Musings and Goings on from the Road

Today was our first rainy day ever. Because it was raining, I rolled over a few times before my bladder insisted it was time to get up. I listened to see if there was a bison breathing heavily outside the tent, but there wasn't.

Why would there be a bison outside my tent? We were camping in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and the night before the bison migrated through the campground and took up residence between the tents and the river just a few sites from the us. Aaron and I were drinking forties and playing scrabble when I heard the snoring rumble of a musing bison. Aaron didn't hear it at first, but soon it was loud enough for us both to here and then shadowy bison forms took shape in the twilight. We of course had no idea what to do, and being a little tipsy from drinking thought the whole thing was hysterical. What do you do if a bison decides to investigate you? I asked a ranger this morning and even he did not have an answer for me.

We have seen plenty of bison (or buffalo - the words are interchangeable) on this road trip. Every time we have seen them we have been in the car and the bison were either on the side of the road or in the midst of crossing it. In Theodore Roosevelt they apparently like to walk on the road and use it just like we do because in both the south park and the north park we got stuck in log jams where bison were surrounding us and any other cars.

Maybe I should start with North Dakota. Maybe I should start with South Dakota. Maybe I have a lot to ramble on about. Well here's North Dakota and then I'll back track later.

We didn't cross into North Dakota until the late afternoon. We stopped in Belle Fourch SD to see the plaque for the geographical center of the US. It's not actually at the exact spot because the exact spot is on private land, but it is a very nice plaque.

Our destination was Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I didn't really know anything about the park at all - other than it was a national park in North Dakota.