Heading westward

[Lakescouple250 15]

We are heading westward very soon, for the Dekotas. Any interesting people or sites on the way? Escaping new England. Also any road advice from RV folks be great

Prob hitting 94 to 84, westward ho.

[tbone1 79]

Nothing to do with the LS, but if you get a chance check out Medora, ND.  Beautiful and quaint little town, right beside Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  And the golf course there is like playing golf in the middle of the badlands.  Devil's Tower is pretty cool to see.

[GoldCoCouple 4,066]

The Dakotas are not exactly what we would call 'west' (just like the 'wild west' was mostly the 'wild central').

[adamgunn 1,460]

4 hours ago, GoldCoCouple said:

The Dakotas are not exactly what we would call 'west' (just like the 'wild west' was mostly the 'wild central').

 

I took a college course in The American Frontier a couple of years ago, and this topic was debated heavily for two class periods. It's fascinating how differently people think of American West or American frontier and how they define it.

 

I finally settled for myself at Longitude 100 West to the tip of the Sierra Mountains. That's where you're starting to get high altitudes and lower precipitation, the harder climate causes people to have a little different attitude. On the other side of the mountains, you get California, urban, agricultural, very odd attitudes. Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas are half in, half out of that zone.

 

Have a great and erotic trip, Lakes.

[EastInWest 1,524]

On 4/7/2021 at 4:27 PM, adamgunn said:

 

I took a college course in The American Frontier a couple of years ago, and this topic was debated heavily for two class periods. It's fascinating how differently people think of American West or American frontier and how they define it.

At the time of the Revolution, everything more than a good hike west of Albany was "Indian Country".

 

Cadillac Desert is also an amazing read if you're interested in this topic. Focuses on water economics but ties it in very well to how we treat the American West.

[adamgunn 1,460]

1 hour ago, EastInWest said:

At the time of the Revolution, everything more than a good hike west of Albany was "Indian Country".

Yeah, that surprises a lot of people. The Alleghenies were actually the most west the British would allow settlers to move - not that it stopped them much. It was the cause, when it comes down to it, of the French and Indian war. (Which led to taxation, which led to revolution, which led to . . .  History just keeps going in circles, sometimes.)

 

St. Louis has coopted the title of 'Gateway to the West' but I think the title is more suited to Pittsburgh. For a couple of decades around the 1830s they built more boats per year than anyplace else in the world.

 

I took a look at the book on GoodReads, I've spent a lot of time in Northern California and I'm pretty knowledgeable about the state of the water issues west of Colorado. But thanks!