Kent spent the day under the Miata today.  It seems that a water pump, then thermostat, cooling fan, then all the hoses wasn’t enough.  He replaced the radiator.  We are hoping that gets her healthy for a while.

Flocks of pelicans, geese, and sandhill cranes are passing over camp in the evenings.  We can’t seem to find the spot but they must be piling up somewhere close by.  I did spy an American bittern and a night heron.  Those are petty rare for us to see so that was cool.

We checked out a Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and got a taste of the Midwest perspective on 1800ish history.  Both places tell the stories of interaction and treatment of First nations Peoples, fur trading times, and the Lewis and Clark journey.  The InterpretiveCenter has a great collection of items actually carried by the Lewis and Clark exploration party.  There is lots of talk of the scientific method of the note taking and sketching.  It is well done.

A reproduction of Fort Mandan is nearby along the Knife River.  The Fort was originally built next to Hidatsa and Mandan Indian villages and is where Lewis and Clark spent the winter on their journey West.   Historians (at least some of them) say Sakakwea was Hidatsa and joined the expedition here.  Our interpretive ranger did a great job painting a picture of life at Mandan that winter.

Seaman, Lewis’s Newfoundland

There is a wonderful statue of the faithful companion, Seaman.

We are just north of a huge, active, coal, strip mine.  The state has printed this great propaganda piece for tourists who might find that practice a bit unattractive.

We have not yet seen a similar piece defending fracking and unbridled oil drilling but I am sure it is coming.  I did see a TV add “Oil can” as it refers to building a better North Dakota.  We will get fairly close to the oil patch activity when we get to Theodore Roosevelt NP in a couple days.  I am anxious to see how it is being impacted.

Yes, that is how folks up here spell the name of the Indian woman who served as guide for Lewis and Clark.

This is a huge lake formed behind a 210 foot high, 2 1/2 mile wide earthen dam holding back 178 miles of the Missouri river.   We hope to explore just a bit of it over the next few days.

There is wildlife here in the Plains.  We saw pronghorn antelope and many pheasants enjoying the bounty that is ripe soy beans and wheat.  Bald eagles seem to like the fishing and lots of geese, pelican, and ducks are fattening up in the wetlands as they gather for migration.  We will do some more birding from the boat…for now, it is raining so we are calling it a day.

Thousands of expressionless faces, some unadorned, some ringed with tattered yellow bonnets, bow toward the earth.

Kent scrubbed and treated the roof, one of those once every 6 month jobs.  We washed and waxed the motorhome.  Our shoulders still feel the affects but it looks pretty spiffy.

Kent took the opportunity to replace all the hoses on the Miata, the long term fix for the overheating problem a couple weeks ago.  We shopped a bit and did laundry.

The sightseeing part: In Jamestown ND they have the largest buffalo monument in the world.  It is 60 tons of concrete, 26ft tall and 46 ft long, impressive.  They have a live bison herd too, it includes two white ones.  We birded a bit.  White pelicans nest at the Arrowwood NWR so we saw lots of them.  Otherwise, it was a pretty drive through rolling farmland.  The patchwork of golden wheatfields, deep green soybeans, and ripening corn rolls on for miles interrupted only by gray grain elevators that jut to the sky and patches of towering trees left to guard wetlands and slow the winds.