When we were at the Bismarck capitol, we saw a statue and an informational sign about Sakakawea, also known as Sakajawea, the Indian woman who traveled with the Lewis & Clark expedition as a guide, and who is also featured on one of the US dollar coins. We learned that the village where she lived is only about an hour north of Bismarck, and the Knife River Indian Villages National Historical Site commemorates her, as well as the Indian way of life in the area. Since we had time to kill and we knew our car part wouldn’t be delivered on Sunday, we headed to the park.
The park is an archeological site which encompasses the village where Sakakawea lived, and two other Indian villages along the Knife River, which runs into the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark found Sakakwea and her husband, a trader they wanted in their party, because they were following the Missouri and the rivers that run into the Missouri. The museum has an information film which explains how the villages along the Knife River worked, as well as a trail that runs from the Visitor Center to the river and goes through two of the three villages, where you can still see the hollows that used to be the mound houses of the village. Nothing remains except some pockmarked ground and artifacts in the museum which were excavated from the area, but between walking the grounds and investigating the information in the museum, you can get a pretty good idea of how the Indians lived. The story of Sakakawea is also interesting , because the Lewis and Clark party wanted her husband’s expertise as a French trader, but found that her knowledge of the land and its people was much more valuable.
We explored the site, then went to another city park - a small city, and a small park - in Stanton, ND. We parked on a primitive spot, which was just a spot of grass, but it was peaceful and quiet.
In the morning, we walked around the town and then headed back towards Bismarck to pick up our car part. On the way, we found an unexpected landmark - the geographical center of North America. We didn’t even know that was a thing, and we only drove by it because we were heading back to General Sibley Campground to pick up the car part, and we wanted to go a different way than the way we had gone on the way to the Knife River Indian Village NHS. It is only as rock and a monument in the middle of a field, but it was a fun find.
Just after we left the Center of North America, Martha from the campground called to say that the part had been delivered. We drove directly to the campground to pick it up. Our original intention had been to head directly from Bismarck to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but since we’d blown most of the day anyway, we decided to make the rest of the day a work day. Tom found a place that could squeeze the truck in - literally, through their exactly 12’ door - for an oil change, and then we went grocery shopping. While I was shopping, Tom called the tuner who had sent us the part and started the ongoing process of tuning the truck with the new turbo. It was after 4pm before we pulled out of Bismarck, and we headed west on I-94. We’d found the Schnell Recreation Area, a BLM free campground in the town of Richardton, on iOverlander, so we set the GPS to take us there. Our trucker GPS couldn’t find the address, so we relied on Apple, which only directed us to one underpass without suitable clearance, but we went back to the highway and approached from the other direction through town, and found it without any problems. This campground had enormous campsites with potable water, so we spent the night using water with abandon. In the morning, we drove out towards the national park, with a stop in Richardton to work on the truck.