Yes, Teddy Roosevelt! The three of us have never ventured into North Dakota -- until now. We really did not know what to expect. The route we took down through Saskatchewan took us into the northeast corner of Montana first and then into North Dakota, the state that has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. The first town we traveled through was Williston, unemployment rate 1.1%. It felt like a boom town with new building construction, sewer and water lines being laid, RV towns on hillsides and large semi trucks of every sort hauling material and good, mostly associated with the oil boom fueling this onslaught of population, growth and jobs. I never had experience such a place, something of a throwback to an earlier time in Oklahoma and Texas. When one doesn't know what to expect you rest on impressions and imaginations. Looking for a job? Average annual wage in Williston is $57,314, yes, average.
A short distance south, lay the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a park divided into two locations both lying along the northwest part of the state. The North Dakota badlands are much unlike its neighbor to the south. These badlands also have grassy rolling hills filling in around the stark bluffs and jutting rocks and formations. The town of Medera is situated just outside the main park entrance and is a unique town since much of it is owned by a non-profit to preserve the town and to welcome guests to Teddy Roosevelt's town, albeit he lived several miles south and, that only for a total of about two years. But, the impression this land made on President Roosevelt was lasting, a place he could heal from the lost of his wife and his mother, both dying on the same day and for altogether different reasons. He "checked out" for a couple of years from his promising political life and bought a cattle ranch. Here, at the park entrance and the visitor's center one can walk into the relocated ranch house he once lived in. In the center there was a life-size wooden statue of Teddy on his horse built with strips of wood, not carved. It was a humble log cabin, humble by anyone's standard.
We stayed in the national park for two night, the first of which I attended a ranger campfire talk on the cosmos. The ranger was a professor from Rhode Island where he taught Astronomy, enjoying a different kind of summer break, yet still teaching. The walk back from the firepit to the trailer was challenging, guided only by a small flashlight in the Pitch Black. Never mind the wild Bison I saw walking the same area just a couple of hours before. Enjoy the pictures.
The second evening, Louise, my dad, and I took a short road trip on a paved loop through the park perhaps 20 or 30 miles in length where we experienced some the best of the area's scenery! The light and shadows played its music in the ravines, gullies and hillsides. It was a magnificent evening, almost perfect in every respect. We were surprised through each turn with the occasional cascading vista views or a sighting of majestic racked elk, rough and large plains bison, and even wild horses. One of these horses was a paint with one albino eye, unsettling to look at. I will share a few pictures of this evening trip once I find them, temporarily misplaced somewhere on my computer or elsewhere!
This ends the first leg of our trip ending the third week of August 2011, just under seven months on the road. Upon arrival we stayed at an quaint RV park in a suburb of south Denver for two and a half months tending to the many items of regular life, e.g., catching up with visits to the doctor, dentist, eye doctors, etc. We enjoyed spending time with our family, our church family and friends. On November 1st we started on the next leg of our Grand Adventure heading east with plans for several more months of travel. If you think we are immune to life's challenges, we are not, but that will be another blog entry soon. I hope you continue to enjoy the entries as I practice on you all with my fledgling writing skills. -Kevin
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