Tuesday July 8th
2014
Glendive, MT –
Saint Cloud, MN
556 miles, 7 hours, 52 minutes
625 miles, 7:11 am – 8:26 pm
Breakfast, gasoline, and I-94 East interstate. Sunny,
almost no clouds, somewhat hazy. A bit less then an hour of boring
drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm
Small town of Medora. Visitor center of the National Park. Nice
exhibits. Paved loop through the park, we were warned about the
construction. We still decided to try to see at least the part of the
park. Few miles and stopped by the construction. Two stops for the
construction – waiting for the pilot car, mess, waiting … it
sucked … The loop – nicely paved – on the beginning we saw town
of Prairie Dogs. It was awesome, so many small critters. Just
jackassing there. We were less then 65 miles away from our starting
point. Time was flying. The landscape was awesome. Hilly, green,
rocky, and it was incredibly beautiful. The whole loop was about 35
miles long. We were looking for bison but we did not see any. Blue
sky, sun, and great country. It was really surprising how North
Dakota was pretty, at least in this park. Bunch of wild horses
crossing the road. Another great picture. And more waiting for the
construction. It was past ten o'clock. It was really annoying
organization of the construction site. While driving through the work
site we saw lonely bison next to the road. The day was complete. We
had to speed up as this was our longest day (540 miles planned, that
did not included the site trips). Quick stop at another site of the
National Park – Painted Canyon. Another great view. 55 more miles
and we made about 30 miles detour to see three scrap metal
sculptures. It was really pretty – the drive was long and through
the farm country. The return to the interstate. It was 1:25 pm. The
time changed, apparently North Dakota has two time zones. We still
had about 450 miles to go. It was horrible image. There was quite a
lot of construction along the way. Few stops. Driving. Driving.
Driving. I-94 East. Really nothing special. Minnesota. Another 171
miles. We arrived at our hotel at 8:26 – sick and tired of being in
the car. Finally, the day was over, it felt good. Almost home ….
