North and South Dakota

Pretty straightforward trip. Should be no problems just be sure to fuel up before you need to. A lot of lonely miles out there.

Sounds funny....going "down" to N. Dakota!

Well sir, enjoy your trip, Ive taken that path from Niverville down through ND a couple times. Id say carry 10 gallons of fuel, or as mentioned, fuel up before you need to. DW doent recall where the long stretch was... and I cant remember what we did yesterday never mind 10 years ago... there are a couple lonely stretches where you may find that you have to sleep at the gas station till morning.

Thanks, guys. I'm going to dial it back to just SK to Bismarck, which is only a couple of hours down 52 to Minot and then 83 down to Bismarck. An easy enough route? I see Minot is a good sized place.

Thanks!

Kevin

Lol, I just read that "thanks Kevin" and almost typed "your welcome" till I realized you're also a Kevin...lol

lanerd wrote:
Sounds funny....going "down" to N. Dakota!

Reminds me of how in Detroit, you drive DOWN into Canada!
I can also remember being in a bar in Shelby Montana, on a cross country trip to visit family in Toronto, and being unable to convince any of the locals that sooner or later, I would have to cut SOUTH to get to Toronto! No, they all said, they were adamant that I would have to head NORTH into Canada, and I would surely never get there!

Where I am in Alberta, believe me, everything is south, or down!

Folks that live in the area will know more about it than me, but there was a huge oil boom in North Dakota (Bakken Oil Boom) a couple of years ago, and it brought so many people into the area looking for jobs, that CG prices were through the roof. People that owned property in the area were charging outrageous prices for a spot in a farm field. Tanker truck traffic was terrible. Hopefully, it won't be a problem just passing through. Hope somebody on here knows more about it than I do.

On the your planned route(in ND, do not know about Canada) roads are good. No problem with fuel. Oil field traffic has dropped way down and that was mostly west of Minot. Minot is still rebuilding from their flooding so places there are quite full.
45 miles north of Bismarck, 70 miles south of Minot, is Washburn. There is a very nice Lewis and Clark Visitor Center. A mile or 2 past that is a reconstructed Fort where Lewis and Clark spent the winter, very interesting and all worth the stop.
Go to Bismarck like you plan, spend a couple of nights at Ft Lincoln State Park. Take in Custer's house, Mandan Indian Village and the state park. All very nice.
Go west to Medora, only about 140 miles from Bismarck, spend the night there taking in the pitchfork fondue and musical.
From there to Spearfish is only 200 miles. Longest stretch with no fuel is only about 110-115 miles, fill up in Bowman. Long straight drive on good road. If you are going to stay in the Black Hills a few days I would recommend going father south into the hills. Spearfish if on the northern edge and it is about 85-90 miles to Custer. Long days of driving to do much site seeing. Many nice campgrounds all over. Hill City is about the middle of the Black Hills. Endless things to do in that area.
Enjoy the trip.

John and Jim, thanks so much for your advice, that was exactly what I'm looking for. I think the plan will be to stay at the KOA in Bismarck for about 8 or 9 nights, and use that as a base, probably to explore SD as well. I'm looking forward to the historical places, and I see there are a few in Minot as well.

Thanks!

Kevin