The Yellowstone to the Missouri

6-13 – The Unexpected – Grassy Butte: As we laid out this trip on a map there were places that immediately brought excitement/expectation (both oceans, Erie Canal, Fort Ticonderoga, the passes of the Cascades, the Great Rivers crossings, etc) and there were those that were more or less ho-hum. Grassy Butte North Dakota fell into the ho-hum category. It was sort of the default ending place for today’s ride based more or less on that’s about as far as we could go. As often times happens in life the unexpected takes place. Grassy Butte is to date one of our best stopping places. I doubt that more than 25 people live in town, but it is located in a beautiful spot and everything is so well maintained and taken care of that it is a real pleasure to stay here. We recommend it as a stopping place for any long distance cyclist.

Dee: Dee was the first person we met in Grassy Butte. She is the care taker for the key historical site in town, a sod roofed log cabin post office that was used until 1962. It now contains much of the rich history of Grassy Butte. When you walk in you feel like you are stepping back about 150 years. If you can recall the scene where Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) walked into Bear Claw Chris Lapp’s cabin that’s what it felt like. We spent about a half hour with Dee. Dee was a teacher just down the road at the age of 16, was married at age 17 and had her first child at the age of 18. I can’t get over being a teacher at the age of 16, WOW !!! I got a driver’s license at the age of 16 and that was probably a mistake. Anyway, we had a great time with Dee who is a true American Character.

Great Stretch: The entire ride today from Sidney to Grassy Butte was really enjoyable. In particular the ride from Watford City to Grassy Butte was great. The country-side is verdant and lush. There was some wildlife (tons of birds and some deer and antelope and a few buffalo/tatanka) and the broken country of western North Dakota is so enchanting. Halfway through the ride we went through the edge of the North Unit of the Teddy Roosevelt National Park. The Badlands in this area are quite stunning. Good stuff on a sunny day.

Teddy: Teddy Roosevelt had the foresight to protect much of America’s wild areas, particularly in the west. We were the beneficiaries of his foresight today.

There’s Gold Oil in Them Thar Hill: During yesterday’s ride I was struck by the number of oil wells in western Montana. I did not know there was that much activity there. Having rode about 75 miles in North Dakota today the evidence of the oil boom here is everywhere, particularly on the roads. We got passed by literally hundreds of vehicles that had something to do with the current ND oil boom. Most were double oil tankers transporting oil but there were many other also transporting drilling pipe and drilling outfits. We thought there would be less traffic because it was Sunday, but it appeared to us that the oil business does not take any days off. All of the truckers were very good to us pulling around to make our travel safe. We are very grateful for that.

6-14 – The Unexpected - Trees: There is a misconception that North Dakota does not have much in the way of trees. That is not our impression. Now it is never going to be mistaken for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but there are pleasantly a good number a wide variety to trees on our route.

The Celtics: We spent last evening from about 6 to 9:00 PM in the local establishment (I don’t think it had a name) watching game 5 between the Celtics and the Lakers. All three of our cheery little group are pulling for the Celtics so there is no dissention there. Jay, the establishment’s owner is not typically open on Sunday nights. To our great fortune he stayed open because someone had asked to come in to watch the NASCAR race. Whoever that was did not show and Jay happily stayed open for us. By the second half there was a crowd (that’s a relative term in Grassy Butte ND) watching the game with everyone pulling for the Celtics. It was a nice time as we got to know some of the locals. Most of the people around Grassy Butte do some ranching but also work at another full-time job, many in the oil fields. With the Celtic win a good time was had by all.

Road Kill: The number and variety of road killed animals has risen substantially since we entered ND. I didn’t know rabbits and raccoons got that big.

North Dakota Facts: Ken is our camp host in Hazen. The following facts come from Ken.

- North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Based on truck drivers alone we can believe that.

- North Dakota is one of only four states that have a net energy surplus. The biggest sources are the low grade lignite coal which they do not export but put into their own coal fired electric facilities and sell to 8 other states. The other is oil.

Dodge Welcoming Committee: When Katie and I pulled into Dodge (not a slang term-a real town) a car full of little old ladies pulled up. One of the ladies asked if we were the bikers who were coming through town. We were not sure if we were THE bikers coming through, but we certainly are bikers and were passing through. Kay, the leader of the pack, took our picture, and got an interview of sorts. Apparently it was a slow news week in Dodge. If any of you have a subscription to the Dunn County Harold out of Halliday ND you should see our picture and a small story. We later found that Gary had stopped in Halliday and talked about what we were doing so this wasn’t as out of the blue as we originally imagined.

Lewis and Clark Campground – Hazen ND: If you ever come through Hazen ND we highly recommend the Lewis and Clark Campground. Ken is the local host with a wealth of information about the area. The L and C is new, clean, and has free wash, showers and WIFI.