June 12 - June 14

June 12 – June 13

Saturday the 12th was a very relaxing day. First thing in the morning we sought out the best breakfast joint in town. It turned out to be a truck stop called Lonnie’s. It was the 2^nd best breakfast this side of the West Street Diner in Memphis (Blueberry pancakes at the Great Plains Diner in Mobridge, SD still the best!). After breakfast, we headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, about a 70-mile drive south of Williston. The drive was well worth it. The Park’s badlands were a reminder of the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale, and as the sun came out in the afternoon, the colors of the exposed earth’s layers became more pronounced. We returned in the evening and headed to J Dubs, the best dinner spot according to the locals. It was pretty good. Sunday the 13^th we slept in and did some clean-up, getting ready for our trip across eastern Montana beginning Monday.

On the bathroom wall at Lonnie's

June 14

Got a late start this morning out of Williston but had a great day with partly cloudy skies, mild winds and temperatures in the mid 70’s…a cyclist’s delight. I made a couple of interesting stops in the morning, Fort Buford and Fort Union, each in ND. Fort Union was established around 1820 and was a major trading center for many tribes and trappers, etc. The fur trade in Fort Union is where John Astor made his fortune. After Fort Union closed, Fort Buford started up, around 1860. It was a communication (telegraph) hub and was the last outpost in the western frontier where gold miners would make final preparations before departing for western Montana and Idaho to make their fortunes. In 1881, Chief Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Buford. Fort Buford is located at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. In the early afternoon I met Jerry and Lavona Nielsen from Bozeman, Montana. Jerry recently retired from Montana State University, where he was a soil science professor for 40 years. He and his wife were veteran cyclists who were sharing a bike, taking turns riding their way back to Bozeman. Toward the end of the day, Jamye and I met Frank Hanes, an Inn owner from Vermont who was cycling coast to coast (Washington to Maine). We had a nice visit before he headed eastward toward Williston. By the day’s end I had logged 72 miles. My total to date is 1,009 miles. Montana is the seventh state of our ten state adventure, and we will be spending the next several weeks in the Big Sky country.

Historical guide at Ft. Buford

Chief Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881 in this building

Entrance to Ft. Union

Historical guide at Ft. Union

Frank Hanes