The Best Way To Tell A Story Is To Sing About It

We thought that going on vacation almost a month early this year would lend to warmer weather.  But, as we are learning, the Dakotas are having unseasonably cold weather this year.

When we headed out from Keystone, South Dakota, the temperature gauge read 50 degrees.  Brrrrr!



Driving north we passed through the famous town of Sturgis.  Our thinking that we could just pull off the Interstate and drive down main street was quickly squashed.  Labor Day Weekend is the Sturgis Mustang Rally.  There were over 800 Mustangs registered as of Saturday morning.



Continuing north, we stopped at the geographic center of the nation (or so we thought).  This spot is marked on all of our maps, but the location is not consistent.  In Belle Fourche, South Dakota they have a large visitor center and a beautiful 25 foot wide platform showing the geographic center.



Then you go inside the visitor center and they lady is so kind to tell you that the actual geographic center is about 20 miles north of Belle Fourche.  Since that was on our way, we decided that we really should stop at the actual location.



After driving 7.8 miles down a gravel road, with a speed limit of 55 mph, you come up on an big old barn on the left hand side of the road.  The real marker is in the farmer’s field to the right of the barn. These are the actual directions as written on the brochure.

 

Don’t worry, he doesn’t mind people stopping, you just have to work your way through the barb wire fence and hope the cows aren’t in the way.



After reading the brochure about how the scientists decide on the center of the nation, we learned that it could be anywhere around here within ten miles of any direction.  Oh well.

Our next stop was to get gas.  Scott took this photo of me washing the window to prove that I do help when we stop.  He kept laughing while he was taking the picture, but I’m not sure why?



You know what people say about North and South Dakota; that there are miles of nothing.  Listen to them.  There are miles of nothing but straight road.  To make the best of our travel time, I decided to do something constructive.



It’s not everyday that you can paint your toenails while cruising down the highway at 75 mph.
It seems that sunflowers are a main crop in North Dakota.  There are fields and fields of these.  They are really beautiful.



We are staying the next couple of nights in Medora, North Dakota.  This is the home of Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  It’s a cool town.  Not too touristy, but there are lots of things to do.  We had pre-purchased tickets for the highlight of the town.



Now, you might ask yourself what the heck is a Pitchfork Steak Fondue.  I know we were wondering.  Are you familiar with a regular fondue?  You know, the kind where you have melted cheese or chocolate and you put something on a stick and dip it in the cheese or chocolate and then eat it.  You can also do this with a bowl of hot oil and you dip pieces of meat in it to cook the meat real fast.  That’s what this is kinda like.

They take actual pitchforks and load them down with steaks.



Then they dip the pitchforks into huge vats of super hot oil.



Tada, you have pitchfork fondue.  Dinner included baked beans, coleslaw, a baked potato, and garlic bread.  Dessert was mini donuts, cooked in the oil, with sugar on them.

Following dinner, we had tickets for the Medora Musical.  This musical has been in production for 42 years.  It changes every year so that people will keep coming back.

I won’t do a very good job of describing this musical.  It’s put on in an outdoor theatre located in the burning hills of North Dakota.  The scenery is amazing!  Not only are there actors on stage, they are placed all around the theatre on knolls and walkways.



It’s dark by the time the musical starts.  The night was so clear that you could see almost all the stars.  It was also near freezing.  Everyone in the audience had on stocking caps and winter parkas.  Lucky for us we had a pretty good sized blanket in the car so we stayed warm.

This year’s musical tells the story about what people do in North Dakota, both for fun,



and for work.



The musical includes some popular country songs, along with original songs.  The actors come from all over the United States.  The musical runs through the summer.  The last production this year is on September 10th.  Auditions for next year’s production begin on September 12th in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana.  They take this pretty serious around here.



The final number of the show is a patriotic number.  What you can’t see in this picture is the lone rider on a white horse on the bluff behind the stage.  He is lit up by a single spotlight as he rides down the bluff to the music of America the Beautiful.  It’s just enough to give anyone goose bumps.



If you ever pass this way, I highly recommend this.  It’s definitely a big deal around here.  We met people at dinner who came from all over just to see this.  Many of them had been here before.  I know we would come back again.