John Colter Trail 1807 — 1808

Day 15: August 28th, 2005 Bismarck — Dickinson

Because the Labor Day Weekend is slowly approaching, I would like to make reservations for my next motels. I already have collected a bunch of bonus points on my Triprewards card. Therefore I would like to book with these points. Unfortunately I don’t have enough bonus points to book my desired motels. These are Tier 2 motels and for these kind of motels you need 10,000 points! That is much! In tha past you needed way less points…

So I call the Super 8 reservation line to make my bookings directly. But it seems like almost everyone is now calling the reservation. After almost a quarter of an hour it’s my turn. The motel in Thermopolis is already booked. But the one in Worland is available. At least I have now my reservations for the “traveling weekend” secured.

Now it’s time to load my truck and to drive over for breakfast. One exit further on the Interstate is a Cracker Barrel, which I make just in time before the crowds roll in. All in all it is Sunday today, where these kind of restaurants are always pretty much booked. Just past nine I pay and drive over to the gas station.

First thing is to get out of Bismarck on I–94.

Via Mandan I reach Highway 1806.

Then I reach Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park. Also this park I have visited six years ago. But the entrance fee with $10 is pretty high: $5 for the park and another $5 for visiting General Custer’s House and the Indian Village. But therefore you receive guided tours in all places!

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, General Custer House, ND

First I take the tour through the General Custer House. There a traditional dressed tour guide takes you through the whole house. She tells a lot of anecdotes from the glory Generals life — also that you should keep a “safe distance” to the general. His most famous vegetable were raw onions!

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, Barrack, ND

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, ND

After this real great tour you can visit the barracks on your own. There I meet a couple and have a nice chat about history with them. He was even stationed once in Augsburg! You almost get the impression that every second American has been at least once in my home country Germany…

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, On-A-Slant Indian Village, ND

Next is the tour of the On–A–Slant Indian Village replica. Also there you really get a great tour. Unfortunately it is always difficult to video tape during such a guided tour with many participants. But there is still the chance to cut afterwards…

Then I drive on to this little hill, where once the Fort stood. Today they have rebuild a bunch of lookout towers. I already enjoyed the river view six years ago. Also this time I plan to get some nice shots of this area. A ranger just arrives, when I am busy mounting my equipment together. When I enter the walkway she asks me, if I would be interested to participate in her tour. I look around and indeed, no one is there, who would also join the tour. This is really perfect for me! I get an exclusive tour!

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, Missouri River, ND

Ft. Abraham Lincoln, ND

Unfortunately she does not like to be video taped. Therefore I am only able to record her voice while she was explaining of what to see. Bismarck had a different name in the past and also a real bad reputation. But someday, the inhabitants planned to motivate more settlers to start a new future in this area. And as there have been already a lot of Germans in this area, they decided to rename their city to Bismarck to motivate more Germans to settle down here.

After the tour I have the chance to visit some of the lookout towers by myself and get some real nice shots of the area. Then I walk back to my car und leave the park. I completely missed how late it already is. In the meantime it is past 3pm. Therefore I skip my plan to do a bit of hiking.

River Rd, Missouri River, ND

I drive back to Highway 1806, which takes me along the west banks to the north. But soon also this road continues as a gravel road.

At Hensler I reach Highway 200, which I follow up to Stanton.

Highway 31, ND

On Highway 31 I reach my next visit of today, the Knife River Indian Village.

Knife River Indian Village, ND

There the entrance is even free and additionally I have the chance to join the end of the last tour of today. Then I take some pictures of the ground depression, where once the village stood. As I am running out of time I skip the visit of Knife River. I have been there also six years ago. At the Visitor Center I have a nice chat with the park ranger, who tells me, that there have been actually three villages along the river in this area. The third village, where Manuel Lisa was welcomed hostile, was most likely the third village. This was along the Knife River a couple of miles to the north. But as I am absolutely out of time now, I have to skip this visit with a heavy heart.

Highway 1806, ND

I say thank you for all these information and continue on CR37 north. On Highway 200 I drive up to the exit for Highway 1806 West. I almost miss the exit and I am just able to break with slightly squeaking tires to catch the curve — sure I have checked that no one was behind me before I did this action…

Highway 1806, ND

Suddenly I hit a grasshopper swarm. It sounded like a machine gun has hit my little truck…

Deer Crossing, Highway 200, ND

On Highway 8 I drive a good distance to the south until Highway 200 takes me further west. Slowly the sun is getting lower and the more active are the animals now. Two times a deer jumps on the road even in front of me…

At Killdeer is the exit, where I originally planned to go north. But as I was not able to find a nice motel during my preparation work back home and the Super 8 in Dickinson is way closer, I don’t want to take any chances and drive south.

The distance would have been shorter, but instead there is a 30 miles road construction with a speed limit of 25mph due to the new pavement. In the US they put a layer of gravel on top of the pavement to make the surface more robust. This is way cheaper than to put a ready to go pavement on the road like in Germany. But the downside is, that you have to drive a long time on gravel.

The driving wouldn’t be the issue, but the stones. And as almost expected, someone approaches me way too fast and throws a stone on my windshield in a way, that I have a new notch now below the wiper blades on the passenger side — thank you very much, idiot!

At a quarter to eight I arrive a bit pissed off at Dickinson. When I exit my truck I receive the next shocking moment: The whole front of my truck is now green and there are grasshoppers hanging around everywhere. This looks really crazy! Well, there is nothing I can do right now and I check in to get my stuff into the room. Then I check the first video taping.

As it is already pretty late, I hurry up to leave soon for dinner. When arriving here I spotted an Applebee’s at the main street. This is where I go now for dinner. That one looks way more inviting than the Chinese Restaurant next door. Again my server is absolutely fantastic. I have never made such great server experiences like in Applebee’s!

Around a quarter to nine I pay and drive back. There is still not a single car parking in front of this Chinese Restaurant — it seems like it is not this great. This time the night will be shorter, because I still have to walk through all my video taping of today…

Sights
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General
Breakfast: Cracker Barrel, Bismarck
Dinner: Applebee’s, Dickinson
Motel: Super 8, Dickinson
Distance: 212 miles

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