And away we go!

August is our Road Trip Month! This year we covered 3400 miles and visited towns and sites in two provinces and four states. Here is the First Chapter; the second to follow in a week or so.

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

Tunnel tours, two of them in fact. One covered the history of Chinese workers who were imported to work on the trans-continental railroad. Considered at the time to be less than second-class persons, they were relegated to the underground where they developed miles of tunnels connecting their living quarters, laundry, apothecary, kitchen and a few private areas. The other tour involved the exploits of none other than Al Capone who, during Prohibition, made Moose Jaw the hub of his activities. He hid out there, used the tunnels to evade the law, brewed hooch, shipped barrels of illicit grog to the parched States, and generally contributed to the growing town.

We enjoyed a few hours at the Moose Jaw Art Museum as well and it was there I discovered a use for old neckties. Introducing the newest Bag of Joy line: ReTies! Look for them on www.BagofJoy.com beginning October 1.

Estevan, SK

We planned to spend two nights in this small prairie town so we could take a tour of the hydroelectric dam, the coalmines and the power plant. Wouldn’t you know… the tour guide took the weekend off! So we shortened our stay, did our own tour of the Rafferty Dam and the prehistoric rocks at nearby Roche Percee.

Roche Percee near Estevan

Minot, North Dakota

Have you been there? Don’t bother.

Did you know that
three-quarters of the
country’s sunflower
crop goes to the food
industry in the form
of sunflower oil and
snacks? The rest of it
(500,000 acres worth)
is sold as birdseed.

Custer House at Fort Abraham
Lincoln State Park

Prairie storm on our way to Pierre

Bismarck, ND

Have you been there? A wonderful city, right? As we arrived we missed our motel entirely and ended up at the capitol building where the annual art fair was taking place, so we joined in and toured the entire fair, had a terrific plate lunch and listened for a while to some local gospel music. We enjoyed everything about Bismarck, especially the bike paths in their city park along the Missouri River.

Fort Abraham Lincoln is a short drive from Bismarck through Mandan (you Lewis & Clark buffs know about Mandan) and we spent a couple of hours in this historic spot, biking and exploring the re-created Mandan village and the Custer Home. This fort is where General Custer mustered his troops for the fateful journey to the Little Bighorn in Montana.

Fort Yates, ND

The Prairie Knights Resort and Casino is located in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation of the Sioux and is the only viable commercial entity we could find. Of course, my modest jackpot win deprived them of some profit but they really didn’t seem to worry much. By the way, Sitting Bull is buried in Ft. Yates; we made a point of visiting his gravesite and giving thought to his words.

Pierre, South Dakota

This was a return trip for us; we were here in 2005 with our new-to-us RV. This time we stayed in a motel and biked La Framboise Island, did the tour of the Oahe Dam and hydro plant, and toured a little more of this lovely city on the Missouri.

Right about this time we realized our plan to head to Deadwood wouldn’t work due to the 1.5 million bikers who had descended on Sturgis for the annual Harley rally. Every hotel, motel, B&B and campsite in a 200-mile radius was booked solid. So we turned south, thinking we could spend some time in Nebraska quite happily.

Winner, SD

What comes to mind when you hear the words “prairie town”? Tree-lined streets, friendly folk, quaint shops, lots of churches? Yep, that’s Winner. We biked most of the town, visited a few little shops, and learned that Winner is the Pheasant Capital of the US – as in pheasant hunting.

On a hunch, before leaving Winner I checked hotels.com for rooms in the Deadwood area, knowing that the rally had come to a close and hordes of bikers were now seen migrating in the opposite direction. Sure enough, we had options to stay in Hot Springs and Lead, so we stayed in both!

Hot Springs, SD

If the history of this town wasn’t spectacular, and the mammoth digs didn’t yank your crank, and the magnificent museum bored you, well…  maybe you really would like Minot. We were enthralled by this gold rush throwback of old homes, storefronts, mineral springs and living history. The museum, a converted three-story sandstone schoolhouse, is the best I’ve ever seen. The Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery is breathtaking. The ongoing mammoth dig is a fascinating look into a 26,000-year-old mammoth graveyard. And the buildings – well, for Jim I think the architecture was the highlight for him, from the 100-year old Lutheran Hospital (abandoned on a hilltop) to the gabled and colonnaded mansions of yesteryear.

Digging mammoths in Hot Springs

Lead, SD

Lead, Deadwood’s civilized sister, is just three miles from the notorious capital of the gold rush days. We found a wonderful place to stay – the Blackstone Inn – and made a few trips around both towns when not playing in the casinos. Our self-guided tour included the infamous Mt. Mariah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok is buried alongside Calamity Jane, and the huge Homestake goldmine, which has been taken over by the Sanford Underground Research Facility. 

Did you know that of the 3200-plus people buried in Deadwood's "Boot Hill", one-third of them are indigents - drifters and hobos in unmarked graves.

And now we leave you for a week or two to give you time to read and digest, or hit delete. Chapter Two will follow soon.