May 11

As we left eastern Montana we saw lots of pickups with large metal guards on the front. We assume those are so the elk, deer and antelope don't play on the front or hood of those pickups!
Suddenly in eastern Montana and western No Dak the farm roads were all red clay. That same red appears in some of the hills.

We began driving through the N.D. Badlands, not to be confused with the S. D. Badlands. Tom studied geology and loves seeing the various colors, layers and formations of areas such as this. His interest has sparked mine over the years.

We drove into the rustic town of Medora, which is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Very few businesses were open yet. It appears traveling through Montana and N.D. before Memorial Day is unwise if you want to shop or see museums, etc. Teddy owned a ranch in the area around 1883 - 84 and was dismayed that the huge buffalo herds had disappeared and that the grasslands were being over grazed. He encouraged Congress to establish the U.S. Forest Service, 18 national monuments, 5 national parks and 51 national forests.

The Badlands were formed from sediment being brought by creeks - all the way from the young Rockies - 60 million years ago. We saw a buffalo herd, elk herd, 3 deer, a wild horse and several prairie dog towns on our scenic loop through the park today.

It reached 55 degrees today and it appears the next few days will be cooler and probably rainy. We brought jackets and umbrellas for just such days, but that doesn't mean we have to like it!