Beaver Creek RA, North Dakota

View of our RV site on the Lake

Lovely Scenery Route 1804 (Sunflower Field)

Chokecherry Tree

Chokecherry Bunch

Peyote Stitch Bracelet on Loom

The fishing segment on the Bismarck radio was extolling the great fishing at Beaver Creek on Lake Oahe, about one hour south of North Dakota's capital, Bismarck. Apparently 250,000 walleye had been registered caught on the lake since this summer. It just so happened we had planned to spend 5 days there after we got the RV back from the repair shop, as I told you in my previous blog. Well, we did drive down there, and it was such a pretty drive. Deer were poised on the edge of a cornfield, a pheasant scuttled across the road into the wheatfield, and a big, fat skunk was lying dead on the side of the road. Sunflower, corn and wheat fields lined the road all the way down.

Being an Army Corps of Engineers campground, it only had electricity at the site, so we filled our water tank up on entry. We found a perfect site overlooking the lake and were surprised there were not more campers. At $12 a night, it is a steal. The next day was Friday so another 4 RVs arrived, all relatives of the same family. As I was about to go for a walk, I met one of the ladies, then other of the family joined us, so the 3 of us went for a walk together and got to know each other. Lovely folk from nearby towns who were having a family get together. They told us how the recent floods following the snow melt impacted on family and friends in a town about 15 miles from the campground. They also informed me that the lake we were camped on had been dry for the past 7 years - all they had was a narrow creek leading out to the Missouri river. Now all you can see is water. They say weather works in 7 year cycles.

Little did we know the fish had stopped biting two weeks earlier. Just stopped. Apparently by then there was so much natural food supply for them, they didn't need to work at finding bait dangling from hopeful fishermen! That didn't stop Murray throwing a line out directly below our motorhome. No luck. The next day a chap was taking his boat out and came over to see if Murray wanted to join him. Hello??? He didn't need to be asked twice. After 2 hours in the boat they only had a few bites, but no fish, so they came back to shore. Fishing under the bridge netted Murray a few catfish the next day, but he threw them back. I'm not sure why he did throw them back, as the last ones he caught, we rolled in a cajun seasoning and they were very enjoyable.

Across the Missouri River from the campground is the Prairie Knights casino. In my last entry I mentioned that the casino sends a covered pontoon boat over every two hours on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays between midday and 10pm so that campers can take advantage of free transport and hopefully spend several dollars on the slot machines (pokies to the Aussies), food and drinks. Despite the fact that Murray didn't catch any fish, we were enjoying being away from the bright lights too much to visit the casino. In winter, the river ices up and locals drive their cars over the ice to get to the casino. Unbelievable.

On our first day at the lake, I noticed a car pull up not far from our RV. A woman got out and proceeded to fill a shopping bag with something she was picking off a tree. After she left we checked it out, and the tree was loaded with ripe, dark red berries. The locals identified it as a chokecherry tree. Another friend Kathy (whose husband Milt had the boat that Murray caught the big fish from) makes chokecherry jam and sauce, and had given us a jar. I contacted her and she said the birds ate theirs as soon as they were ripe, so if I could pick her some, that would be great. I was able to pick lots of nice, ripe bunches for her, but was puzzled as to why the birds weren't eating these. I thought they may have been poisonous, and not chokecherries after all...

After our 5 day sojourn by Lake Oahe, we drove back to Bismarck. I got to see the movie The Julie & Julia Project and thoroughly enjoyed it. Murray saw a man-movie, something about a bomb maker. After dinner at Red Lobster, we headed off to stay with our family on the Ranch. Obviously my lobster eating frenzy in Canada didn't quite end my craving for that delicacy!

Although Judy (Ottawa) had taught me how to hand sew peyote stitch, Avalyn had bought me a loom to see how that worked for peyote stitch. While Murray was out fishing I had time to experiment, and the photo you see is a work in progress. Once I got the hang of the loom it went very nicely. Thanks Avalyn!