Roadside America
Another day, another step along the I-94. Today, we were heading for Dickinson.
Before we could go anywhere however, we needed gas. Petrol. First stop then was the filling station on the corner opposite our hotel, where as always, Mary’s assistance was gratefully accepted when we don’t have a ZIP code to input. This pump was incredibly s-l-o-w however, which may or may not have been intentional, since there was an advertising screen playing non-stop ads throughout the entire refuelling time. That’s a first for us - please, don’t import that idea, UK!
We’d hardly set off before we found ourselves crossing the Missouri River again.
I love these long distance highways. We’ve travelled this one - the I-94 - several times; around the south side of Lake Michigan, across Wisconsin and Minnesota, and also through Montana from Billings to Helena. Here we were again, with Billings on the signpost, though thankfully we were not going to be driving quite that far!
The countryside here was a little more undulating with bits of rock here and there. Quite different from the arable landscape we’ve been travelling through in the last couple of days.
So we rolled…until my Hero noticed “something” on that hillside over there. Is it a windmill or something? Or is it a cow? It certainly was a cow; Salem Sue in fact, the largest Holstein cow in the world.
We drove up to the viewpoint and joined a family from Fargo by her feet. This was a landmark for them and a bit of a tradition to stop and take a photo whenever they passed. We left them exploring Sue’s finer points and characteristics and hopped back in our car for the next bit of our journey.
A few miles along the way, we gained an hour as we set our watches to Mountain Time, because North Dakota straddles two time zones.
It wasn’t long before the next landmark loomed into view.
We turned off the highway and followed the flying geese to the viewpoint.
This was the first of several such sculptures along a road known as The Enchanted Highway
We’d thought it would be a fun way to make a long journey a little more interesting, so turned off the highway and prepared to follow the trail.
There followed a series of sculptures which we checked off one by one. Next, Deer Crossing.
On the way to the next sculpture, we passed this intriguing landmark, which led me here, not that I learned anything about the State Bank, however. Nevertheless, that bit about the Hungarians was interesting, wasn’t it?
We carried on towards the grasshopper
finding one enormous grasshopper and several small ones, in a bit of a wheatfield.
In between the sculptures, the landscape was one of rich arable fields once again, with the occasional farmstead and silos.
We soon came to the “fisherman’s dream”, which was a peculiar assemblage of highly coloured fish.
Next came the pheasants in the field, created from perforated metal and quite delicately patterned to represent the feathers.
And then came Teddy Rides Again - no bears involved though, but the original Teddy Roosevelt, we guess.
Last but not least, the tin family, which might have been the original of the sculptures and the closest to Regent, the small town where the originator of the Enchanted Highway began his project. By now, we were ready for a break and hoped that there might be a cafe in town.
Hmm. Actually, there wasn’t a great deal here at all. We jumped out of the car to take a look around anyway, and on seeing another sculpture over the road, had to go and investigate.
Right next door to the Whirly Gig sculpture was what we were looking for too.
Inside the Enchanted Highway gift shop, Wendy was ready with a smile and the warmest of welcomes. She had cold drinks, some inside information about the highway (she was responsible for painting all those geese on the fence posts) and we were all happy to sit and chat about life in this small town. We loved hearing about how to manage 84 inches of snow and marvelled at how people here survive such conditions: great community spirit!
Just up the road from the gift shop was the Enchanted Castle, home to the originator and builder of the project. One of the families we’d spoken to as we looked around the grasshopper site had stayed here overnight, so we were curious to see it for ourselves.
Not only that, but we got to see the latest work in progress, the knight and the dragon.
The road to Dickinson was calling however…
passing a surprising place name on the signpost!
Once in Dickinson though, we made a beeline for the tourist office, where we hoped to get a few details for tomorrow. Anneka and Terry were right there to help and once again, we were overwhelmed by their kindness and hospitality.
There was a small museum on the same site, focused on the fossils and dinosaurs, the remnants of which continue to be found in this region of the United States.
Paleontologists were working in the lab and could be seen through the winow as they chipped stone away from an enormous fossil.
But having read the sign, everyone seemed to be mostly interested in the huge boulder behind them, containing the complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus according to that board.
Checking into our hotel later, we reflected on our day and the curiosities that we’d seen. Over the years and our many road trips, we’ve built quite a list of such things - an elephant’s grave and several “world’s largest” loaves, chairs and the other day, a buffalo. But I don’t think we’ve ever seen quite so many roadside attractions in a single day before!
Whatever next?!
