Location: 46.9454, -103.5886 Medora, North Dakota May 26 evening: 47.571026, -103.153357
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Woke up around 7am and felt pretty good but lacked any motivation. Rolled over and went back to sleep for awhile. Woke up again a couple hours later and still just did not want to move. I think it was too much driving yesterday. So I decided to have an off day. Got a nice camp spot might as well take advantage of it. Set the solar panels out to top off the Ecoflow and keep it full while lounging around. Only took about an hour and a half to get back to 100%. I forgot to note what it started at but I think it was around 58%.
Knocked out a few small projects whenever I got tired of sitting. Improved the magnet mounting for my tailgate window cover. Played around with different tarp configurations but still haven’t found a set up I like yet. Decided on some stuff to drop off at the next Goodwill type donation center to free up more space. I have a Kindle with dozens of books on it and a hard drive with hundreds more and for some stupid reason I still brought a box of books along. They seemed like they might be useful at the time but I think I have similar titles in digital form. Things like Wilderness Medicine, Hiking Colorado and other outdoors related subjects. Another great upper plains sunset then off to bed. Got up to pee at some point, not my favorite thing to do with my current setup it’s a chore to get out of the covers, anyway nature called. When I stepped out all the clouds had gone and the Milky Way was in full effect. Pretty amazing site to take in while peeing.
Woke up and got everything put away to head into Theodore Roosevelt National Park Southern Unit. It was just a short 5 minute drive from the campsite. Went to the visitor’s center and got my park stickers. Wish I had bought stickers at all the national parks I visited in 2020 would have a really nice collection now if I had. Did the scenic drive through the park. Beautiful scenery but the drive was a bit of a letdown. There were very few places to pull off and take in the view. To make matters worse they’re doing some road work and for about 6 miles you have to follow a pilot vehicle so you can’t stop even if you wanted to. Saw what I could and decided to leave that section and head to the north unit. It’s about an hour drive so stopped for a soda for the ride. At the store I noticed in the bed of a guy’s pickup truck he had a bunch of totes. I happened to have a couple of the same type I needed to get rid of after my reorganizing. I said, “um excuse me. I noticed you have a bunch of totes. I need to get rid of a couple. Would you like them?” He was like, “well I’m kind of full but I can probably squeeze them in somewhere. I’ll take a look at what you got.” Took them out of my truck and gave them to him and he said, “you sure you don’t need them?” “Nope, they’re just taking up space and that’ll save me a trip to a donation box.” So one problem solved. Now to get rid of the books. Maybe I’ll come across a little free library somewhere. Finished the trip to the north unit after another quick stop at an overlook area along the interstate. I like the north unit a lot better. Found a secluded campsite a few miles outside the park and got setup for the evening. There’s some sort of industrial site down the road a way and while I was driving in they were spraying the dirt road down with some water/chemical mix to keep the dust down. It made a mess underneath the truck and left some weird residue all over the body. Guess a car wash has moved up the priority list for tomorrow. Also forgot how long dusk lasts in these northern latitudes. Sunset was well over an hour ago and the sky is still orange.
