Days 64, 65, 66 - North Dakota to Minnesota

Day 64
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Minot to Arvila, North Dakota

It took most of the morning to get the oil changed on the RV. It requires an oil change every 7,500 miles, and we had traveled over 7,800 miles.

Our drive today took us right through Rugby, North Dakota, the geographical center of North America, complete with a stone obelisk to mark the spot.

We stayed the night at 740 acre Turtle Creek State Park. It was a short drive off the highway, but far enough that you didn’t hear any noise from the road. There were only 7 or 8 other sites occupied in the entire campground. The campground host told me it wasn't always this empty. I was surprised when he told me that it was so empty now because school had already started. He said the camp was 90 percent booked for the weekend. It sounds like

we had good timing.

Day 65
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Arvila, North Dakota to Solway, Minnesota

Well, with so many miles to travel, it had to happen sooner or later. Jay was driving the RV around the corner through a tight space between the building and some dumpsters, when he misjudged the turn. I heard a scraping sound and said “Stop! I’m getting out to see what happened.” I got out and saw that somehow, the right side of the RV ended up straddling the curb and that the topper on the slide-out had crunched the corner of the gutter on the roof. Jay unhitched the car so he could carefully back up the RV. The cement curb had quite a few chunks taken out of it, so it appeared that we weren’t the first to have a close encounter with it. I am not so sure about the gutter.

Later, when we were setting up camp, Jay got up on the roof of the RV to check the topper for damage. Sure enough, it had a 12 inch tear, which he temporarily repaired with duct tape.

Anyway, today Jay and I had a geography lesson. Shortly before reaching our campsite at LaSalle Recreation Area, we crossed over what appeared to be a small creek, only 7 or so feet wide. We were shocked when we read the sign with the name of the “creek”. It was the Mississippi River! The source of the Mississippi was only a few miles SOUTH at Lake Itasca. When I looked at the map, I saw that the Mississippi first flows north, then curves east before going south, kind of like the shape of a question mark. It’s the second longest river, next to the Missouri and flows 2,320 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

Day 66
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Solway to Duluth, Minnesota

We crossed over the Mississippi River again. It still wasn’t much bigger, but this time it was flowing south.

After yesterday’s mishap, we spent a bit more time choosing where to get gas. If the setup looked at all questionable, we gave it a pass.

Our campground for the next two nights is Indian Point Campground, right on the St. Louis River.