Currently I am sitting in a casino lobby around mile marker 1257 just across from Beaver Creek on Lake Oahe and a lady named Mrs. Harltand is kind enough to let me use her computer for a moment.
Tom and I have perfected the art of “Guerilla hopping” – that’s when you find yourself stuck on a sandbar and you place your fists on either side of the kayak and lift it with your arms and legs and hop from one end to the other, only to avoid getting out of the kayak, which inevitably, would have saved you time.
We slept in Tepees at the Cross Ranch State Park and met the first African American US forest Ranger (Charles “Chip” Cartwright).
Bismarck – we met a fellow paddler (Eric) just before the first bridge and he paddled with us for a few until he pulled out to meet his wife. We met them at the Broken Oar Bar later that evening. Afterwards Tom and I crossed the very busy river (Friday night in good weather) to a marina where we found ourselves talking to locals in their pontoon boats for a few. A girl named Jessica gave me her number and asked me to call her tomorrow if we were in the area for a ride to town. Tom and I paddled across the river one more time and camped alongside a corn field on a peninsula where the Heart River enters the Missouri. The next morning we were woke by the breathing of deer near our tent and found a ride across the Heart River from a guy fishing to the Lincoln State Park. We toured General Custers home and the Indian lodges before Jessica picked us up. We had lunch in Bismarck and bought a life jacket for Bill.
Afterwards she gave us a ride to her friend Sue, we had met the day before and we headed out on their pontoon boat to our campsite. Tom and I packed up and made a whopping 6 miles that day before we met some people on a sandbar that offered us to play German golf and free beer. We ended up camping there that night and met a man named Rabbit who lived on that island for 3 or 4 months a year during the summer. He made us an amazing breakfast that morning and we left Bismarck and entered Oahe.
That’s all I have time for, we are in good shape and Bill is still cute.
- Charles
Have a safe trip out tomorrow! (:
Doesn’t get much better than that! Stumbling down the Missouri, you never know who you’ll meet! Thanks again for the updates, Charles.