Well,
here
we
go
again,
heading
to the
blessed country
West,
first over the Laurentian Continental Divide
(separating eastern drainage north to Hudson Bay from
western rivers flowing south to the Gulf of Mexico),
hints
of
splendor
all
morning,
gradually
increasing
elevation,
a
stark
land,
approaching
the
and
the
Missouri
River,
renewing
an
measured
ascent
into
a
world
of
lakes,
boulders,
ridges,
and
buttes,
etc. --
undulating,
dipping,
snaking,
spreading
out,
lonely,
becoming
increasingly
semi-
arid,
despite
the
greenery,
by
now
in
aptly-named
Stark
County.
Finally
the
full
glory
of
the
land
bursts
upon
us
at
Theodore
Roosevelt
National
Park,
a.k.a.
the
Badlands
of
North
Dakota.
There's
time
to
walk
around
the
splendid
environs
of the
Painted
Canyon
Visitor's
Center
Marvelous!
The
road
goes
ever
on
through
the
southern
tier
of
the
preserved
land
north
of
Medora,
over
the
Little Missouri
River.
Onward
through
more
broken
country
of
glorious
cliffy
erosion
into
Golden
Valley
past
natural
ramparts --
hoodoos,
turrets,
scarps --
still
rising
poetically
to
the
Beach
Welcome
edifice,
and
over
the
Montana
border,
up
hill
and
down
dale,
eventually
hooking
up
with
the
Yellowstone
River,
and
following
its
cliff-
lined,
wending,
winding
valley
course,
a
last
stand
of
services
at
Miles
City
for
petrol.
Forthwith
back
on
the
roller
coaster,
upriver
along
increasingly
pine-
clad
ridges
and
side
canyons
to the fabled
Bighorn,
all
the
way
to
the
end
of
94,
with
storm
clouds
brewing,
connecting
to
90
and
greater
Billings,
where
the bottomlands borders are known as The Rims.
Another
Mexican
fiesta,
then
proceeding
to
settle
down
for
the
night,
looking
forward
to
more
beauty,
on
the
72nd day of spring, high down 3 to 81 (75 and 78 at the beginning and end of today's journey)...
