19 June 2022
Belle Fourche, SD to Lemmon, SD
648 km
I had another great night’s sleep and went for a walk. Belle Fourche is a gorgeous city with that great river walk. Some of the homes were still showing the damage from the earlier hailstorm.
We had our briefing at 9:30 and the target area looked to be in eastern Montana. One system was possible in northwestern North Dakota and Canada but not everyone had brought their passport.
In the end, we didn’t get close to the border.
We headed out of Belle Fourche for Montana. We stopped at Eckalaka and opted to go a bit farther for lunch at Baker.
The problem, as it turned out, was the it was Father’s Day, and oddly enough, all the cafes in Baker were closed for the day. A supermarket was open and we picked up something there. I asked the clerk about the closed restaurants and she just shook her head and said, yeah, it was stupid.
We had time to wait so we sat by the lake to enjoy lunch.
We headed out before three and went back towards Eckalaka, stopping to visit the Medicine Rocks State Park.
Talk about a hidden gem.
The rocks were apparently formed as the inland sea receded and the rivers that flowed from the newly forming Rockies formed large sand bars that remain today.
Despite being sandstone, one geologist on the tour said there was likely to be volcanic rock mixed in.
The holes were formed by the wind.
We stayed about an hour and then drove to Eckalaka where the Carter County Museum was open.
It had a great display of dinosaur bones.
Being fairly close to Alberta, it’s not unexpected that bones would be found there.
The building was partially built from petrified wood, something else that was plentiful in the area.
Apparently, the farmers were digging up the wood and the bones in their fields.
The storms started to form to our southwest and we went towards Albion to watch a fast mover come towards us.
We had fifteen minutes and had to scoot north.
We made another quick stop when the rain and wind caught up with us.
We moved slowly north as the storm passed over us. It didn’t drop much hail.
We drove towards Camp Crook and turned east, chasing the storm into South Dakota.
We almost abandoned it for an approaching southern storm, but Bill changed his mind and we caught up with the tale end of the storm at sunset.
It put on a nice show.
Our hotel was the Dakota Inn in Lemmon, about an hour’s drive away.
And yes, it’s pronounced “Lemon,” not Lu-mon or l’emon like I wanted to believe.
Usually we stop for something to eat at a fast food joint or a convenience store, but as with Baker, nothing was open. Even the twenty-four hour Kum and Go in Hettinger was closed. A couple of guys sitting outside said they like to go home early.
How does one go home early from a twenty-four hour establishment?
We were left with the vending machines at the hotel. There was apparently popcorn available and one tourmate put it into his microwave and burned it. The next morning, he learned the person in the room next to him could smell it.
He didn’t realize that one could smell his failure.
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Bill Reid’s entry on 19 June 2022