7/29 Williston ND to Bemidji MT

First thing in the morning while it was still relatively cool we detoured south to clip the corner of the north unit of the heodore Roosevelt National Park and the Little Missouri National Grassland. A very surprising place. Heading south out of Williston the land has a little roll to it, but is mostly very flat. We pulled over a slight rise and before us was TR NP. It was a set of arroyos deeply incised in the flat plan surrounding it. It was incredible but kind of alien also. Initially the land started out as a flat plain and then the Little Missouri River and its tributaries eroded the canyon and all the little side canyons. We didn't have time to ride through but the ranger told us that bison roamed throughout the canyon. This is definitely a place to come back to. And no one was there. We met the very friendliest people in North Dakota. At a gas station a woman came over to us after filling her tank and wanted to know where we were from, where we were going. She told us she and her husband had been Yamaha dealers for years and now were wheat and cattle farmers in western ND. Almost unbidden she launched into a description of all the sites and little villages we should stop and visit in ND. What a booster for her state! "Well you know" she said, "most people think North Dakota is just empty flat nothing. But I'm here to tell you if you take the time it's a beautiful place and the people are very friendly. We like you to come and visit." She was a great lady and we wished her well as we got back on the road and ground out mile after hot mile. We crossed the North Red River into Minnesota and really began to feel that we were getting close to home. Many of the tree species were the same and there were many lakes and ponds with good sized rivers. Our last stop of this long day before we moteled it was Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. We dipped our boots in the outflow of the lake and took pictures and then headed north to Bemidji. A long day, but a good one.

7/28 Cut Bank MT to Williston ND (Part 2)

Often we would hear someone tell us after beginning to discuss the stifling heat, that it must be OK for us because we were getting the wind. We all had full fairing bikes so little wind actually got to us. The wind that did was composed of hot air so it was like being blow-dried all over. Now the mornings were not very cool and the day got even hotter. The temperature differential between morning and afternoon was very reduced. Lou and Eric had Nalgene bottles with insulated booties that they filled with ice at the motel each morning. We stopped repeatedly to refresh with water and Gatorade. I took to tying a bandanna around my neck and pouring water into it to keep it saturated as we rode. The wind would evaporate the water and cool me a bit. Others on the road must have thought it strange to see me pour water from a bottle into my neck rather than my mouth. In truth there wasn't much respite; you just had to tough it out and make sure your pee stayed clear. It was interesting to see the natural vegetation and agricultural differences as we moved from west to east. Just outside of Glacier NP on its eastern boundary the land was arid. Very few trees of any size and mostly widely separated scrub growth. No irrigation or irrigation only in very small patches. Heading east then in Montana we began to see a bit more green as we ran into wheat and rough hay fields. The streams had large shrubs and cottonwood and box-elder in their flood plains. Rivers were rills crossed by short bridges with mud bottoms and sluggishly churning along the flat land. We began to pick up sunflower fields and corn and larger irrigated patches the further east we went. The land was still almost devoid of trees except those planted around houses as windbreaks. I suspect they may have been carefully watered to get them started. Finally, nearing Minnesota we began to run through real woods and larger fields of corn, wheat and sunflowers, and the whole suite of mid-western tree species appeared. Over the thousand miles from Cut Bank to Bemidji this green gradient was spread across the landscape to let us know we were heading toward abundant water.