March 16, 2007

Jogging along...

My camera's working again. Here's a shot looking back at the Rocky Mountains as we head out onto the plains. A poor picture, but it gives some idea of the amazing contrast, because of the way the Rockies rise very abruptly from the plains. The terrain in the foreground is what we drove through today for hundreds of miles. In the background is a wall of mountains.

Rocky Mountains
Today's journey across the plains did not make for exciting pictures, because you just can't capture in a small rectangle the experience of being able to look around and see for hundreds of miles in any direction. But I think it moves my spirit more than do dramatic snowy peaks.

OH, and there's something else that never fails to thrill me...

Freight train passing throgh Medora, ND

We are stopped for the night at Medora, ND. (Where trains pass through frequently) A very strange experience. Medora is a tourist trap, a "wild west" town that is set up to cater to thousands of people. In the summer. Nobody's here now! Spooky. It's a kind of imitation-ghost-town ghost town. We got some chow in the only eatery open, a ramshackle cowboy saloon that is obviously ready to feed burgers and beer to large rollicking crowds. But Rob and I were the only customers. And the two fellows running it were glued to the TV over the bar, watching imitation hillbillies on the Dukes of Hazzard. Too funny. But the food was OK.

But I already "know" Medora, from reading biographies of Teddy Roosevelt. So it was interesting to poke around the ruins left by the Marquis de Mores, and ponder the changes that have occurred since the 1880's.

Posted by John Weidner at March 16, 2007 6:37 PM
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