We had a beautiful 250 mile drive today through some of the
most sparsely populated land in the country. After 35 miles on I-90 we
got off at Sturgis and headed north on country roads. The rest of
the drive, except for the last few miles, was on great pig-paths (Jim’s name
for any non-interstate roads). Zero traffic, smooth two-lane roads,
straight as an arrow with a variety of gorgeous scenery. Couldn’t ask for
more.
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| Bear Butte near Sturgis |
The first note-worthy sight was Bear Butte not far north of
Sturgis. This small mountain looks like a worn-down volcano but it
isn’t. It’s a laccolith similar to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It is
a sacred site for a number of Indian tribes including the Lakota Sioux and
Cheyenne.
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| Castle Rock Butte |
Castle Rock Butte and hay bales near Castle Rock, SD.
Numerous buttes pop up in the midst of mile upon mile of rolling grassland,
providing additional visual interest to the already beautiful scenery.
Western SD and ND are much hillier than we thought they’d be.
The hay bales out here are huge. I’ve read up on them
in an effort to find out the weight after we saw a tractor-trailer hauling a
full load of them. These look bigger than 5’x6’ but that’s the largest
size baled. They weigh from 1270 lbs to 1700 lbs depending on density.
Alfalfa weighs more because it’s baled damp to keep the leaves from falling
off. The bales are usually transported by tractor-trailers hauling 28
bales at a time which would be 35,500 lbs to 47,600 lbs per load. That’s
a lot of feed. Weight is important because farmers need to know they’re
getting what they’re paying for.
An occasional farm pond was visible from the road.
Cattle must have access to water so there must be a lot we couldn’t see.
It was odd that we never saw any cattle near the ponds.
The last part of South Dakota we drove through was Harding
County at the northwestern corner. A great thing about having internet
access while traveling is being able to look up information about the places
you’re traveling through while it’s on your mind. Harding County has a
population density of only one person per two square miles……in 2010 it was 1255
people in 2678 square miles…..and it’s the 2nd lowest in density for
the state. It has only three paved roads…..two running north-south and
one east-west. The ranches are so big we never saw a house outside of the
county seat which is quite run-down and about the size of downtown Fletcher,
NC. We counted only ten mailboxes in 25 miles. It’s no wonder the Post
Office has trouble making ends meet if they have to deliver mail daily to such
spread out areas. This county definitely has way more cattle than people.
As we got closer the North Dakota border we started seeing
oil wells. Seemed odd to see them in the middle of all this
grassland. In West Texas they look like they belong but not here.
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| Bowman, North Dakota
The county seat and biggest town of
Bowman County, population 1,668 in 2013. Bowman County had 3,214 people
in 2013 with an area of 1,167 square miles….2.75 people per square mile and an
unemployment rate of 2.5% in 2015. Seeing how small the
county seat is helps one get more of a feel for the low population density.
This yellow field was obviously a crop of some kind but
nothing I looked up on the internet helped me figure out what it was. It
was the only plant of this color we passed in all our miles today. The
other crops were all various kinds of grasses, probably including alfalfa which
we aren’t good at identifying going 65 mph. Among the most important
crops in cattle country are those that feed the animals throughout the
year. In checking the average weather for the area it seems there’s not
nearly as much snow here as I thought. The yearly average is in the range
of 57 inches from September to May. That’s really not much for being this
far north with average highs in the 20’s for the mid-winter months.
A quick view of the North Dakota badlands from I-94 near
Medora. Looks like they’re a lot more extensive that the South Dakota
badlands. We’ll investigate them along with the south section of the
national park tomorrow.
Our campground is good. With this badlands peak on the
campground’s edge we have a view of something other than campers which is
always welcome. We miss the wide open skies of our last location with
their incredible sunset clouds, but we haven’t been here for a sunset
yet. It might be great.
This campground is unusual in that it allows people to wash
their vehicles. Many campgrounds do not because they’re trying to keep their water
expenses down. Jim jumped on the opportunity to wash the truck and front
of the fifth wheel which were both filthy after two weeks on the road.
Now they’re clean and he’s dirty. :-D
One thing I should mention after all our problems with the
truck is that it ran perfectly today. No billowing smoke and averaging
around 12.5 mpg pulling the fifth wheel over hilly terrain. It averaged
19 mpg over the past week without towing, so it’s doing very well. It’s a
big relief to have it finally running right.
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