Riding the Prairies

We left Moose Jaw and rode south to cross the border. We had decided to head south from Canada to avoid bad weather further east and then continued south east for the same reason. Riding the Prairies has its own challenges – not the least of which is overcoming the boredom - because more often than not, riding in the prairies means long, long straight roads and flat land. The road kill was interesting though. We have seen elk, raccoons, a porcupine, snakes, a coyote, several skunk and a number of unidentifiable critters. Northern Montana and North Dakota are both experiencing an oil boom right now and there seems to be drilling or pumping stations everywhere, and this part of the country has wide open spaces and cowboys. It is also the part of the country explored by Lewis and Clark with the help of Sakakawea – a young Shoshone Indian woman.

After crossing back into the USA at a very quiet border post, we visited three forts in the mid west – Fort Peck, in Montana and Forts Union and Buford, both in Montana. Fort Peck is an area created by the US Army Corps of Engineers who built the largest earth dam in the mid west (if not the entire USA). Fort Peck Dam straddles the Missouri River not too far from the source and from it, generates hydro power. Fort Union was a trading post that promoted trade between the settlers and the local Indians. Originally, it was right on the banks of the Missouri where a river steamer would dock once a year. Nowadays, the Missouri has altered its course and is now about a kilometre from the fort. Fort Buford was also a trading post but also housed a company of US Army soldiers – both infantry and cavalry. Fort Buford is famous for being the place Chief Sitting Bull surrendered. Little Big Horn is in north-west Montana but we were already east of it when we entered the USA so did not get to visit.

The weather east was still looking dubious so we rode to Bismark, the state capitol of North Dakota. Again, most of the ride was through prairie land though as we approached Bismark, we entered some hills which were really scenic. After talking to some other bikers along the way, we realized that we were quite close to Mt Rushmore so decided to head that way. It meant heading west again – another prairie crossing and Jenny was getting pretty bored with these very long journeys. This one was different though, as you’ll see below.

We decided to ride to Sturgis, South Dakota (yes, hog country!) via one of the scenic by-ways. The scenery here was stunning – grand vistas, roaming buffalo herds, all manor of wildlife, great roads … actually we are lying. The first 70 miles or so (two hours riding) we were in pea soup fog and lucky to see 100 metres in any direction. The Navman once again proved its worth and for the most part, we were riding IFR (Instrumentally Following Roads) as opposed to the usual VFR (Visually Following Roads), as Ric used the rolling map function to see where the road went. Along the way, we stopped at what was the original burial place of Sitting Bull. While this site is marked, it is a simple monument and we did not linger as we were being eaten by giant mosquitoes. It turns out that relatives of Sitting Bull disinterred him from this site and removed him to another location further south. We managed to visit this site also which is just outside Mobridge, South Dakota. Thankfully we were out of the fog so were able to take in the vista at this more substantial monument to him – and to Sakakawea. From these two monuments, we had a journey following a road that was more than 200 miles long and seemed to have only three bends in it to arrive in Sturgis. It was long day – only 380 miles but it felt longer.