AKA, what is there to see in North Dakota? As my friends and family heard me lamenting as I planned the road trip, I struggled mightily with what direction to take after leaving Glacier NP in northern Montana. My goal is to make it to Michigan and visit my old Air Force buddy John who lives in St Joseph Michigan. St Joseph is in the southern portion of the state and I thought it would be fun to go to the top of Michigan ( the Upper Peninsula or UP as they say up there) and work my way down.
The options are somewhat limited for those traveling eastwards, initially I had flirted with the idea of crossing the border and exploring Canada but with the constant changing pandemic situation it seemed unlikely to be open for US non-essential travelers (it had just barely reopened but I decided to skip it).
The options are; Hwy 2 across North Dakota, or dip down further south crossing South Dakota, this route has the added bonus of catching the badlands, Mount Rushmore etc. but with more mileage in the wrong(?) direction.
After agonizing endlessly on which way to go, knowing I wanted to get away from the heat and smoke of the west as soon as possible I decided to take the quickest route staying north and take Hwy 2 across the upper part of North Dakota. I will use Harvest Host locations to stay for free and just make quick overnight stops on the way.
My first stop was an organic farm in Loma Montana, not very scenic but a great host who shared the secret location for the family’s private swimming spot on the nearby river. A welcome relief from the hot, smoky muggy weather! I also bought some of their tasty organic ham and sausage.
Off early in the morning my next stop was 455 miles away in Dickinson, ND. I usually try to keep the mileage at 300 or under but I am serious about getting east!
I rolled into Phat Fish brewery and sampled their pizza and an interesting wheat beer with jalapeño which was very good. No pictures, just a welcome spot to crash in the gravel parking lot for the night. Next morning I headed to my next stop 300 miles away in Fargo, ND.
The Fargo air museum was just off the freeway by the Fargo airport and while small it had some interesting displays including a Minuteman II missile like the ones we had at Whiteman AFB in Missouri when I was stationed there in the early 80’s
Click on the missile if you want to see all the photos from my visit.
After a surprisingly quiet night I was up early and back on the road heading just over 300 miles to White Winter winery and cider house in Iron River WI. A very scenic drive along the way with lots of lakes had me thinking that this might be an area to return and visit in the future. No pictures here either, just a quiet spot out behind the winery for the night.
My next stop was in Newberry MI.
Michigan finally! And it was a great spot, “Bee wise farms” with host Adam was really a find. Not only was the spot amazing, Adam runs a program for veterans called Heroes to Hives that trains vets to keep bees as a career path. I talked his ear off about the program before heading to their campsite to settle in for the night.
Nice to be in the woods again after a few nights in parking lots, and also to enjoy the first campfire I’ve had in quite some time. The weather is now mostly overcast and cooler with day time highs in the low 80’s.
Sunday morning August 1st – hard to believe it’s already August and that I’ve been on the road for 2 full months. An easy day today only about 50 miles to get to a state park campground at Brevoort lake, just across the road from Lake Michigan.
What a spot this turned out to be, if you follow my instagram you have already seen the pictures, wow just Wow! A very large campsite with water and electric hookups with my own little tiny beach onto the lake. So glad I booked 3 nights!
Brevoort lake was a great spot to paddle with lots of interesting shoreline and things to check out. Lake Michigan did not look (at this spot anyway) to be very appealing for kayaking, its just so large that unless you had a specific destination to visit I think it would be kind of a boring paddle. Except for when the wind blows, it does get some pretty good sized waves! I really enjoyed this spot, it was great to slow back down after the last few long travel days.
Everywhere you go here in Michigan’s UP ( The locals call themselves Yoop-ers ) you see signs offering “Pasties” at roadside stands, well as a culinary adventurer I had to see what this is all about. Conferring with Yelp it seems the highest rated pasties in the area are from Suzy’s in the nearby town, so I swooped in for a sampling. You can have your choice of Beef or Chicken and a side of either gravy or ketchup. I had a beef with gravy for my first, figuring that would be the classic selection. It did not disappoint! It reminds me of the meat pies called Pirogies in Polish or Eastern European cuisine. Surprisingly I did like it with the ketchup a bit better than the gravy. Several samples were obtained to stock the freezer in the RV for further taste tests. (Writing the post on 8/21 all this pastie talk made me hungry so I had a chicken pastie for dinner, with ketchup… I can confirm, still delicious!)
Much too soon it was time to leave and I Reluctantly checked out on Wednesday morning, heading for the next stop further South in Michigan. Bowman Bridge campground is just outside of the tiny town of Baldwin, MI and is on the scenic Pere-Marquette river. While researching the area I found that since the river is designated a wild scenic river and access is restricted for floating there are commercial guided trips and just a small number of individual permits available each day. I was several weeks in advance and got one of the 8 individual permits for Friday.
After setting up camp, I went in to explore Baldwin and visit the local paddling outfitter to hire them to “spot” my truck for me, this service allows you to float the river in one direction and they will shuttle your vehicle so it is waiting for you at the end of your float. Pretty cool.
With my chores accomplished and on my way back to camp I noticed a sign for a parking area for the Pere Marquette state trail. This is my first experience with a rail to trail, where old railways are converted to multi use trails for all to enjoy. This one sounds pretty cool as it runs through the little towns along the way for a total of 53 miles. I did some research and decide that on Thursday I will ride the Farwell to Clare section as an out and back as it is said to be the most scenic and also passes through 2 tunnels.
The “trail” 
Coal loading station 
Evart station
As you can see the trail is a nice paved path and being a former railway has little to no grade. I had a very enjoyable ride, stopping to lunch along the path at one of the benches. This ride really pushed the battery limits, at 41 miles its the longest ride I’ve done yet and I hit my last red flashing bar on the battery with about 8 miles to go, I cranked the assist down to the lowest level and thankfully made it back to the truck, sore butt and all. Even with the pedal assistance from the motor I think 30 miles should be my stopping point 😉
I have to say I am a fan of the rail to trail concept and will be looking for them in the future. What a GREAT IDEA! The staging area in Farwell also had a cool railroad water tower themed free library. I love the little free library program and I use them often and I’ve really enjoyed spotting them all over the country.
Friday morning I woke to rain and thunderstorms cancelling my planned float on the river. I decided to explore some of the local countryside from the dry cab of the truck.
Next stop I’ll be visiting John and his wife Meddy for a week, I’m looking forward to catching up and seeing their new place and then I’m back on the road again and continuing eastwards.
Hey Its Gregg! 
Only you can make North Dakota interesting. :-). Nice write up. Wonder what jalapeño beer tastes like. Gues we’ll have to go to ND to find out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Surprisingly tasty!
LikeLike