So, if you want to post a message that might someday be seen by somebody, although I can make no guarantees, perhaps this would be a good opportunity! If you don’t have the means to get across some pretty gnarly terrain, however, get ready to hike. It’s only about 14 miles out of Bismarck. The way things are going, this could be prime real estate in just a few short years!
Thankfully the water level has come up quite a bit on this stretch of the Missouri; it had been Sandbar Central prior to the rains that have blessed our area as of late. That also makes for nicer pictures; river sand doesn’t reflect sunrises very well!
This area could use a “Turtle Crossing” sign as well; I remember one night when nearly a dozen of us on motorcycles came barreling down the road to stop and hang out near the Fox Island dock. Only once we’d removed our helmets did one guy from the back ask, with great incredulity, if anyone had even seen the turtle walking across our lane! Apparently everybody missed the little guy, which is fortunate; that would have caused a nasty chain-reaction accident. I’ve since pulled over on occasion to pick up a turtle from the road and deposit him on the other side of the road. For a turtle, that must be awesome acceleration!
I took my boy to walk the Buggies ‘n’ Blues last weekend and peruse all the cars and trucks on display. He’s only five months old, so I’m not sure what he gets out of it, but he sure was rubbernecking the entire time! So I guess it was a worthwhile effort. I can’t wait until he gets old enough to appreciate this stuff, because I’m going to take him EVERYWHERE.
There were a lot of vehicles on display this year. Everything from unremarkable Hondas whose owner had taken the time to Krylon the brake calipers to painstakingly restored works of automotive art. There were even some “motorcycles” there as well. I’m not a car guy…I mean, I never met a Corvette I didn’t like, but I’d be the last one in the world to sink a ton of money into something with four wheels. High performance motorcycles, though? That’s another matter. Anyway, here are a few vehicles that caught my eye over the weekend:
There you have it. An extremely unscientific and pretty much random look at Buggies ‘n’ Blues. A guy could put up a whole website about the event; the lime snow cones we had, the cars which represent thousands of dollars and hundreds of restoration hours on the part of the passionate folks who brought them, or even just the idea of getting out and walking around Mandan for an afternoon. It was a blast, and I like to see that many people pour into Mandan for a weekend. I’m really glad we were able to attend, and we look forward to next year’s show!
I was just wrapping up some yard and garage work and, while my view of the horizon is obscured, I could tell that the sky had a lot of unusual characteristics. So, in the course of running and errand for my wife, I decided to bolt to Hillside Park and snap a few shots. What you see above is the edge of the cloud cover, a window to the somewhat clearer skies beyond. Even cooler:
With a storm cell that compact, boiling up to a height of almost 12 miles while dropping hail, we’re likely to see its aftermath on the news tomorrow. Good thing it’s not in a densely populated area right now; of course, who knows what it might do when it approaches Jamestown!
The lake at the east OWLS site has undergone a makeover, so there isn’t as much plant life along the shore. I expect that to change very quickly. Even without it, the damselflies are raiding the rocks along the shore, and they’re quite willing to be photographed! Go check them out when the storms pass.