outlets for RV camping but there was only one largeish van there and it looked permanent. And there was no one around, so we didn’t bother to stop and ask. We decided we’d just keep going to the National Park.      

 It was raining a little when we got to the National Park. We drove down to the campground, did a lap looking for a good spot, found one and parked. It was getting a little late and we were both a bit tired. Last night didn’t help hehe. As we were driving around we saw lots and lots of the sites were closed – the picnic tables were in thick mud and there were branches and things washed up all around them. Obviously they’d had a huge roaring flood through there. We saw an older lady pull in in front of us on the conclusion of our scouting lap – I didn’t want her to take our spot! I think she was looking for the envelopes to put money in. We saw her later on walking her dogs and absolutely staring at Betsey (and us?!) while she walked her two tiny excuses for dogs. Will thought she was travelling by herself, which she seemed to be. Apart from the two dogs. Anyway, it’s amazing how many people stare at Betsey when they walk past. Poor honey. I don’t think she’s that ugly! So we had a couple of games of cards, but NO alcohol this time. Then it was time to hit the hay ready to check out the park tomorrow.