We decided to drive 320 miles north to visit Hensler North Dakota… just because.
As we head north it is becoming more difficult to find places to stay as many state and national parks are not yet open for the season. However, we did find Shadehill Recreation Area in South Dakota and they confirmed that they had vault toilets and operating water faucets, so our first stop along the way is set!
A few surprises awaited us at Shadehill: we were the only people in the campground; the campground was very well maintained, and even had nice looking cabins for rent and, best of all, the park ranger dropped by and told us that they had opened the family room in the nearby facilities. Flush toilets, hot water, showers. Sweet! The dogs got to play off-leash as we were all alone, except for the ubiquitous Mourning Doves (we have seen, and heard, them in almost every park we have visited!).
Nice park, but we are only here for one night, so time to move to our next stop, the KOA (Kampgrounds Of America) in Bismark, North Dakota.
B. is not keen on commercial campgrounds, but not a lot of options in North Dakota at this time of the year. Also, Bismark is a strategic location for us as is only 40 miles from Hensler, and it has an Applebee’s.
The KOA is pretty standard as KOA’s go. All the amenities, washrooms, showers, laundry, electrical and water hook-ups at the site, etc. Small campsites with close neighbours, but this is to be expected in commercial campgrounds. This KOA also has a small dog park, so the kids get to have some playtime. Although, they did spend more time sniffing than playing.
For my most recent birthday I received a gift card for Applebee’s restaurant. I have never been to an Applebee’s, but Walker Hayes liked it enough to write a country song about it…
For questioning minds, I did indeed have the Bourban Street steak and an Oreo shake with the whipped cream on top.
Next day, after recovering from a surfeit of good food (including the deep fried donut holes we couldn’t eat at dinner and brought home for breakfast), we are off to Hensler…
It seems that the residents of the village of Hensler didn’t like the government supplied highway sign, so they made their own. The back of the resident’s sign is shown in the photo at the top of this post.
There is no population count for the village of Hensler, but driving around we saw about 15 houses and one person came out of their house to wave at us as we were photographing the sign.
The highlights of Hensler included the cemetery and a grain silo next to the railroad tracks running through the village. It is interesting to note that no-one with the name “Hensler” is buried in the Hensler cemetery (we checked).
Trip Summary:
Depart: Badlands National Park (Cedar Pass Campground), SD 11:00 am Apr 26; Odometer: 138193 miles
Arrive: Shadehill Recreation Area, SD 2:30 pm Apr 26; Odometer: 138373 miles
Depart: Shadehill Recreation Area, SD 10:30 am Apr 27; Odometer: 138375 miles
Arrive: KOA Journey (Bismark), ND 2:30 pm Apr 27; Odometer: 138520 miles
Gas Summary:
Philip, SD (Apr 26): 7.8 g @ $3.28/g ($25.88) – ODO 138229 miles
Faith, SD (Apr 26): 7.6 g @ $3.36/g ($25.69) – ODO ? miles
Bismark, SD (Apr 27): 23.3 g @ $3.30/g ($76.86) – ODO 138624 miles