Steven and Betty RV Adventures

Wednesday, Oct 11, we drove to Miles City, MT. We stayed at a KOA with friendly management, but the park was laid out in a confusing way with roads that were hard to follow. The park also was very dark and near a railroad. Overall, the park was ok with a pull-thru slot and full hookups. There was a Walmart and Albertsons in town, so we could get some shopping done, but returning to the park after dark was quite an experience. One of the managers saw us driving around and offered his help, saying that the moon there only comes out in the day. Huh? We managed to find our motorhome.

Thursday, Oct 12, we drove to Beaver Valley Haven RV Park in Wibaux, MT. The name sounds nice, but this is the worst RV park to date. Perhaps the worst in the country. Its only saving grace is that it is open this time of year in northeast Montana. When we arrived, the manager rang up the $30 per night for two nights, using her kitchen counter as her business desk. She had a toddler in her arms and two rambunctious kids running around the house. She sat the two in front of the TV and walked with the toddler in her arms around the grounds with me. She pointed out that most of the slots had large holes in them and suggested I pick out what I liked. RV park slots are supposed to be level and flat, often a concrete slab or raked gravel. This was hard mud and weeds, with holes that would swallow a motorhome wheel. I finally found one that was reasonably safe, but had large wooden posts extending from the ground in odd locations, one of which prevented us from extending our large kitchen slide-out. We just lived with the cramped condition for the two nights and one and a half days that we were there. We chose this location because we needed something close to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. I had heard only a little about this park, but since we would be in the area and were visiting all the national parks we could along the way, we decided to visit for a day and a half. After getting settled at the RV park, we drove into the national park and stopped at the visitors center to get maps and talk to the ranger about good photo opps. We also went behind the center to see Maltese Cross Cabin, the cabin that Teddy Roosevelt retreated to when both his wife and mother died on the same day in February 1884. We then drove up the scenic drive and took photos with our phones, checking whether a return the next day with our DSLRs would be warranted. We were very impressed with the landscapes, but we also saw acres of prairie dog mounds with their inhabitants swarming all over the place. We also saw bison, wild turkeys, mule deer, feral horses, coyotes, and pronghorns.

The following day we drove slowly and casually through the park with our Jeep windows down shooting photos as we liked. The best national park experience we ever had. Most parks are overrun with visitors (especially foreigners driving far too fast and ignoring all the rules, tailgating your every move), but here we were with only about a dozen others all day. The sun was clear and warm, the air crisp and dry, and almost no wind. Fall colors everywhere. Herds of bison all along the road, as well as acres of prairie dog colonies. Bison and feral horses slowly walk along and across the roads, posing for photos.

Today, Oct 14, we drove to Menoken, ND to stay at A Prairie Breeze RV Park. We called to announce that we would be there soon, but only got a recording that this is a self service park. We wondered what was waiting for us, but it turned out to be a nice park. There is a registration booth at the entrance where we found an envelope with our name on it, so someone had been there in anticipation of our arrival. In the envelope were the park rules and a smaller envelope for leaving a $30 check for the night. Same price as the dump we left behind in Wibaux but a very nicely laid out park with 50 amp pull-thru slots, water, and sewer. The water faucet was inside a Styrofoam box with a heating cord inside and a concrete block on top to keep the box from blowing away. One tops off the motorhome fresh water tank, then returns the Styrofoam box over the faucet so that it does not freeze at night. We also did without a water hookup in Wibaux due to freezing at night, which would freeze your hose and result in breaking it if you attempted to unhook it the next morning. The drive here from Wibaux was the worst yet in terms of wind. The cross winds were so strong that I could see semi trucks being pushed to the side of the road. I slowed way down, especially as I approached Bismark, where 50 mph was the most I attempted to drive. On top of that it was overcast and dismally cold the whole way. I am glad to say that as I write this, the sun has come out and started to warm things up. Tomorrow we leave for Garfield, MN.