Sunsets at Hazen Bay on Lake Sakakawea

Another week has passed in No. Dakota and we have enjoyed a beautiful sunset every evening. We will no longer be seeing them as we moved our motor home to a different site yesterday. It is one that has some protection from the wind but we can no longer set at the table and enjoy the view thru the bay to the west. They said we had sixty mph winds in the night last night but we didn't even feel them. If we had been in our old spot we would have been rocking & rolling. The new site puts us closer to the office and amongst our old friends from last year.

Wed. of last week we went to Bismarck and toured the No. Dakota Heritage center located on the grounds of the state capitol. It takes you from the dinosaur age through present time. We enjoyed it very much. When we tell people what we have done we always hear you see so much and we have lived hear for years and haven't seen any of those things. It seems that is true all over this great land of ours, the travelers see things and the natives don't ever take time to see them.

Last weekend we opened up the 22 new sites to the seasonal campers that have them rented. That will make for a busier campground on the weekends than we are used to. We do enjoy the seasonal campers as you make close friendships with alot of them. They seem to keep us feed and supplied with fish too.

This past week has been busy with friends from Buttonwood Bay and taking care of the park. Mon. was the usual with me mowing and Nancy taking the weeks receipts to the city office and doing laundry while in town.She does some laundry in the motorhome but prefers taking it to town where she can do larger loads in less time. Also the water here tends to yellow thing after a while. Tue and Wed. were our days off we didn't do anything exciting. Tues afternoon we had over an inch of rain. Thur. afternoon our friends Carl & Jackie Zimmerman and Clair & Mary Smith arrived to spend 3 days with us. Fri. we arranged for the tours of the Freedom mine, Antelope Valley Power Plant and the Dakota Gasification plant. They were totally amazed and impressed with those operations. We certainly enjoyed the time spent with them even if the ladies did beat the men at pegs and jokers. They left this morning to continue on their journey to Alaska.
This is the second weekend that we have been completely full. Last night about midnight the sheriff called to tell us that a thunder storm with strong winds, hail & heavy rain was moving our way. We ended up with 1.75 inches of rain but missed the winds and hail. Since we are the camp hosts we get those calls and then it up to us to decide if we need to notify the campers. One time last year we all went to the comfort station but so far this year it hasn't been necessary.

Views From our Motor Home

Wow what a difference a day makes. Friday dawned sunny and warm and it looked like we would not have a lot of campers for this weekend. By the time the sun went down we only had four spots left and two of those were taken on Sat. It seems people were just waiting for a nice weekend and they sure got it this weekend as it has been in the 80's both days and no rain and very little wind. It appears that the fishing has also started to pick up as there have been a lot of people cleaning fish at the fish cleaning station.
The two pictures are taken from out motor home. As you can see we have very nice views and scenery from where we are parked.

It is a nasty day in North Dakota 45 degrees, rain and winds out of the north at 30-40 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Our motor home is parked so that we get to enjoy the full benefit of the wind as there are no trees for wind protection to the north or west, we do however get to enjoy the beautiful setting of the sun over the lake and the wildlife that we view from our window. It seems like our first two weeks here have been mostly rainy and cool. I think we have received around 6 inches of rain since our arrival here. We have had a few nice warm days. Tomorrow is supposed to be 75 degrees with 80s this weekend. Larry and I have managed to get the park all mowed and have it looking real nice. It will all need to be mowed again next week. I hope the weather is going to be warmer from here on out.
Tues. Nancy & I went to Minot for the day. We saw the movie Knocked Up it was really a funny movie that we both enjoyed other than the frequent use of the f word.

Memorial Day Weekend

North Dakota campers have to be the heartiest group of campers in the whole world. Picture this if you will it is 45 degrees, raining with the wind blowing out of the east at 15- 20 MPH. Well that's what it was Fri.afternoon and evening and all but 3 of our registered campers checked in for the weekend, two out of the three checked in Sat. Now that is what I call dedicated to camping. Many of them were campers that were here a lot last year. It was good to see them and they all were glad we had returned. Isn't it nice to be liked and appreciated.
Sat. the weather cleared and we warmed up to 60 degrees and it is supposed to reach 70 degrees today. The rain has made these hills so green it gives you such a peaceful feeling to be nestled in them with such a perfect view of Lake Sakakawea. This morning Nancy saw a couple of turkeys come strolling by the motor home and disappear over the hill by the cabins.

Hazen Bay for the summer

Mon. morning we went to city hall to check in with the new director of parks & recreation, pick up keys, reservation book etc. The new directors name is Joe Amundson he is really young looks to be just out of college. It was sad not to see Jeff Gustafson but we knew last year when we left that we probably wouldn't see him again. Cancer doesn't care if you are young or not. We have a couple named Larry & Sharyl Roth that will be part time camp hosts with us this year. They will also help some in the c-store that is being run by the Roth family here in Hazen that has the Tersaro c-store in town. The park board is in the process of adding another 20 full hookup sites that should be ready in another month. These will be mostly occupied by seasonal campers. That will make the seasonal count around 30 campers. I think it will be a good improvement to the park along with the expanded hours that the new management plans for the c-store it looks like we should have a good summer here. Out of the 3 days we have been here we have had two cold wet days . It is around 50 degrees with intermittent rain showers as I write this. Hopefully it will clear and we can at least get the RV sites mowed before this weekend. We just saw four antelope in the drive way. This morning there was a coyote ran through by the motor home and during the day you can hear the pheasants crowing just over the hill. Every morning I have heard a pair of geese honking down in the bay which is dry at this time, they must have a nest down there. I also see fresh deer tracks in the area where the new sites are being put in.

Hazen , ND

After a nice visit Thurs. afternoon and evening with our friends Bud & Dorothy Nicholas in Rockford, Ill We departed Fri morning heading north on I-90 into Wisconsin. Driving across Wisconsin we left the fertile farm lands and went into the rolling wooded dairy lands along I-94 into Minnesota. We parked for the night at the St Cloud Campground & RV Park. There was a Monaco Coach Rally going on so they parked our Newmar Mountain Aire right between to Monaco's.
Sat. morning we were up and on the road at 8AM CST. Going west on I-94 toward Fargo, ND we left the rolling wooded hills dotted with small lakes for the flat fertile farm lands in the Red River Valley. They had received a lot of rain in the night and there was water standing in all of the newly planted fields. I sure hope they don't have to replant but it sure didn't look good. We stopped at the Flying J Truck stop in Fargo for Fuel. It was $2.86 per gallon the most we have paid to date. The lowest was $2.54 a gallon before we left Kentucky. Driving west from Fargo On I-94 we left the fertile Red River Valley and entered the gently rolling lands dotted with larger lakes and less trees of Eastern ND. We stopped in Bismarck At Wall-Mart for some supplies and the it was north on US 83 to Washburn and west on Alt 200 arriving in Hazen at around 4PM MST. It was 68 degrees when we left St. Cloud and 50 degrees when we arrived in Hazen. It seems to me as if something is wrong in this picture 85 degrees when we left Sebring 3 weeks ago and now we are coping with 50 degrees. They did tell us it was 90 here yesterday. The farmers here are planting what I imagine would be peas and canola.
We are parked at the Lewis & Clark RV Park in Hazen. We will stay here today and hopefully get the motor home washed. After checking in at city hall we will go out to Hazen Bay in the morning(Monday).