Big ass Cow: North Dakota

Happenings from 7/3/17... fell behind a little

This seems to be a reoccuring thing around here. North Dakota= big ass statues of animals. So we're looking at the map trying to figure out where to go next and we see a little marker that says Salem Sue. The largest New Holstein cow in the world. We have to stop. Not even an option. Of course this time we were smart enough to just take the jeep since it was twenty miles away.

After Sue we hit the road running. Our intent was to get all the way from new salem ND to Wibaux MT. We had made reservations to stay at this beautiful place two days ago. The flat land turned into rolling hills on the west side of North Dakota. The rolling hills then turned into short steep grades. It was 90 degrees out and Roo was feeling the stress. The manufacturers of this fine home on wheels were smart enough to put in a temp guage with no numbers. Just a C for cold and H for hot with a few lines in between. I imagine it was so that non-motor savvy people don't look down and get paranoid by seeing bigger numbers. But how hot is too hot?  Here's a quick engine lesson for you guys. This thing has a 5.9 cummins turbo. It's pushing 30k lbs up a steep hill at 60 mph. Basically we were working this little engine to it's max. I watched the needle climb and drop climb and drop. Then it got to the 3/4 mark and I thought.... maybe we should pull over. FLASH! Idiot light for the temp comes on. My heart drops. We can't afford any repairs. No jobs, no friends or family near by, no place to work on this thing myself. We pulled over at the next way side.

Putting the Bad in Badlands

After she cools down we hit the road again. Much more gingerly this time. We slowly make our way to Wibaux MT. Just west of Theodore Roosevelt National Park to stay for a couple days at an RV park. Time to fill up with water, wash our clothes, and run the AC. We pulled into this grand palace called the Beaver Valley Haven RV park. What a dump. Picture this...  your family bought an RV park and worked their ass off to make it nice. Then the parents died, the kids took it over, they got divorced, and now 2nd husband Jake and the wife Berta are running the joint into the ground. After we set up we literally found goat crap laying around the campsites. But hey, it was $30 bucks a day and that's cheap compared to the next town over asking $50.