Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

Our last few days have been admiring one of our National Parks set in the 'badlands' of North Dakota named for our 26th President who visited here over 100 years ago and set the wheels in motion to set land apart for our National Park system.  We had a great time, staying at Cottonwood campground in the south section of the park near the cute little western town of Medora.  A little early for their summer events but that suited us ok.  We did a 36 mile loop in the south section of park one day and saw wild horses and deer as well as Brutus here and his friend Billy Bob!  A number of prairie dog townships and lost count of all the trails we hiked. Another day took drive up to north end of park (where they have dump station in campground) and again did a few hikes but with very mucky ground after recent rainfall!  Weather could have been worse but it wasn't blue skies and sunshine... although we did get glimpses of the blue stuff a little bit. A lot of signs of the recent

Finally made it to the Capital of North Dakota!  This is quite a building and they have a very nice observation deck on 18th floor!  It is certainly the tallest building around.  Their legislators are only part time and gone for the season so with money rolling in from the oil fields they are in process of updating things!  Now that North Dakota is 2nd largest oil producer in USA there has been a conference in town to work things out.. it's a mess from what we 'hear".. no housing, flipping hamburgers at McDonalds for $18.00 an hour.  Lots of money to be made; no housing or very little and top dollar for everything.. The oil people are moving ahead with dilling wells before buiding any infrastructure and buringin off natural gas like it's a free unwanted commodity!  shameful really but guess it's ok - isn't that why we subsidize the oil companies? ha!  Haven't really been there so alot is just talk but we will be heading in that direction soon so may take a

Crossing through the southwest corner of Minnesota we found a delightful place to light for a few days... Pipestone, MN is a very old small town made of beautiful red quartzstone and looks like the part of the stone the various Native American tribes used to make their pipes!  What a lesson we had in pipe making.  While visiting we even saw a person whittling away on a pipe.  Very interesting.  The National Monument is open to all but the quarry can only be worked by native americans and only using traditional tools - no bulldozers in here.  Very nice and to top it off we came across this small pretty waterfall and lake Hiawatha.. fun.  Loved the town and easy access.  RV park was so convenient and pretty too. Very clean!  Off to SD today and heading towards Teddy Roosevelt National Park in ND. Rain came in powerfully last night but cleared up just like they said so should have a good ride.

Spent a week in Lincoln visiting.  Had a good time seeing the area including the Capital building.  Stayed at Eugene T Mahoney State Park.  Lovely park but a bit far from Lincoln and to our dismay learned the Nebraska State Parks require a day pass for your rv as well as towed vehicle!  Wow!  What a zing.. This was the 1st time we had been hit with something like this so guess we won't be back to stay in their state parks.  No need for it really but thought it might be nice for a change...

This visit to the Capital was on a weekday (last time was a Saturday and they were closed) and of course we chose a day with many field trips in progress.. ha!  Had a wonderful time visiting this very beautiful capital.  Met a couple of guys - one from NE that told us all about the restoration project and he was just fun and another guy who had been to Seattle back in 1945!!  He even showed us pics of his wife of 61 yrs and him in his sailor uniform.  It was so much fun and absolutely lovely.  It is so fancy inside with all the gold and chandliers that weigh 850 lbs each - 4 in each (house and senate) - the ones in the Senate came from France over 100 yrs ago now.  A fun thing to do and a busy state house.  We were impressed that each of the senators do not have their own offices - they bring their clerks with them and all work together in the one room.  Impressive and cost saving for the state!!! Very nice.. we always like to see things like that - the Nebraska state house has been h

Winterset, Iowa is the boyhood home of John Wayne and the home of the Bridges of Madison County!!  What a fun place. I love this sort of town.. a wonderful court house with the town built all around the square and John Wayne's home just a block or so away.  We walked around and visited one of the coffee shops!  Lovely day and so clean and neat... just loved it... Wonderful visitor center with a worker who is so helpful!  He was so nice and helpful to all who came in... We took tour of town as he mapped out for us and then on to the tour of the 5 covered bridges.  This town certainly makes the most of their celebrity!  fun fun

We finally found which state had the Bridges of Madison County!  Found "the" bridge in Winterset, Iowa along with a route of 4 other covered bridges.  These covered bridges are a lost art and one that will not be replaced! They are truly a wonder and something we should protect and yet coming here we learned of some fool out there that tried to burn one down along with the home that was used as Francesca's in the movie!  They have taken steps with cameras to protect these but goodness!  This was a fun day and a beauty of one too.

A visit to the State Capital of Wisconsin turned out to be a fun time.  They have a Beautiful Capital building!  Wow!  I was impressed!!  Different lay out and bldg is situated between two lakes in town - so need a view and they do allow you to take elevator up to observation deck to take a look see - unfortunately the sky was washed out grey so not so pretty today but dry and still fun.  Enjoyed our visit although we did not find the deep fried cheese curds that were recommended.  Apparently the locals like anything deep fried and even chocolate covered bacon! Not sure I am ready for that but fun talking to folks and love all the cheese stuff including those dumb looking cheese hats!  Too funny! Lovely capital city though and Univ of Wisconsin is within walking distance.. very nice!!

Oh what a day!! Had a blast seeing this town I had always wanted to say I had been there but never really wanted to go there.. if that makes any sense. All the horror stories of crime, corruption, filth etc etc etc... Found a very pretty city with flowers everywhere - very clean and neat and easy to get around in despite all we had heard.  Did have a very memorable day due to If it's too good to be true it probably is.. parking came too easy and sure enough we were towed away.. what a shock but felt good since we could have been ripped off.. so found our car and thought all was good with $160. price tag to free car but oh what a surprise - another $200.00 ticket on top of that! oh well - all for parking in handicap space (that was not painted blue or had handicap design) - had to read the small print on ALL the signs posted on the street - very tricky!  We were not the only ones who faced this problem.  There was guy right behind us in line with the same problem. oh well, we did g