Bill and Eileen's Travels: Friday, August 15, 2014

On August 1st we rolled out of St Mary and drove across the top of Montana to the little town of Glasgow, MT. We stayed at a campground that was connected to a hotel and a retirement home. An odd combination to say the least.

The next day we continued to Medora, ND. Crossing the border of North Dakota was a large milestone for our travels. It marked the last of the 48 lower states that we have traveled in. With a little less than 70,000 miles we have now been in all of the 48 lower states. If I can talk Eileen into it, Alaska is the only possible remaining state. With the exception of a few mechanical issues over the past eight years it has been a great ride. We have seen many beautiful places in this country and we have just touched the surface. I challenge everyone to get out and see our Marvelous Country.

Our next stop was Medora, ND. This is a small tourist town in the western part of ND that is quite different that our expectations. The Theodore Roosevelt NP, southern entrance, is located on the western end of Medora. The park is part of what they call the Bad Lands.

On our arrival we went downtown, checked out the shops, and had a nice dinner at the Rough Riders Hotel. The next morning Kathie and Marked decided to head on to Bismarck to be with their family. Their girls had flown in from Raleigh and New York City to attend a memorial for Mark's dad.

Eileen and I went into the NP and took the ride in the southern section. The summer here has been wetter than usual and the park was greener than it normally is. The scenery was much nicer than I had expected and once we got further into the park we started to see the wildlife. Prairie Dogs, Wild Horses, and finally lots and lots of Buffalo. We stopped at the highest point in this section of the park, "Badlands Lookout" and with my binoculars I started seeing herds of buffalo off in the distance.
One herd, then another, then a third. A beautiful scene.

We continued on to see more wild horses, then we rounded a corner where there was a herd of buffalo in the middle and both sides of the road. On particular Bull was in the middle of the road and really didn't want anyone to move on. He finally decided to move off the road and we all slowly got out of the way. I will say that people in these situations are stupid. The teenagers in front of us were hanging out their windows and taunting the buffalo that were less than ten feet away from them. Not a smart move. We made it through in spite of the Godzilla size buffalo that guarded the road for a period of time. Magnificent animals.

Teddy Roosevelt moved to this area after he lost his wife and mother in the same house in New York, on the same day. The local lore is that this is where he brought his life back together and developed his love for nature. He was a buffalo hunter and loved the Badlands.

Next day we visited Chateau De Mores which was the hunting lodge of a French Nobleman by the same name. He actually developed the town of Medora (named after his wife Medora). His business idea was to slaughter cattle locally and send them via railroad to a booming Chicago market. It lasted a while until drought and other situations created a shortage of cattle. His business failed and he moved back to France. The house was interesting and the stories about his hunter adventurer, wife were very interesting. The Marquis was also a buddy of Teddy Roosevelt.

After another run through the local stores we attended a Saturday mass, in the local civic center and went back to prepare for our departure to Bismarck. Medora was very interesting and comfortable place. We enjoyed our time here.

Enjoy the Pictures!!