Day 16 – Baker, Montana to Hettinger, North Dakota

I need to keep this brief for now because I have a big day tomorrow to reach and cross the Missouri River AND I just found out they steal another hour off you when you arrive on the eastern bank. It’s already going to be one of my longest days, so an early start is looking unavoidable. I haven’t been helped by a flat back tyre upon arrival here in the small town of Hettinger, although much better to be dealing with it in my motel than out on the road. But it all takes time. I will post some pictures for now and a few words. I’ll try to catch up ASAP.

Border crossing

In brief, another memorable day unlike the last few in several ways. First of all, I have finally left Montana! That took more than a week; but I shall remember it fondly. But instead I am now in North Dakota for a day. I’m just clipping the bottom corner. But it was one of only four states that I had never set foot in. Now the only ones left are Iowa, Vermont and Arkansas. So even after this trip, the full set will elude me.

Departed grandeur: Marmarth bank and auditorium

There were a few more places to see today. Every hour or two you arrived somewhere and the places were quite varied. First along the road from Baker was Marmarth, which once had over a thousand inhabitants; but now has under a hundred. It shows. There are some grand looking buildings over a century old, but they are mostly boarded up and derelict, either side of a huge main street to nowhere. Most businesses have closed and it’s not far away from being a ghost town. Apparently Theodore Roosevelt liked to visit. He probably came by train and the freight line still functions. But the big surprise here for me was the antique car museum and ice cream parlour. It was the ice cream that drew me in. The building was like a huge hanger and inside were literally hundreds of really old American cars, all collected by one man over his lifetime. He’s still at it at 86 and the full collection is twice as big as what I briefly saw today. It was astonishing. And from what I could gather, almost no one ever visits. I’m glad I did. Also, my root beer float was excellent.

Bowman, ND, was a larger, more modern place for a late lunch, a little more than half way to my destination. Today was an average length ride, so I allowed myself a late-ish start and was catching up all day after that.

Bowman – visible from several miles away

But I was cycling again through really quite green country, once the preserve of millions of bison. The last great hunts apparently occurred near Hettinger, the rather run down little town that is my home tonight. I experienced some amazing weather conditions with dark clouds, rainbows and bright blue skies vying for supremacy. I did get caught in a 5 minute shower but it was warm and I took shelter under a tree in a small town I was passing through. Then it was on alongside the train line for more straight miles. I was thrilled when a long, long train came towards me, whistle blaring, and even more so when the driver waved to me. I waved back. It was a special moment.

In the morning I will cross into South Dakota. That will be my sixth state. I’m certainly getting to do what I wanted, which was to ride empty roads right across the plains of North America. It shouldn’t be too hot tomorrow. The wind is not always behind me, which slows things down a bit; but hopefully won’t be against me either. These things make such a difference to the trans continental adventure cyclist.