Buffalo or Bison?

He's a biggin isn't he?

Read Tuesday's trip post below. I'll get more photos up later.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Biker

So my nose has spent so much time in the sun that when I take my shades off there's this fat white line on the bridge of my nose which only makes the rest of the thing look large, odd, and very red.

Who knew I would be such a geological explorer? Here I am at the Geological Center of the United States. So on this trip I've crossed the 45th Parallel, been to the Geological Center of North America, and on the next day been to the Geological Center of the U.S. of A. Damn this is fun. I should get a subscription to National Geographic magazine.

So the day started off a little slowly. I had a bit of trouble finding my way properly out of Williston. I missed a turn off for US-85 South, made a U-turn only to miss the damn turn off again (I was looking for it the second time, but the sign wasn't clear as to where to turn). So after that I was on my way. And again, who knew, I found myself on the Lewis and Clark trail. The weather was great, blue skies and not a cloud in sight.

Just as I was getting a little bored with the plains (and I have to say here that I was a little depressed this morning when I rolled out and the desolate terrain wasn't helping), the landscape changed as I headed south, from flat plains to rolling hills and buttes. A bit further down the road, I saw Black Angus cows, fantastic looking horses and even my first Buffalo! (see photo above).

In the afternoon the blue sky seemed to deepen in color and with the brilliant white clouds with flat bottoms and puffy tops, it felt like I was on the ocean floor looking up at an armada of white ships. When I looked directly up in the sky I could see the cloud forms moving, turning in on themselves. I tried to capture some of it in a photo, but it's not something I'm used to photographing. I take pictures of buildings and alleyways with slashing shadows ... small places in cramped cities. I'm not used to wide open spaces, I don't know how to position myself and the camera (plus, my camera with it's tiny video-viewfinder is not good for this type of photography). I'd have to be Ansel Adams to do this kind of landscape justice in a photograph (I thought of him a lot today).

So even though I didn't get a good photo of it, I saw it and lived with it all day long, it lives in my memory and of course, it's always out there for anyone to see. I wonder if you grow up out here, do you get bored with the sky? "Hey Frank, look at that cloud over there ..." And Frank replies, "You seen one cloud you seen 'em all," as he turns on the TV.

After lunch (a bison burger and fires), I got back on US-85 and kept going south. A strong wind blew out of the west for a few hours as I approached the state line. The wind was so strong I had to lean into it just to keep the bike straight. But the landscape just kept getting better.

320 miles or so and I was in the fabulous Black Hills of South Dakota. I'm here in Deadwood (the town the HBO show is modeled after - of course it looks nothing like that now, in fact it's your standard fare tourist town with the added attraction of video gambling), at the Thunder Inn in a nice room with WiFi and a king size bed (why are most motel rooms outfitted with 2 double beds? Are Ricky and Lucy expected?). I've recited the 7 dirty words you can't say on TV in honor of the copious cursing the show is famous for (but no one here talks that way anymore - at least not to tourists).

The plan for tomorrow is to do some sightseeing. I've booked the room for 2 nights, so I'll be based out of Deadwood, but touring Rushmore, Sitting Bull and the Badlands NP tomorrow, then holing up here for the night and rolling out Thursday for Cody, WY. If the weather holds it should be a lot of fun.

Last thing - back in Grand Forks, ND I saw a billboard that just read SMILE. A little later was another that read BE GRATEFUL. Much later I saw a third that read HAVE A GREAT DAY. There was nothing other than those words, it wasn't an ad for anything I could figure. The best though was in a small town called Alexander, ND (pop. 213). There was a billboard with the Ten Commandments. As the speed limit in town was only 25 mph, I didn't need to slow down too much to read the board, but read I did because I thought it was a goof, like the commandments would be "buy beer" or "eat at Joe's", something funny. But this is god-fearing country (and I think I understand why) and the board was a serious thing.

It's funny out here.