Linda and Regis travel...
Enjoying the gifts of the day with two dogs
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
We went from Bismark, ND to Medora, ND today. On the way, we went by the Enchanted Highway. I had never heard of the Enchanted Highway, which is a shame. I would have altered our trip to drive on it. Apparently, there are numerous metal sculptures along the road put there by an artist named Gary Greff. One of the sculptures is on the 94 interchange.
The picture we have doesn’t do it justice. It is amazing (when driving by at 65 mph). By the time I realized how lovely it was, it was too late to get on the other road and drive by the other sculptures. In North Dakota, there are many, many miles between exits. Once you pass one, you blew it.
We arrived in Medora early, so we walked through the town and then left the dogs in the trailer while we toured the South unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. All I can say is “WOW”. Some of the greatest treasures in the United States is its National Parks. We focused on taking pictures of wildlife the first trip through the park because the sun was shining too brightly to take good scenic pictures. After one loop through the park, we came back and fed the dogs and ourselves and then went back to focus on taking scenic pictures. We took the dogs with us the second time. The problem was the bison. First, there was a male bison who walked for quite a ways in front of us on the road. We couldn’t get around him and had to follow him slowly in the car until he finally decided to get off the road. Okay, so seeing bison that close requires a change in camera lenses and you are no longer focused on scenic pictures.
After the big guy got off the road, we went back to scenic picture taking until we encountered an entire herd of bison, many of them in the road. And, there were lots of babies with their mamas. Honestly, it doesn’t get cuter than that. I loaned one of my two cameras to my brother. It’s time to get it back so I can keep a “wildlife” lens on one camera and a “scenic” lens on the other. Between Regis and I swapping lenses, taking turns taking pictures, and using the binoculars, it was a frenzy. But, it was one of my best national park experiences (if that’s possible since I’ve had so many wonderful national park experiences).
BTW: We saw so many prairie dogs today that I can’t begin to tell how many. The prairie dogs we saw today did not look like the one I posted yesterday. Therefore, I’m unsure what I saw yesterday. I’ve tried to do a little research and I am not sure. If there are any experts out there that know, please let me know and I will update my post.
For those following the trials and tribulations of the RV, we continue to have problems with the heater. It will go down to 38 degrees tonight and the heater stopped working again. At least the fireplace works, so we should be sufficiently warm through the night. But, Regis is getting pretty aggravated with trying to keep that thing working. We continue to have problems with the sensor on the black water tank. Even when it’s empty, it says that it is 2/3 full. He flushed it once and it seemed to be working but it’s back to its old bag of tricks. When we know its empty, it says its 2/3 full.
On the dog side of things, Tekoe has been doing well today. I found a juicy tick on Dart. I give the dogs medication to prevent fleas and ticks but it didn’t work for this tick. We’ll have to keep an eye on them. I gave them both a rub down to look for ticks and they enjoyed the heck out of it. We took the dogs with us for the second loop of the park. They are not allowed off the pavement and on the trails but they can ride in the car. When we had to work our way through a herd of bison, Tekoe suddenly noticed them and started barking. Her barking is no longer very loud, so I don’t think it had much of an impact to any of the bison. They didn’t appear to notice. We know her eyesight is still reasonable. Dart was such an angel than I was worried we forgot to bring him along. I had to check to make sure he was in the truck.
Linda and Regis travel... 
Awesome pictures!! I love bison. Beautiful animals! And they taste great too! 😊
I’m glad you are enjoying your trip. The prairie dogs are so cute. I know they are everywhere out west.
I’m happy the dogs are faring well.
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