Monday, August 6, 2012

A road we will never drive again!

We left Bismarck traveling on Hwy 94 east for about 95 miles and turned north on US 281.  We were going to park at an Indian Casino near Fort Totten. 

The scenery was especially nice as we passed miles and miles of sunflowers.  We don’t know how they are used commercially except maybe oils.

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We passed lakes, lots and lots of lakes, some were tiny and some were really big…

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We passed harvesters thrashing wheat.

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As we passed Fort Totten the road turned from paved to a dirt/gravel road that was constructed between the very large Devils Lake and the smaller parts of Devils Lake.  This road, actually a causeway, was five miles long on the way to the Casino. We pasted many big trucks hauling dirt and rocks.,  There were flagmen/women about every mile and a half.  The dishes, the satellite and VCR equipment, all the stuff on the sink, and everything in the coach rattled!  It was a very, very long 5 miles traveled at 15 MPH. 

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We finally got into the Casino, parked and checked in.  We were famished so went to the Buffet for dinner.  It was barely 5PM and the special was a 2 for 1 prime rib & chicken dinner.  We had delicious salads, chicken, fish, a slab of prime rib that was bigger than Tom’s plate, drinks, and desert for $9.98.  That’s total for both dinners.  Never have we eaten for that little. 

After a relaxing evening – Tom needed that dinner and a nice evening of watching the Olympics after the last 5 miles of road – we drove the Jeep back over the same 5 miles to Fort Totten.  It wasn’t nearly as bad in DA TOAD.  Fort Totten is one of the best restored Frontier Forts in the United States, probably because it was used by the reservation Indians as a school for about 75 years. 

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We drove back for another buffet dinner at the Casino.  This night it was Seafood. We paid $20 each for all we could eat crab (awesome), scallops, shrimp, scampi, walleye, and of course salads, potatoes, vegetables, deserts, and drinks. 

The next day we drove east 6 of the same kind of miles we drove getting to the Casino.

Finally we were on our way to Grand Forks to have the oil changed in the generator at a Freightliner Garage.  We parked in the Freightliner parking lot as we had an 8 AM appointment.  That afternoon we went to a movie and saw a quirky movie called Moonrise Kingdom.  I would almost compare the photography and whimsical and comical themes to Lemony Snicket.  We liked it… not sure many others would.  We went to bed early, set our alarms for 7 AM for the short drive to the Freightliner bay (about 500 feet).

After DA PAD was fixed we drove to Grand Rapids.   That’s all for tonight.

3 comments:

  1. Was the road re-construction caused by recent storms or just one big inconvenience project? Were those the only way in and out of the casino. If so, I bet they aren't happy.

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