Medora

Rain and snow all night. But since we have a site with electric we were warm and comfortable. Little cold and soggy getting Auggie out regularly and the floor of the RV is a muddy mess. But nothing a little cleaning in a day or two won't solve.

Had intended to drive up to the north unit today. Stopped first at the Painted Canyon Visitor center, (still part of the south unit) but very wet weather did sort of wash our the"painted" effect.
Back on the road to the north unit and the weather was not cooperating. Got about 50 miles north and decided we just didn't want to finish the five. Slush was building up in the middle and sides of the highway and it just seemed like it was slowly turning to mite snow then rain so we abandoned our effort and just turned around. This highway (like many in ND) traverses miles of drilling ag land and silos. Seeing a lot more oil drilling also. But there was a very nice cafe right in the middle of nowhere; well technically at a crossroads, so it is aptly named Four Corners Cafe. We enjoyed a nice lunch with farming locals.

Back to Medora and decided to visit the Chateau de Mores since it was an "inside" activity. They had a nice storage exhibit building from the Chateau that have the history of the family and also an exhibit about the CCC in ND and the written that was done. The Chateau renovation being one of the projects. The Chateau is really a two story ranch house, but it was so much bigger and nicer than anything else in town, and since de Mores was a French aristocrat it was named the Chateau. It really was a summer home for this family, but he pretty much was responsible for the town which is named after his wife Medora. He started a larger cattle empire here, including slaughter house and refrigerator train cars to get meat to the east. The enterprise ended up being a failure, but in the meantime he was also one of Theodore Roosevelts neighbor and power on the cattle business. Pretty interesting story.
Also enjoyed the small exhibit on everything the CCC did over the course of the program. There is so much work on roadways, bridges, historical sites, etc. that is to their credit.
Back to the RV for the evening; still raining/sleeting, but RV is warm and comfortable. Wind seems (?) to be dying down.Leia mais