Day 6: North Dakota to Great Falls, MT

Teddy Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin

Feral Horses at Teddy Roosevelt National Park

A Lone Bison at TRNP

We awoke early in order to enjoy the 36-mile Scenic Drive Loop in Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) before setting out for Montana.  Way less crowded than the other National Parks we have visited, TRNP boasts a huge bison population of 300 in the southern unit, along with 900 elk and 85 feral horses.  Oddly, we saw zero elk, but boy did we strike gold with the bison.  These beasts were everywhere, and we saw no less than 80 or 90 of them.  Not only did we get close enough to hear them grunting at us roadside (maybe 15 feet away from the camper!), but we also saw them in their natural grandeur.  My favorite scene was a small herd of about 8 bison charging full speed down a high slope in the distance.  It gave me a "flash from the past" feeling of how the Great Plains must have looked when these animals numbered in the millions before almost becoming extinct by the 1880's.  Another of my favorite sites was a lone buffalo sitting atop a high ridge... a true King of the Mountain.  Life on the road does have its challenges, though, and shortly after reveling in the bison encounters, we were nearly side-swiped by a large bus of tourists trying to pass us in a no-pass zone on the narrow Scenic Drive!  Ron just couldn't let it go and later confronted the bus driver when we met by chance at the Medora Visitor's Center later in the morning.  We debated on whether to report him to the Riley Bus Company, but ultimately decided that he wasn't worth any more of our time.  Suffice to say that this curmudgeon added a heavy pull to the dark side of our human nature experiment.

Onward we traveled through Montana.  We gambled on the smaller Rte. 12 instead of the Interstate to take us to Great Falls, MT.  Never, and I mean NEVER, have we experienced such a remote No Man's Land.  During a 100-mile stretch, driving a constant 60 m.p.h., we crossed only 8 cars and saw no signs of human beings until the last couple of miles.  No houses existed there, except for a few abandoned ones.  No power lines or side roads.  Nothing but grass and sky.  It was a little disconcerting to think about the camper breaking down in such a location, with the absence of cell service and all.  To pass the time, the kids watched Forest Gump (again) while Ron and I completed two crossword puzzles.  We arrived at Great Falls, Montana at about 7:15p.m., hungry and tired.  The kids were happy to find a mini water park at the KOA.  The evening ended with S'mores cooked on a fire built by Greg & Nick.