Baker, MT – Rest Day:

This is the Thursday June 23, 2011 blog which was posted Friday June 24, 2011.



Sleeping-in was great this morning.  It was a lovely day, sunny and temp in the 70’s, however the wind was definitely out of the east! At 20-25 mph! A rest day was perfect timing.  If Cal had been riding it would have been a very tough day with the strong wind. 

Baker has one blinking stop light in the middle of town.  It is a small county seat town which serves a wide area.  We found 2 laundry mats, and a good sized grocery store. It is great to have clean clothes again, and restocked with groceries.

Within a block of the main highway passing through town, there is a lovely lake.  The town has spent time and money in developing this lake area into a great outdoor spot - walking path, picnic areas, etc.  We picked up lunch items and drove out to the lake – used one of the shelters built as an Eagle Scout project. Canadian Geese with their young were on the lake. While eating lunch we decided we would return to the lake to cook our evening meal.

Canadian Geese on Lake Baker at Baker, MT

Dinner by Lake Baker at Baker, MT

After lunch we drove around town and then north of town again, to where the oil activity is located.  At the moment there is no new drilling in this immediate area, but they have been doing more exploration, so additional drilling is expected in the near future. At this time all new drilling is occurring in North Dakota - 175 drilling rigs in operation.  It is thought the ND oil field could be as large as the one in Kuwait. As I said yesterday the amount of oil that is pumped depends on the economics of it.    

This afternoon after a nap, reading, emailing, and relaxing, we picked up evening meal items and returned to the lake.  While by the lake two different sets of people came to the lake with their paddle boats. It was a beautiful evening, but breezy. 

The forecast for the next few days is rain!!!  We will see what happens, how bad it is! But the wind is supposed to be out of the north northwest.  We are going to follow Hwy 12 east.  In South Dakota Hwy 12 turns slightly southeast to Mobridge where we will cross the Missouri River.