#20 Bismarck,ND to Miles City, MT

# 20 Bismarck to Miles City

The sky held a smoky gray cloud cover over Bismarck. It didn’t smell of smoke! Was it just hazy? Was it fog or smog? Was it a typical overcast morning?  I don’t know.

The Missouri River sat beneath the gray hiding its shifting sand bars and hidden dangers under the surface that make navigating this river difficult.

As we left Bismarck, we stopped at the Flying J station for diesel and DEF.  With the RV refueled we headed west.

 The bright yellow fields, maybe canola, showed off their sunny glow on several farms.  The sun and cloud cover created a dappled effect on the fields.

Then the flat landscape begins to rise and turned into rolling hills.

Thirty miles west of Bismarck, Salem Sue looks out from a hilltop. The city of New Salem, ND lays claim to the largest Holstein in the world! Fiberglass “Sue” stands 38 feet tall.  She is 50 feet long and weighs in at 12,000 pounds. The New Salem Lions Club sponsored her to honor all the local dairy farmers.

The sun now shone brightly reflecting off the windmills scattered across the wind farm.  The farm houses give some perspective on how big the windmills really stand.  Around the town of Hebron we moved into the Mountain Time zone. It’s a bit spooky to have the clocks on the dash and on our phones reset at the exact moment we cross into the new zone. Interesting fact: North Dakota sits in two time zones.

Trains still transport goods like oil across the prairies.  Silos provide storage for crops.

These cows crowd the fence too, but at least they watched some of the traffic.

If you ever travel North Dakota, plan time to travel the Enchanted Highway.  You can reach one end of it off I-94 at Exit 72.  The sculpture of Geese in Flight is one of the many metal sculptures on the road and can be seen at this exit. We have traveled the road before and enjoyed it.

Dickinson is one of North Dakota’s biggest cities. Billboards line the entrance to town. It reminded me of the little signs before the small burgs of Canada, showing what is available.  Except their signs are small and sit back from the road. Dickinson signs are huge, billboards and next to the road. Tourist can be accommodated for gas stations, motels or fast food. A large police center also sits next to the highway.  

As we head out of town this rural scene came into view.

Dickinson experienced the oil boom of 2004.  Then OPEC increased its oil production and oil prices dropped. Of the 180 oil rigs drilling in 2014, only 27 remain operational today. This has resulted in severe economic uncertainty for this area.

Suddenly the rolling hills took on a Badlands quality.

We turned into a rest stop for lunch.  To our surprise this stop was actually inside the Teddy Roosevelt National Park.

We traveled over a cattle guard to enter the rest stop.  Just loved this sign!  But then there still are some stupid people among us who don't follow directions. The presence of bison can be seen in the amount of cow pies they leave behind here. We didn't see any actual bison in the area.

 This rest stop also includes the Painted Canyon Information Center.  The reader boards were full of information!

This was inside the center.

A viewpoint at the rear of the center gave us a beautiful view of a Badlands landscape! This is one of those places where photos don't do the sights justice.

I tried to get this sign, but you can only read parts of it.

As we went out to photograph the sign we noted an unusual sight. Horses were being taken out of their trailer and brushed. Apparently they needed a rest stop too.

We spent time enjoying the park before we headed out.  The Badlands here were definitely greener than the ones we viewed in South Dakota.  It may have been the time of year and the weather.  

Back on the road we crossed the Little Missouri River.

More  Badlands scenery.

I liked this sign.

Hello Montana!

Our destination for day was Miles City, Montana. 

Happy Birthday Lynn! 
Her kids had a bouquet with balloons sent to the campground. The flowers arrived just as we set up.  We went to dinner at the Black Iron Grill to celebrate Lynn’s birthday.  The campground recommended the restaurant, and found the food delicious!

On our way to dinner we passed Pine Hills. We searched for some history on the interesting sculpture in front of the facility, but found nothing. It looks like a dog, a minor? a cowboy? a medieval knight and an explorer????

The Yellowstone River flows around Miles City and continues to meander along I-94. We crossed it several times until it eventually turned south and to flow through Yellowstone National Park.