The next to the last day.
We left the Mellow Moose Campground in Minot, North Dakota – train whistles still going – and headed out for a 500+ mile driving day with an overnight stop planned in Havre, Montana.
The National Park Service has just over 430 different units – and I always check our driving routes to see if one of these often out of the way sites would be a nice place to stop.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historical Site was just what a National Park nerd was looking for.
A bit obscure and out of the way – and importantly – they have an NPS stamp for our National Parks Passport book.
Fort Union Trading Post is located right on the border between North Dakota and Montana. A recently rebuilt replica of the Fort is located in North Dakota and is in the Central Time Zone. The parking lot for the Fort is located in Montana and is in the Mountain Time Zone.
I always wanted to be in two states at the same time – so half of me was in North Dakota and half of me was in Montana.
You want photographic evidence?
You got it.
After the quick photo op – we took Aurora and headed to see the Fort.
All of Fort Union Trading Post is a reconstruction with the exception of some foundation stones. The Visitor Center had several displays on the role of the Trading Post and the importance it played in the fur trading economy of the late 1800’s. Essentially the Fort was the Walmart of the late 1800’s where travelers and traders came to exchange goods, purchase needed items and get news. There was even a “competing” trading post located 3 miles away that offered similar services.
After a quick walking tour of the grounds and before lunch, Noel put out the Starlink, turned on the generator, and did an hour long Zoom meeting from the parking lot. She hung up after a productive visit – it was time to head back to Route 2 and Havre.
On the way out – we did make time for a selfie.
We certainly enjoyed driving U.S. Route 2 – but the difference in road quality between Montana and North Dakota was striking. Route 2 was an interstate quality road in North Dakota with 4 lanes, rest areas, and 70 mph speed limits. Once we hit the Montana border – the 70 mph speed limit remained – but it turned into a rougher 2 lane road. In one section they were doing extensive construction and we slowed to about 10 mph for 20 miles or so and hoped we did not break anything on the camper.
After 20 days of driving right up to our campground without getting lost – I had some navigational difficulties and wound up driving right past our campground for the evening.
How far past you ask? About 20 miles past.
I drove through Havre, MT and then realized my error – turned around – and decided to get dinner in downtown Havre before getting to the campsite.
Chef Noel went to work and found us a great local place to eat – Jenny’s Kitchen. The food was good, the beer was cold – and we enjoyed a nice meal with a salad bar before heading to our campsite for the evening.
Our campsite – the Hanson Family Campground and Storage – had nice, large and level spaces. We drove right up to Site 1 and sat outside and enjoyed the cool evening.
This campground also had a petting zoo – Aurora was not quite sure what to do with the horses. However – there were plenty of small rabbits around which kept her busy on our walks around the campground.
One last note – we were generally really lucky with mosquitoes on the trip and did not have many “buggy” campsites.
I was generally oblivious to the mosquitoes – but they loved visiting Noel – even with the wind blowing.
After a smartass comment from someone – me – she decided to go to the next level to get comfortable!
We had a relaxing evening, dried out some of our wet tarps and other items – and got ready for a 650 mile final stretch home.
Next up – our last day on our trip!
Kirk’s Travelogue 