Unexpected Adventures in Driving - Dakota Vacation blog post #7

 Day 3 on the road, and in the middle of nowhere, we had the most fun.

First thing in the morning, after leaving our motel in Bowman, North Dakota, we ran into road construction.

The flagman who stopped us with his big sign was hanging out, listening to his own tunes. Finally, a car with lights on came through the construction, leading all the vehicles that had been waiting on the other side.

The woman driving stopped her car by the flagman, waved the other vehicles on, and ran to the port-a-potty.

When she came out, the first flagman grabbed his roll of toilet paper and ran into the outhouse while the woman stood with his "stop" sign. When the guy came out, he struggled to put his yellow vest on over this coat. He might have been Native American and was wearing some kind of skirt over his jeans and shirt, and he couldn't get the vest over it all.

          Leaving him to struggle, the woman jumped in her lead car. When she had turned her car around, we read the sign on the back of her car. "Pilot Car. Follow me." The guy turned his sign around telling us to go "SLOW." And so we finally took off after the pilot car.

I can't describe how hysterical the whole thing was. You had to be there.

Our next stop was the tiny town of Buffalo, South Dakota, to stretch and go potty (the road crew had inspired us). We stopped at the Conoco at the far end of the village, as it was the only promising business.

          Well, it was obviously the place to be, as not only did it offer gas and snacks, but there was also a shower in both the men's and women's restrooms and a small room with "CASINO" in neon lights above the door. Inside, it looked like there were maybe four slot machines, along with storage for the convenience store.

          We had already seen a pheasant and a mule deer in the fields along the road. Next, we saw some buffalo in a pasture with some beef cattle, and later a few different mule deer, that mule deer fawn I shared previously, and lots of pronghorn antelope.

          Our goal, however, was Devil's Tower, and I wanted to cross into Montana, not only to say we were there, but also because it was the shortest route. Right, Chris, how did that work for you?

          Google Maps took us from Buffalo to Camp Crook. Just past that, the road turned south and followed the Montana border to the town of Capital, supposedly.

          When the road turned to gravel just outside the one-horse town of Camp Crook (what a perfect name for it), there seemed to be a lot of nothing.

          That dirt road turned south after a little bit, but it just seemed so desolate. Of course, by then, I had no cell coverage to check the route, and I could only see what the satellite was sending me for a map.

          After crossing a cattle guard, it felt like we were driving down some millionaire rancher's private drive, so we turned around, backtracked to Camp Crook, and took the road south from there, hoping to stumble on Capital, Montana.

          We did, but the road continued to be gravel until we got to Albion, Montana. According to Google Maps, that would cover 35 miles and take us 47 minutes. I'm not sure how long it took, and even though it felt like forever, the scenery was beautiful. We crossed at least a half dozen cattle guards, passed herds of cattle, drove through a herd of cattle that didn't want to get off the road, and saw lots of wildlife. And Hubby and I had long and deep conversations. 

          We had traversed the Enchanted Highway earlier in the trip, but this route had been the true enchanted highway for me. 

Probably not so enchanting for our poor vehicle though.