Wandering Retirees

Connie here. Hank is taking a break this evening.

July 22 – Theodore Roosevelt National Grasslands National Park

We stayed in Dickinson, ND so we could visit this park. In 2017, we bypassed it due to fatigue. Well, despite the fatigue, this time we did the loop around the park anyway. This area of North Dakota was considered desolate and inhospitable until ranchers came. Cows, it seems, don’t mind grass mixed with desert scrub and rock.

We took some time to tour the visitors center when we arrived and learned about the different striations in the exposed rock, which you’ll see below. This entire area used to be sea bottom. There are many artifacts in the stone of mussels, alligators and dinosaurs. Who would have thought. As a consequence, much of the rock is compressed sand; hence the sand color. There are also layers of a type of coal called lignite. Lignite is a low rank coal and is not used for energy. But it does burn. There is evidence that lightening strikes have set this layer of rock on fire. In the park, there is evidence of a long burning fire (1951-1977!). Another layer of rock, called clinker, is colored red after lignite is burned underground. It’s truly a beautiful color. There is also bluish grey layer of rock, which is formed from ash from long ago eruptions of volcanos. It’s really amazing.

The park is also a preserve for bison, wild horses, long horned sheep and many prairie dog towns. We caught a glimpse of a bison and a bunch of wild horses. And we were mesmerized by the prairie dogs. They seems to be observing the park visitors as intently as we were observing them.

July 23 – A long trip across the state of North Dakota to Fargo.

Today, we traveled 281 miles from Dickinson to Fargo along razor straight I-94. Thanks to the residents of ND adding roadside attractions to this long trip. We visited a couple of steel sculptures on the “Enchanted Highway” (pictures below).

We saw New Salem Sue – a huge Holstein Cow model in New Salem of course. There, we met a nice family from Iowa (Josh, Trish, Wes and Nick). I joked that they must see lots of cows at home. They responded: no, just corn. Josh was very kind to take our photo in front of “Sue.” We also saw the world’s tallest Sand Crane and Bison along the highway.

Later we met Rick. A heck of a nice guy who recently retired and is aching to take a cross country motorcycle trip with his wife who will retire next year. We had such a nice time talking with him. It was hard to break away.

Otherwise, the roadside was marked with hundreds of miles of green fields: corn, alfalfa and other very green plants. A lot of hard working folks put in thousands of hours a year to put food on our tables.

We got to our hotel and settled in for a relaxing evening only to get a call from the front desk. Our bike was lying on its side in the parking lot. We aren’t sure it there is any structural damage aside from the cosmetic. This is quite distressing to say the least. As of this moment we are waiting to hear from the hotel manager in response to our request to see the surveillance footage. Tomorrow morning we’ll have a local motorcycle shop take a look at her. Note: it’s really uncommon for bikes to all kickstand down.

Oh well, there are worse things in life for sure. Working on attitude adjustment now. 🥃

Leaving you with a little ha-ha. If ever in Fargo, ND, be sure to visit the UFO serving pizza and burgers on 45 Ave W.