The Road to North Dakota

 
Along my journey I’ve asked people, “What is there to see in North Dakota?” My most common response was “nothing.” Well I’ll tell ya, there’s something to be said about seeing nothing. Mmm yes, no strip mall, no McDonald’s, no bumper of another car. Yes, in North Dakota you can drive for miles and miles and miles and see none of that, and that’s a very nice thing.
When I arrived at the border of ND I pulled over to take a photo. I was quite excited as ND is the last of the lower 48 that I hadn’t been to. Not soon after 3 bikers doing their own cross country trip pulled up. That’s Bob, Bud and Larry.
  
They were kind enough to take a picture of me by the sign and suggested I sit on their bike. Well no asking me twice! Being on the road for the past 39 days I’ve seen a lot of bikers and I feel like we’ve bonded. Although they probably don’t think the same when they see me in my Chevy Malibu. But I know that they’re on the road to be on the road, not just to get from A to B. Like these folks I met at the Harley Davidson store in Sturgis, SD, home of the huge annual bike rally. That’s Joel and Cathy from Sioux Falls and Brian from British Columbia.
 
Bikers and truckers truly own the road, the rest of us are just visitors.

But back to North Dakota; If you find yourself in this part of the country head straight to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and drive through the badlands of North Dakota.    There is a 36 mile scenic loop you can drive along in the southern unit of the park. You’ll see plenty of wildlife from the car and there are plenty of trails you can hike or even mountain bike along. I saw bison, wild horses and my favorite: prairie dogs! These things are adorable and they were …well…prairie doggin’. You’d look across the field and they’d just keep popping up all over the place!   
  
Ya, I like North Dakota.