The last campfire

The plan in the evening was to have a campfire, cook some dogs, and spread the table with enough goodies to satisfy any camper's appetite. So I took on the task of getting the fire started.

Karen prepared the table and much of the food in anticipation of us all relaxing and coming away being well fed.

As usual, "a good time was had by all" as we ate to our heart's content, enjoyed the beautiful and bountiful outdoors, and mostly, each other's fellowship.

I feel so blessed that God gave me this time with our friends to enjoy the last camping trip that Karen and I took together. Karen and I had two wonderful years of "doing the RV life" out of the many, many years we were planing on. But as sometimes happens, God has other plans and His plans are perfect even if we don't understand them at the time. I will never forget the time I brought Karen home from the Bismarck hospital after her first stay there. She wanted to go for a walk that evening so we walked out to the barn so she could take a look inside the camper. "I can't wait until we can go out camping again this year", she said. "And I am going to fight these buggers so we can go!!!" (She called those tumors that were taking over her insides, "those buggers".) That did not happen---but the memories are there!!!!

After we ate and it started getting dark, the "kids" brought out some games to play. So we lit the lantern and gathered around the table. Have you ever played BuzzWord? It was a first time for Karen and me and it did take us a while to catch on. I can't remember all the rules and exactly how it is played but the opposite team reads a word and the other team has so long to come up with the opposite meaning. It is a rather fast moving game and a lot of pressure is put on the team to come up with the opposite word. So the word that was read was HYPERTENSION. Immediately Karen and Loralie yelled out LOW-PERTENSION!!! It took a good five minutes for us all to stop laughing (maybe we stopped because our bellies were hurting so much from laughing) until someone finally said, "wait a minute, it needs to be a REAL word". Was that the highlight of the camping trip? I don't know, but it is the one thing that everyone remembers and we all still get a good chuckle out of it whenever we recall it. It may be a, you-had-to-have-been-there-to-get-it moment, but it will always be a memory for me of the wonderful sense of humour that Karen had. I love you, Karen.

More of Sullys Hill

Not only was the hike nice, the views great, and the scenery wonderful but one can learn so much about the area and the history of our great country. Signs abound and, as you will see in a few seconds, there are so many serious things to learn at the interpretive center.


We stood with amazement as we viewed the great state that we live in. As we said in this blog's profile, "if you stand on a kitchen chair, you can see tomorrow". Here the town of Fort Totten and the fort itself can be enjoyed from this lofty perspective.

BEING SILLY....(one of Karen's favourite sayings). The interpretive center is another one of those "hands on" learning experience places. I know that I have said this many times before but there truly are so many things you can learn at these places. Here, Laura and Karen are showing the "wild and crazy" kind of kids that they really are. Yes, a fun time was had by all!!

What wildlife preserve would not be complete without some bison of the Northern Plains?


We ended the perfect outing with a wonderful picnic with wonderful friends. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. After all, a person can only do so much in a day, right?

Sullys Hill

The Sullys Hill National Game Preserve was another side trip we took with the Clark family. We stand amazed at what beauty and wonder that God has provided for us in His nature. Even in North Dakota!! I don't want to do too much bragging about this wonderful state because then we would be overrun by tourists. Just wait until I start bragging about how wonderful it is here in the winter!


We climbed a "short" stairway to a lookout atop Sullys Hill. I was told by Alan and Loralie exactly how many steps it is, but I can't remember right now-but it was A LOT. (They had climbed it on a previous trip for a special occasion.)

The "gals" of the climbing party:

The "guys" of the climbing party:

Papa and Nana enjoying the wonderful view of the Northern Plains.

The highlight of the trip

The highlight for us that week was that our pastor and his family were going to be coming to Grahams Island Campground in a few days too. When they arrived, we were able to just sit around, relax and get caught up on things in an atmosphere of no pressure.

Karen really liked her kitchen in our RV. When we were shopping for the trailer, she thought a rear kitchen would be nice because rear kitchen designs usually offered more room, especially counter space. The downside to having a rear kitchen, as we understood, was that the rear of a trailer bounces around a lot more and things in the upper cupboards can get all jumbled up. Our granddaughter, Abby, describes one of the upper cupboards in their trailer as: "THE CUPBOARD OF DEATH" when they open it and things fall out after a day of driving. However, the way Karen packed things, we haven't had any problems yet.

It was a real pleasure for us to have company in our trailer when Dale and Sandra dropped by for coffee. Our only regret was that we did not have the opportunity to offer our hospitality more often.

Bed and Breakfast

The Lieutenant's Quarters at Fort Totten are fixed up as a B&B. We thought right away that if we ever wanted to get away without pulling the trailer, this would be the place to go. Again, all the antiques and old stuff really makes this place special. We had only been to one other B&B and that was near Victoria on Vancouver Island Waaaaaay back when. Who couldn't spend some time in a place like this and be pampered?

More old stuff

The hospital part of Fort Totten was set up as a museum as well. I can't remember how much time we spent in there but I am sure we could have been there twice as long to take in everything. As I said before, Karen just loved old things, especially when they are laid out and presented like they are here. Even I rather enjoyed looking at this stuff.

Hello Dolly...

One of the features of the Fort Totten historical site is the theater. Here they put on live musicals every summer.


The summer we were there, the musical "Hello Dolly" was being presented. The unfortunate thing is that we were a week or so too late to catch the last performance.

That didn't stop Karen however as true to form, she put on her own private performance!! What a gal!!!! I sure do miss your sweet spirit, my love.

Fort Totten

One of our side-trips from our campsite at Graham's Island Campground was to Fort Totten on the south shore of Devils Lake. This place is impeccably restored and continues to be a work in progress. We were having a downpour of rain so it was really nice to be able to tour a landmark like this under cover.



The docent at the fort gave us a detailed history lesson and it felt like we were there back when the west was being settled.

The museum was right up Karen's alley too! So much old stuff! She would have done well to live in "the old days" as she loved collecting history and old stuff. Just ask me....I am still dealing with all her stuff.

Enjoying Devils Lake

I am adding a couple of new posts to the Devils Lake camping trip that Karen and I took in August of 2008. That was our last camping trip together so I want to chronicle the time we had. I mentioned in the previous post that the road to the town of Devils Lake was approaching the flood stage. As we speak now in the spring of 2010, the road (Highway 19) did get completely under water. Many more thousands of acres of farm land also was flooded.

Whenever we left the campground for a side trip, the deer of the area were always there to meet us upon our return.



The week that we were there, the Cabela's Walley Tournament was just starting. I have always fancied myself as being in such a tournament, but after seeing all the crowds and politics involved, I will be satisfied to take my little aluminum boat out by myself.

As the water rises on Devils Lake, it claims more and more trees along the shore line. Here, my beautiful wife waits for the water to rise. Now, she has risen to heights far above any flood stage.