Travel Days: Change in course = surprises!

 

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always  reach my destination”.

Hi everyone!  Who knew we would have an adventure on our last days to Saskatoon.  In the last couple of days, we had to adjust our course a few times due to the weather.  We had planned to go from Colorado Springs to Casper Wyoming and onward to Saskatoon …..but…..along came high gusting winds and the threat of a winter storm.   So, we made adjustments.   We decided we better head to Winnipeg through Nebraska.  This would add almost 2 days of travelling for us (6 hours a day).  Off we went!

The good news is – we have never seen Nebraska before.  It reminds us of home – wide open spaces –  agriculture country!

Course adjustment! As we were driving through Nebraska, we took a look at the weather forecast, and decided to re-route ourselves back towards Saskatoon, up through South and North Dakota.

After a long day, we ended up at an RV Park in Rapid City, South Dakota.  We were glad it was only for a night and the site had electricity.  It wasn’t our favourite stop, but they did have a nice dog “spot” overlooking the hills and city.  All was fun and games until Levi started playing with a petrified cow Pattie!  He was happy :). Kim said “it’s time to go!”

Well, we didn’t have Rapid City in our travel plans, so this stop was a good surprise! We were very close to Mount Rushmore…..and when you are that close, you have to make a stop.  We felt very presidential!

 

Kim and John were a bit concerned about travelling yesterday.  There was a big snow storm coming through South and North Dakota.  We checked the weather and decided to continue on.  We still enjoyed some stops along the way.  South Dakota was a big surprise – the Black Hills Forest is beautiful and there are some neat old towns along the way!  It was very cold here – Frazier is happy – I’m wondering “where is spring?”

 

The morning was smooth travelling….then we hit snow in Bowman, North Dakota.  We thought it might be time to stop and hunker down for 2 days.  John called an RV park to ask if they had a spot – she said “we’re closed, there is a snow storm”. Lol – we knew that already!

Good old internet service and radar told us where the storm was, and where it wasn’t.  John checked the travel advisories and we had a couple of hours before it was to get pretty bad.  So……we decided to take it slow and get out of the storm.   Onwards to our selected destination of Williston North Dakota.

Now folks, something you need to know about Williston, North Dakota – this is a town of about 20,000, but there are lots of workers here.  It is an oil town with lots of temporary housing, and lots of people living in RV parks while they work here.  It has seen a large increase in population in the last several years with expanded drilling using fracturing techniques.

So…..wouldn’t you know….Kim and John found an RV park close by (of course!) and thought – all we need is electricity for one night, and we are good to go.  We knew it would be cold, but it would be good.

This takes us to what we learned……if your destination includes muddy roads and some “off-roading with your RV” to an RV site that has muddy sites….sometimes you need to make an executive decision.

 

Sometimes you need to go to town, find a pet friendly hotel (we are at the Hawthorn) order a pizza and find a good bed! Wouldn’t you agree?