Meandering the Country

June 9 – 19, 2023 Breaking up the trip from Theodore Roosevelt NP to Yellowstone NP , we spent a couple of nights at Billings Village RV Park .  Just a few miles before reaching Billings, we couldn’t resist making an impromptu stop at Pompeys Pillar.  On July 25, 1806, Captain William Clark carved his signature into the side of this 150-foot-tall sandstone pillar.  Clark journaled that, from the top, he “had the most extensive view in every direction on the Northerly Side of the river”.  This inscription is the only remaining physical evidence along the Lewis and Clark Trail!  Clark was accompanied by Sacagawea and her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau for this portion of the expedition.  Clark’s nickname for this young child was Pompey, whom he named the pillar after!  More than 200 years ago, this sandstone outcropping was much larger.  Evidence of erosion is the fact that Clark’s signature is now impossible to reach!  Fortunately for visitor...

June 6 – 9, 2023 Our first stop in North Dakota was Bismarck.  We spent the night camping at Hillcrest Acres RV Park .  Preferring to trek between 200-300 miles on a travel day, this seemed like a long day at 352 miles of hauling the camper.   By the time we got checked in and unhitched, we didn’t have a ton of time to check out North Dakota’s capital.  What we did see was pretty spectacular though!  Being 94°F outside, we took the campground host’s advice and headed to the air-conditioning offered at North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum .  There, we enjoyed exploring their Adaptation Gallery: Geologic Time .  They have an absolutely wonderful display of sea creatures that once lived in the ancient oceans here some 600 million years ago.  Having just been fishing, I couldn’t help but envision my reaction if this sword ray ended up at the end of my line! The museum also does a great job talking about the extinction of dinosaurs and th...