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Dee asked me to look up the elevation change for today's ride, which is gradually downhill the whole way with a 450 foot drop in elevation between Belfield and Watford City. That is, the whole way EXCEPT leaving the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Little Missouri River runs through the park creating a narrow valley. The uphill grade coming out of the valley is 4% for almost two miles. A "'Lordy, Lordy' hill" to quote Dee.
This is not the place to post a biography of the 26th U.S. President, but I would be remiss if I did not pass along a quote by Theodore Roosevelt: "I would never have been president if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota." Read more at: T. R. the Rancher, Maltese Cross Cabin, and Elkhorn Ranch. (See also: T. R. Association, and Wikipedia). If I understand the location correctly, Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch was along the Little Missouri.
If we have learned anything from the reports posted by Dee and Cal it is that wind is a much more formidable adversary than distance or elevation, maybe even than precipitation, though that is debatable and rain is not unrelated to wind. In any case, I figured out this morning that if one looks at the interactive local radar map, it is possible to click on "Weather Layers" below the map and then select wind speed for current wind conditions. As far as I can figure out, though, it does not indicate the direction.
Dee, you probably cannot get all this on your BB, but for those of us spectating from our desks, this is one more tool for the Vicarious Trikers. For what it is worth, Weather.com predicts less wind today and maybe a shift out of the WSW.
While I am thinking about it, I am not sure how many of these tools will follow you all the way through Canada to Alaska. In particular, I am worried about your broadband coverage. I have become addicted to reading your posts each evening.
This is the Google map for the first 1003 miles. Click on the image above to see an enlarged version.
Dee and Cal passed the Millennium Mile mark today (1003 miles to be exact). This seems like a good time to recap their accomplishments to this point. The trikers have been been on the road 28 days and stopped in 20 locations. By my count 5 nights were in the tent or on the floor. The highest elevation was 3967 ft at Alliance, NE and the lowest elevation was 1300 ft in Wichita, KS. They have ridden 36 miles a day overall and averaged 50 miles a day when on the trikes. The median daily distance is 54 miles. The longest leg was yesterday at 70 miles.
The trikers are celebrating tonight at Trappers Kettle in Belfield, ND, which bills itself as the Crossroads of North America. This is because I-94 goes from New York City to Seattle, and US-85 is part of the CanAm Highway, which goes from Mexico City to Alaska (by different numbering in other locations). Belfield is also known for its rich cultural diversity with settlers here including French, Norwegian, German, Ukrainian, Russian, Irish, English, Polish and Hollanders. The percentage of population having Ukrainian ancestry is 13.6%, second highest of all communities in the country.
Dean Simmons pointed me to a fascinating article about the dinosaur digs near Bowman, ND, written by Tony C. Driebus (L.A. Times). The author goes to some lengths to describe the hard work under difficult conditions required to unearth these fossils. North Dakota not only has harsh winters, but brutal summers as well. No wonder the Sioux natives called this area makoshika, meaning Bad Lands. This is a good area to excavate, though, because the buttes that rise out of the surrounding grasslands hold millions of fossils. In topography, this region resembles the desserts of Arizona and Mexico. Thanks for the pointer, Dean.
On April 15, Dee and Cal took a little side trip to the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states near Lebanon, KS. Yesterday they passed within 30 miles of the center of the 50 states (44°58'N, 103°46'W). The nearest town is Belle Fourche (the "ch" is /sh/), French for "beautiful fork" for the fork of Hay Creek, the Redwater River, and the Belle Fourche River at the site. It should be pointed out, however, that neither point is exact, since there is no agreement on which mathematical model to use. The Lebanon point was determined in 1918 by balancing on a point a cardboard cutout shaped like the U.S. This obviously would not work for the 50 states, and I don't know how that point was arrived at.
Last night the trikers were stuck in a little place called Crow Buttes Mercantile, a few miles south of Redig, SD, outside the Verizon broadband coverage. We could assume as much from the fact that they did not post on the blog, but to confirm this fact I placed a link to the Verizon coverage map in the Tools for the Journey section. This may come in handy again as they get further north.
Crazy Horse was still a teen (then called by his childhood name, Curly) when the Great Council of Teton Lakotas (Souix) took place at Bear Butte in the summer of 1857. It was here that he began to see the Lakotas as the same proud people as in the old days and to feel the power of their unity (Sandoz, pp 98-100). And it was here that Curly underwent an Inipi, or a purification ceremony, and had a great vision on the inclines of Bear Butte, which his father interpreted as meaning that Crazy Horse would one day be a great warrior (see Pluralism Project link below).
Violating a treaty of 1868, George Custer led an expedition to the Black Hills region in 1874, and according to custom he camped near Bear Butte. Custer verified the rumors of gold in the Black Hills, and Bear Butte then served as an easily identifiable landmark for the rush of invading prospectors and settlers into the region. Indian reaction to the illegal movements of whites into the area was intense and hostile. Ultimately the government reneged on its treaty obligations regarding the Black Hills and instead embarked on a pogrom to confine all northern Plains tribes to reservations. Incidentally, by taking Highway 79 to Rapid City, Dee and Cal avoided the Black Hills towns of Lead, Central City, Pluma, and Deadwood on US 85/385 that were the focus of the gold rush.
"The sacredness of Bear Butte as a religious site for the Lakota and a myriad of other native groups cannot be disputed. Legend and history, as well as the determination of the Lakota to defend Bear Butte today demonstrate the importance of mountain. The battle to protect Bear Butte is shaping up to be a battle between religious rights and property rights, coupled with the perceived need for economic development in South Dakota. Unfortunately, controversies involving the infringement of the religious rights of the Lakota have caused clashes between natives and those who do not see Bear Butte in the way of the Lakota and other Native Tribes." (The Pluralism Project)
I love reading Sandoz while Dee and Cal are traveling through this region.
Dee asked me to look up the elevation change for today's ride, which is gradually downhill the whole way with a 450 foot drop in elevation between Belfield and Watford City. That is, the whole way EXCEPT leaving the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Little Missouri River runs through the park creating a narrow valley. The uphill grade coming out of the valley is 4% for almost two miles. A "'Lordy, Lordy' hill" to quote Dee.
