NORTHERN PRAIRIES May 27 - 29

NORTH DAKOTA - May 27
Getting on Highway 2 in Grand Rapids, we headed west to Langdon, ND.  Being it was Memorial Day weekend I was concerned we'd have a problem finding camping spots over the weekend so we stayed in Langdon two nights.  As we drove west across the windswept flat prairie of northern North Dakota, we were entertained by Garrison Keillor reading his book "Pontoon" with it's cast of colorful stoic Norwegian characters in the town of Lake Woebegon.  We chuckled at lot, and I dozed off a few times listening to Keillor's melodic voice.

The flat and desolate North Dakota prairie seems endless.

 The Norwegian version of Mexican food can be found at the "OOF-DA" taco truck.

PEACE - May 28
We stopped at the International Peace Garden located on the Manitoba/North Dakota border.  The botanical garden was built on the 49th Parallel in the heart of the North American continent as a symbol of peace that reaches across the longest undefended border in the world.

The unveiling and dedication of the cairn on the 49th Parallel was July 14, 1932.
The cairn reads:  "To God in His Glory, we two nations dedicate this garden and pledge ourselves
that as long as men shall live, we will not take up arms against one another".

The gardens were just starting to bloom with spring flowers and preparations were underway for the planting of annuals.

A beautiful symbol of peace.

The wind from the northwest was relentless with strong gusts pushing the RV around and making driving a tiring ordeal.  We pulled off the road for a night at the Roughrider RV Park in Minot.

MONTANA! - May 29
The landscape in northeast Montana isn't a whole lot different from North Dakota's; oil rigs dotting the expansive prairie as well as seeing farmers planting the enormous fields.  With Keillor's book finished, we changed it up and put on an action suspense story, "The Last Detective" by Robert Crais.  

The wind let up today and we made it to Havre, MT for a one night stay at the Havre RV Park.  The location was in a parking lot adjacent to a Conoco Gas Station/Bar/Casino and is situated between Hwy 2 and the busy BNSF railroad yard and tracks.  I wore ear plugs to bed and got up when I saw daylight peeking in along the sides of the window blinds.  Unfortunately, the light I saw was from the seemingly thousand street lights surrounding the parking lot.  Up and at 'em, we got an early start toward out next destination, Glacier National Park at St. Mary, MT.

Yup, I do occasionally drive the rig although when I do it's somewhat stressful for Jim.

Our first sight of the Rocky Mountains...about 95 miles away!