The Mandan at Ft. Abraham Lincoln

On Monday ,September 24th ,we found ourselves back tracking westward on I-94 ,over miles we had seen the day before. There is a good reason the decision was made to do so. We traveled 7 miles south of the town of Mandan on highway 1806 to reach our destination. Three years ago we,my grandson Nick, daughter Kyli , her husband Justin and I, got to visit the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. It was a wonderful experience that started in the prehistorical periods. We saw some artifacts of the prehistoric native americans which sparked an interest in the settlement discovered by chance at Ft. Abraham Lincoln. Our guide for the On-a- Slant village was of the Sioux tribe from the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. He mentioned that they had one person on staff of Mandan descent that does conduct tours. He told us the site they are working on rehabilitating was inhabited from 1575 - 1700's. Due to the exhaustion of natural resources they left the area and returned years later when the resources were once again able to sustain a community. This year we included the sight seeing of the adjoined area as well in our one day side trip with our daughter. She hadn't had a chance to see it yet since moving north. Each of us purchased an "Interpretive Pass" and the cavalier had to pay to enter, even had her own sticker to say she could take us where we wanted to go since everything was pretty spread out. George Armstrong Custer had been apart of the history at Ft. Abraham Lincoln. In the next few days I will be sharing more about about what we saw and heard during our visit. It was a cold, rainy day ,but enjoyed none the less...

On to North Dakota

Sunday,September 23rd, time to pack up the cavalier again, heading out from the cozy little town of Keystone. During our stay we caught this impressive mountain top home over looking all the goings on in the valley below. It is said to be a private residence presently. Speculation has it that the owners may turn it into a resort in the future.(click for larger image) Heading up to Rapid City to reach I-90 west came before sunrise. The route took us from Sturgis up Highway 79. We found the landscape switching from wide open prairie to farming,to combination. My eyes pealed as we traveled; scanning the territory for wildlife. Caught wild turkey feeding in the backyard of a homestead north of Sturgis. Previously we had seen some groups of turkey down by Rockerville and in the Custer State Park. Saw antelope grazing on the range by themselves, with the sheep,in the cow herds and became one of the horses running in the wind. ;) They seemed to be everywhere!(click for larger image) The prairie dogs haven't moved this far north yet...Thank goodness. (click for larger image) If you decide to travel this route, be prepared for lack of services and facilities close to the highway. Getting closer to the southwestern border of North Dakota we began to see road ornaments that were unfamiliar. Learned that the most frequent one was called Prairie Grouse,either sharptail or prairie chicken. At one point in our travels we almost had the opportunity to bag our own via the "Prairie Chicken crossing the road." ;) A group of 6 thought they needed to fly in front of us. Onward to Jamestown,ND...