Heading South - NOW!

September 16, 2011

Spirit Lake Casino, Devils Lake, North Dakota

We'd originally planned to spend a few days crossing Minnesota then North Dakota before heading South near Williston and making our way to Rapid City in Western South Dakota.  Accordingly, we left Itasca and headed West on MN-200, crossing into North Dakota, passing the tallest structure in North America (who knew?), and making it to the Spirit Lake Casino, just south of Devils Lake late in the afternoon.  We found this whole area to be "under construction", with miles of dirt and mud roads, dodging flagmen and construction vehicles.  Apparently, they're trying to repair damage from this year's flooding before the snow flies.

If you squint, you can see the 2,000'+ TV mast to the right.  It was the tallest structure in the world until 2008 when something in Dubai took over.  We could have gotten closer via several miles of dirt road.  With a 45' bus? No thanks...

OK, it's really not that cold but we're smart enough to take a hint!

 Well, it's beginning to look like they won't make it.  It's just too darn cold, and smart retirees/snowbirds know that, if you wake up with frost, you'd better be heading South but quick.  So, we're spending the night boondocking here at the casino (they have 50+ full-hookup sites but they're all taken by workers on the construction project), then changing direction to head South.