Flying J Travel Center Beach ND to KOA Journey Bismark ND

Another wonderful morning. Temps were about 60 F and the sun was rising in the East. Kelso had a good walk and we prepped for different kind of day on the road.

We planned on going to the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and to the Enchanted Highway. Both stops were just off I-94 in North Dakota not far from where we were starting from. The wild card was I did not know where the Central Time Zone was going to kick-in. Most of North Dakota is in the CTZ except for the Southwest corner of the State, it is in the Mountain Time Zone. My Alaska phone indicated the CTZ and the RV and my normal Phone indicated the MTZ. We headed out about 7:20 am to the Teddy Roosevelt National Park. The scenery along the way was typical of what we saw yesterday with rocky, jagged hills and not a lot of trees. A nice landscape that is interesting to view.

We arrived at the Park in about 40 minutes and the Park Ranger Entrance Booth was still closed but you could drive right into the park. I have a military lifetime pass for all the national parks so they were not losing any money from me. The scenery in the park is very similar to what we saw from the RV on I-94 except we were winding thru it at 25 mph to 35 mph with plenty of scenic turnouts. The scenery is great and I do not think the pictures do it justice. We did some climbing and decending thru the hills and stopped at some of the scenic turnouts. Kelso like the stops. We tried to stay on the Loop Road and I think we were relatively successful except that it was finally closed for construction and we had to turn around and retrace our route. We had gone in about 30 to 35 miles so we spent some time at the park. On the way out, I did stop a some of the scenic turnouts we saw going in but did not stop at, so that worked out fine. Overall this is certainly a recommendation by me if you are ever going to West North Dakota.

The Enchanted Highway is a stretch of about 30 miles from Gladstone ND (just South of I-94) to Regent. There are 7 gigantic metal art sculptures that are on the side of the road and have a small parking lot for interested visitors. This was the brainchild of a Regent resident who had an artistic flair and he decided to do something to put Regent on the map. As I visited the sculpture sites I met and talked to 3 different couples, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Chicago and 1 from Arizona. So it would appear that the scultures are being somewhat successful for what they were intended. The final one has a knight in armour and is in the City of Regent. I use the word city , but Regent is listed as having 298 residents. The ride between the sculptures is good because the road is very good and there is no traffic. You travel thru farmland that has an abundance of corn, wheat and sunflowers from what I saw. At one of the sculpture stops, a women promoting the area passed out some brochures and the one about Agriculture Top Crops indicated that North Dakota has 10 different crops that rank as #1 in production in the U.S. States.

Once we were in Regent, I went back the way we came because I felt I should have better pictures of the very 1st sculpture we saw just south of I-94. It was a good ride and as we got there one of the locals was just finishing cutting the grass. They landscaped each site with grass a picnic table with shelter and an information board about the scultures. The community has really bought into the whole idea, and why not, it appears to work in bringing people to the town.

We still had about 100 miles to go to get to the KOA Journey Campgrounds in Bismark. Kelso enjoyed the day as he was able to get out of the RV at each stop and when we were the only ones there I took the leash off. He stays pretty close as he does not want to get left behind and I do not have to worry too much about wild animals in the middle of farm country.

Some of the Park pictures from a scenic turnout.

More of the Park pictures from a scenic turnout.

Another of the Park pictures from a scenic turnout.

Wild Horses grazing next to the road.

This is “Geese in Flight” next to I-94 to get drivers interested in the Enchanted Highway.

This is “Deer Crossong with a 75′ buck and a 50′ doe.

This is “A Fisherman’s Dream” with a 70′ trout and several other fish jumping out of the water.

These are “Pheasant on the Prairie” with a 40′ rooster, a 35′ hen and several chicks.

“Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again” complete with stage coach and horses.

“Tin Family” was the first sculpture with 45′ father, 44′ mother and the son is 23′.

This is “Grasshoppers” with a 60′ grasshopper and several smaller ones.

Located in Regent, Enchanted Castle Hotel, Knight and Dragon Sculpture.