Pickhandle Lake rest area was closed.  The next rest area had beautiful views, 2 outhouses and litter bins.  Yes!  Then we noticed the signs “no overnight parking or camping”.  The sun was low on the horizon AND we were 15 miles from the border (followed by an 18 mile no-mans land). 

 I was getting worried, but C was chill, and he was right.  The next rest area (5 miles from the border) was fine though no outhouses.   We set up camp including outdoor chairs as the aurora borealis forecast was excellent if the skies remained clear.

We got up every hour all night and saw beautiful stars, then clouds hiding the aurora. The northern clouds had a definite green glow.  It got down to -14.5F which was 24 degrees colder than our target camping range.  We had to fill the generator twice in order to keep the trailer at 50.  Glad we did it once, no desire to camp that cold again!