06-12-11 The sky is falling down

06-12-11

It sounds  like thunder
Just like the calm before a storm
The light surrounds you now
Can’t stop before it turns to rain
The sky is falling down

207.6

Glendive
To the east the Badlands are finally seen.
Steinbeck fell in love with this.
The soft green skin of the hills and mounds, it’s flesh ripped raw by the wind and its scabs washed away by the rain leaves the look of a grassy Arizonian desert landscape.

I cross the border into North Dakota with a sense of joy. I made it to another state! And the sun is shining!
I stop at the first exit which is the visitors center before Beach. I spend a good deal of  time there getting materials about the state. The site is unhosted so it’s what I can find. No live person to wlecome me to the state and give me insider info about places to go and things to see.

I drive by signs  to see Medora. It seems kinda touristy to me so I decide I’ll skip in. But as I get closer the billboards persuade my mind in a different direction. - Theodore Roosevelt State Park; Cowboy Hall of Fame .-  Chateau de Moreno - Pitchfork Fondue - Medora Musical. There’s a lot of stuff down  this one off ramp. I got to explore and take some pictures.
I discover Theodore Roosevelt National Park  has been closed to camping due to recent flooding. I check with the visitor center about other potential places. They say that  Ft. Abraham Lincoln IS open for camping (thought I’d seen online that they weren’t) and was told about a campsite in Lincoln is available for only $5/nite (but not told the name of the campsite) As I leave I hear a flurry of Gunfight at the Cowboy Museum  across the way.  I ask about it at the kiosk as I leave the park . “Yeah, that do that twice a day and 1 and 4 pm”. It’s 1:10 pm. I guess I’ll miss it. The sounds are maybe something like the old Disneyland/ Knott’s Berry Farm shootouts, but on steroids.
I decide to explore the area a bit before continuing towards Bismarck.
I go first to explore the Chateau de Mores, but there is an admission fee, so I passed it up and went up the hill to see the Medora Musical and Pitchfork Fondue attraction. I drive up the raod and before I’m even to the top of the climb, I know I’ve come to the right spot. The whole valley is below and the view is magnificent. I take a few pictures right there looking back at the town and continue up to the top. It’s even better there. I drive to an overlook by the parking area in front of the theater building and take some pictures of the “Badlands “side of the property. Oh to do theater everyday in a location like this. It sort of paupers Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Ashland, though they have compelling attraction of their own.
I see a big white truck moving over by the area which I presume is where the Pitchfork Fondue happens. (Like it sounds they skewer huge slabs of beef (or hot dogs) on a pitchfork and stick it in a big vat of oil and cook it that way.)
A young woman gets out of the truck when I ask of it’s ok to just take a few pictures of the place.

 Her name is Haley and she is here for her first season in the Medora Musical. She is from Minneapolis. I ask her about the show and how many people are involved putting it on. She thinks it’s about 300 cast and running crew. I ask her more detailed info about the productions history and she says she’s to new to know a lot of the answers but knows someone who would know threm. She dials up Tawney at the  visitors information booth in town.-  I proceed  down to meet here and receive a history lesson in the town of Medora. Tawney is well suited to her craft. There is a pride and enthusiasm as well as professionalism in here dissertation of the various facts and personalities past and current that have made Medora the thriving little tourist hamlet that it is. I leave with much appreciation and enjoyment in the knowledge I have gained about this spot. It could be perhaps compared to Wall Drugs, in South Dakota; but instead of a being a business that gives the small town international fame, it is the whole town, whose businesses bring it that fame.
On to camping. I pass  Dickenson (too soon) -  I see a sign for the Enchanted Highway  and decide Not to take this path. I do get a snapshot from the road of one of the giant sculptures that is visible from the road. “Flying Geese“. It is very good, but I just don‘t want to take the time to go to who-knows-where just to follow this path. I pass by Richardson and Glen Ullin - I’m Loosing time. It’s not that it’s a long drive - I’ve just lost an hour crossing the time line between Mountain and Central. What was 4 is now 5pm.
And as the time slips away from me I decide to start seriously looking for a campsite for the night. It’s always better to get the camp set up with lots of daylight left to settle in, get a little writing done and maybe even “cook” something! (What a concept!)
I pull off at New Salem, home of  Salem Sue the Largest cow statue in the world!
The AAA guide listed cheap camping at the city park.
It’s true! It’s listed as a suggested donation of $5 for the first night and $3 for each additional night.
I have a feeling I’m going to Like North Dakota!  The bathroom is less user friendly than expected (water on the floor and broken doors on the stalls, lighting, but no switch to turn it on or off (I’m hoping there is a timer behind the locked door the wiring goes behind.) But it’s only $17 for 5 nights, there is electricity at the campsite and a grill/picnic tables and a shelter!
.I can get a lot of back writing done and then head to Bismarck/Fargo for the last two days, even stay at a place with a shower on one of them!
I’m going to get cash  for the camping fee. As usual in small towns like this there is No cash back/atm only.
One of the gas bookmark gas stations has wifi. Iget on internet and see a storm is coming to right where I am1
I look up and see storm coming to right where I am. It is a huge black storm wall. The flags at the gas station are blowing directly west. And the first drops of rain start to pelt my windshield. I disconnect from cyberspace and get the car in gear heading east as fast as the speed limit will allow and dive to Bismarck, ND
Now, the wind had been blowing west in New Salem but the storms followed me NE to just west of Bismarck .
The radio keeps interrupting announcing “ Severe storm watch” and
“Flooding warning”
And “Tornado watch”
It is at this time, watching the light show to the west of me that I start looking for cheap motels in the area. Everything starts just about $71 but one (Motel 6) has a rate for $44 (before tax)
I go there and try to book a room. The couple in front of me (“I’m just so tired. We’ve been driving so long from I don’t know where”) got the last downstairs non-smoking room. I don’t want to lug all the stuff upstairs - plus if a tornado hits I’d rather be downstairs for whatever added protection that might provide. I pass and go looking for another option. Maybe a local truckstop to park outside for the night and go inside should things get dire.

Then on the radio I hear the Nation al Weather Bureau interrupt with the announcement “Tornado warning” seek immediate shelter!
Motel room! I go back and amazingly I get a downstairs non-smoking room (after the crane driver ahead of me gets an upstairs room!) Where fortune smiles, I guess. Timing is everything.
It’s not quite as good as I’d hoped. The room is fine, it’s just that to only parking is way away from the room. Somebody is parked in front of my room. So I haul things in bit by bit. First, Mischa and the netbook and then several trips of other less essential things should the storm be suddenly upon us. I’d debated online weather I should spend the near $50 for this night in the motel. But eventually I decided I’d be a real putz if I lost my life and Mischa’s because I gambled that I could survive outside and save that money. I had to believe my life was worth the $50. (At least Mischa’s was!)
In the room Mischa is immediately approving of the choice. She lies across the bed and is stretched out and visibly relaxing. She is soon snoring. (Man, I wish I could master that!)

I stay awake watching the Weather  Channel  (and Game of Thrones and Robot Chicken) until I feel it’s safe to sleep after 1am.