Cannonball concretions
It was very pleasant as we left Weyburn this morning, as unlike yesterday there was almost no wind. We saw many hawks along the trip to the border, sitting on power poles, on bales, and in the few trees. The highway is reasonably good though it has very narrow shoulders.
We shopped for groceries in Williston, then went to the AT&T store to try and buy a cell phone. While we could get the phone, we couldn’t get a reasonable data plan. All our options for prepaid allowed you to get almost no data, and to get a monthly plan we would have had to give them a deposit of $500, and then we’d have gotten a plan with no messaging. We thought about it over lunch and decided not to bother with the phone, just top up the time we have on our ten dollar GoPhone. Instead I thought I would activate the Verizon USB modem that I have. However, I couldn’t do that as the number has been reassigned, and so I waited on hold with an assistant for a while. Since I was afraid that I would run out of time on the phone, I asked if there was a Verizon store in Williston. The operator suggested that we try Walmart. So back we went, and now the store, unlike this morning when we got groceries, was really busy. We waited in line for almost half an hour, and then the clerk said he couldn’t help us anyway. So we left Williston no further ahead with no access to the Internet.
As it turned out we won’t need the Internet here, as there is no cell phone access in this park at all. It is quite remote. It is also very pretty. As soon as you turn into the park you are driving through badland buttes. We picked a campsite that overlooks the Little Missouri River. After setting up we went for a hike along a nature trail that overlooks the river. It wasn’t too far and an easy walk that goes by some good badland formations. Just after we’d started the hike we saw a lone buffalo drinking from the river.
Sunset on buttes and Little Missouri River
It was warm today, about 28 C, but this evening was very pleasant. Enid saw some wild turkeys that were down by the river, and the sunset was nice, though not spectacular.