North Dakota 7/19/2016

Farmland is the major feature of North Dakota, and we saw plenty of it as we rolled down I-94. Not surprisingly, it was windy--again. Our first event of the day came early when 2 birds chased each other from the side of the road into our windshield and grill. We both watched them fly up and cringed at the subsequent thuds we saw and heard. Yuk.

Onward. We started to note a change in the countryside from flat to the horizon to a hillier profile. Shortly after the change, we saw a sign  for the Painted Canyon Overlook, the intro to North Dakota's badlands located off I-94. At this stop we struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who we learned was from Minnesota, currently living in Bend, OR. He had run a distribution business in MN. These chance encounters are one of the great bonuses of travel.

Leaving the Painted Canyon, we headed for Medora in western ND, our stop for the day. Once the RV was set up, we set out for Theodore Roosevelt National Park south unit, whose entrance was just down the road from the RV park where we were staying. There is an auto road on which you can make stops and take short hikes to scenic spots, and that was our plan. One of these stops was at Wind Canyon, where the path takes you up along a river with views of the canyon below. While the

On one of the trails

trail is named for the canyon, the highlight for me was at the highest point on the trail that overlooked the river valley. At this point, in the distance, we watched as a group of bison lingered in the shallow river, as others moved into the field beyond. As we stood there, with the birds singing, and the wind blowing in trees, it was hard to not to imagine that perhaps Lewis and Clark might have stopped in this very place over 200 years ago and observed the scene with the same wonder and peace we felt.