Magnus Goes North With Summer, Day 11

Friday June 6

Very foggy and chilly. But not as cold as predicted—they said 44 but it’s around 50 and should get to 74 today.  On my morning walk I saw/heard Black-capped Chickadee, Catbird, Yellow Warbler, and Mourning Dove.

Then on to Oleo Acres RV Park, our headquarters for exploring Theodore Roosevelt National Park. But first—

We had to dump tanks, and we got behind the slowest dumper we’ve ever encountered. Since the dump station was just a short distance away for a walker but all the way around the camping loop for a driver, I walked—meandered—over there while Ed drove around the loop.  When I passed the dump station, the guy had already started. So I assumed it wouldn’t be long. I went on and looked for birds while Ed waited, and waited, and waited. I didn’t time it, but what typically takes ten minutes must have taken him twenty-five.

No matter, we weren’t in a hurry…but sitting with the motor running at a dump station was not our idea of fun. 

 

 Killing time while waiting 

Don't remember what was special about this water tower.

 

Patience paid off, and we were finally on the road at about ten o’clock. It was an easy drive but all the hills seemed to be uphill and long, slow uphills at that.

 

On the way we hit a time change—Mountain Time.  So we arrived an hour earlier than expected. I suggested not changing our clocks at all for the three days we were going to be in Mountain Time, but Ed reminded me that if we didn’t we’d be screwed anytime we went anywhere. Since we were going to some visitor centers and probably a grocery store and possibly (but unlikely) a restaurant, we went ahead and changed them.

 Oleo acres

  

In the afternoon we drove over the the Painted Desert Scenic Overlook and Rest Area.  Amazing views

  

I saw an Elk, but only briefly and in the distance through binoculars. We didn’t see any buffalo in the visitor center, but there way plenty of evidence that buffalo—oh, sorry, bison—had been there.  Molly didn’t get to eat any of the dung or roll in it. Too bad.

 

 Molly got a few short walks at the scenic overlook. She won’t be having a very good time these three days of the trip, but soon we’ll be back to state parks with trails. At the RV park all we can do is walk up and down along the short gravel road or back and forth on the mowed hill on the side of the highway. She can stick her head in a lot of holes in the ground, but I haven’t seen a single occupant of any of the holes.

That’s one of my largest problems with RV parks—so seldom do they have any sort of trail or dog walking area. Or dog park, although I’ll mention in my review that they seem to have been building one at some point. And since RV parks often right off busy highways, there’s never any place to walk the puppy. Sad.