Day 27 - Drive to TRNP (North Dakota or Bust)

Apparently, camping in a National park just isn't in the cards for us on this trip.  After leaving the hotel we drove hwy 2 following the very busy train track. We drove east across the top of Montana though plains and reservations. The undulating hills lulled our navigational skills to sleep: we missed a turn, and ended up heading south by smaller, almost deserted highways. (Travel tip: keep your gas tank filled up!) We picked up some sandwiches and arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park around 6:30MST.

 The MST/CST timezone runs through the north part of the park and skirts the east side of the south part of the park which we were heading to, so every time posting includes the time zone.

Our backup site.  Not too shabby.
also requisite car-top carrier shot

At the park entrance, the park Ranger said getting a site would be tight and it indeed was, we just missed out on a couple tent sites and all the pull-through sites were full although some sites looked to be abandoned but with a valid camping slip attached to the post.  We were sad, as the sites were very nice and scenic,  but we were prepared to not repeat the night we had at Glacier.  Right next door to the TRNP entrance we found the Madona campground which did have available spots and after giving them a once over and deciding they were pretty good we paid for one.  The campsite advertised free wi-fi and indeed they tried to.  It worked about as you would expect.  We setup camp and ate our Subway sandwich dinners. We believe if we hadn't stopped to pick up sandwiches we would have been able to get a site in TRNP.  The whole problem of getting a campsite at a National Park has led me to a business idea which should become the topic of a future post.  

The kids ran off to play on the campground playground until it got dark, then we roasted s'mores and most of us hit the sack.  I lingered around outside as the sky was crystal clear and dark.  Saw some meteors, satellites, and the Milky Way which inspired me to try my hand at some digital night sky photography before turning in for the night.

unedited picture of star trails