After spending a wonderful summer in Mackinaw City, Michigan, it was suddenly time to pack up and move on. We had to report in to Sidney, Montana by September 26 to begin our next job working the sugar beet harvest. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of travel time on the road and not feel rushed, so we hitched up our fifth wheel and pulled out of camp around mid-September.
We headed north across the Mackinaw Bridge, which turned out to be not nearly as frightening as I had imagined. We had traveled over it in the semi a couple of times, but for some reason the thought about hauling the whole rig across it had been kind of freaking me out – especially once I found out you could actually feel the bridge moving beneath you.
Luckily we had beautiful weather and the drive across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was fantastic. We continued on across Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota before finally reaching the eastern plains of Montana.
During our few days traveling on the road we encountered many beautiful places that I’m hoping we can return to and explore, once we are no longer driven by schedules and workamping jobs. The way we see it, these states will make a nice respite from the summer heat of the south in coming years.
Perhaps our most notable stop along our journey, and the place we actually stopped and took some time to visit, was Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We found a place nearby to spend the night, dropped our fifth wheel, and drove our semi into the park. We found the roads, while only one lane in each direction, were entirely passable for our big truck. We were even able to find plenty of places to pull over and absorb the park’s beauty, although in high season we might not have been so lucky.
Since it was already late in the day by the time we arrived, we didn’t take the time to explore the many hiking trails that traverse the park. We did stop at many of the scenic overlooks, though, and enjoyed the herds of wild bison, deer and horses that roam freely here.
There are two entrances to the park. The north entrance is easily accessible from Sidney, Montana, where we were heading to work. The south entrance, which is the one we chose, is just off the highway when traveling between Fargo and the Montana state line.
The views surrounding us brought to mind the famed Badlands that weren’t all that far away. Hills that were flounced like a Spanish dancer’s skirt abutted open plains and tree-lined valleys. The evening sun brought all the yellows, golds and oranges of fall to life, bringing a golden beauty to what could have been an eerily lonesome landscape.
And the abundant wildlife reminded us that even the most desolate of places are still very much alive.
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