Snow! October 2 - St Cloud to Medora, N.D.

  Today was the longest travel day of this trip so far (about 500 miles). We got up early in St. Cloud, Minnesota and drove to Medora, North Dakota, at one of the entrances to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a place we have visited previously in summer and when camping. It is our first really wintery and cold day, too.

   We stopped for lunch in Bismarck - an Italian meal. We wanted something hot, so Barbara had minestrone soup with salad and Mark had a fettucine Alfredo.
When we came out of the restaurant, it had started to rain. But, then....we hit snow and slush. For a while the visibility was poor and the flakes were huge. We got gas and groceries in Dickinson as there is no grocery store in Medora and most of the restaurants are already closed for the season. A few miles out of town we saw a car flipped in the median and sheriff's vehicles on the scene.
   We are at the Rough Rider Hotel which seems very nice. Barbara took a brief walk around the very small town in the snow.  There were only 112 people in only 27 families recorded in the 2010 census. (It is estimated that it has gone up to 128 people now!) Of course, the populations swells in the summer with the Medora Musical and because of the national park.