The great plains are grueling. Arduous. Taxing. Sometimes vexing. Even tranquilizing. The lack of things to look at make me sleepy.
I knew this going into this "Big Trip" and I try to remind myself. The howling wind in my ears, the gusts blowing me either off the road or into traffic. It's non-stop. Hours of it. For hundreds of miles.
Reminding myself helps keep me on track. Not ALL of this trip will be this way, I remind myself, this is only temporary.
To be honest, most of Saga 1 will be this way. From Minneapolis to Edmonton, I'm going to be crossing the flat vast expanses of the plains in both the US and Canada. After that it's the arctic, which will have its own unique challenges. More on that later. Focus on now, Jimbo.
My motorcycle, Lechuza, is quite the conversation starter. Around the South Dakota border, a man pulled up on an old Kawasaki and noticed I was wearing all my gear. Boots, pants, jacket, gloves, helmet, the whole nine. He complimented me on it, complimented on my bike, then just got to yapping. I must be very disarming to talk to, because a few people along the way have been open enough to tell me their politics. It must be my Aryan complexion.
The Kawasaki rider told me that he was moving out of South Dakota because it had gotten "Too Liberal" for him, and his favorite riding highways were in New Zealand even if President Jacinda Ardern "was a thug". He claimed his "house burned down in the riots in Minneapolis" and vaccine mandates were "oppressive".
Trust me, I did nothing but nod and smile. It's interesting how much people will tell you if you just let them talk. You might also be wondering how he jumped from riots, to vaccines, to New Zealand, to South Dakota. I honestly don't remember how. That's just how soap boxes work sometimes.
I can't lie, it feels pretty cool to roll up to a gas station with my whole life strapped to the bike. Lechuza isn't to hard to look at either, but it makes me feel like I'm out of some "80s badass genre" movie when a worker truck full of 20-somethings gawks at the gear. People at the gas stations are polite, and I've struck up random conversations more than once with strangers.
After some 800 miles from home, I arrived at the Teddy Roosevelt National Park just before closing. I really lucked out because all of the first-come-first-serve campsites were taken. There was luckily ONE site open from someone who didn't fulfill their reservation and I booked it. Afterward, we had a hell of a plains lightning storm that filled the river next to me, also turning the campsite to mud. Apparently the region has been getting more than it's fill of rain this year. It's not too common for badlands geography at that.
Upon leaving the next day to get a look at Medora, the gateway town to the park, I stop to take some pictures at a vista when a man pulls up next to me. We get to talking about Long Distance Motorcycle YouTubers such as Itchy Boots and Billmaa. He comments on the gear. After some talking we decide to go get breakfast together. Turns out he's been doing some solo travelling too and he tells me much of his story. He's further along in life, late 60s, and was happy to see that I was doing my trip at such a young age. In fact, I've heard that more than thrice on this journey so I must be doing something right?
The conversation then turned to politics again. I promise, I didn't bring it up! But where we found common ground we expanded on it, and where we disagreed we discussed our reasoning. We didn't agree on everything, but this man and I were able to disagree without dehumanizing each other. In a political landscape constantly torn asunder by 24-hour news media and echo-chamber Facebook pages and websites, it was good to feel the face-to-face connection with a stranger. Those kind of exposures are essential to mending the divide we face as a nation.
I'm not even going to be in the US for long. Canada is on the horizon to the north, so I'm sitting here writing instead of preparing. I'm on the back patio of a community center using free wifi and an exterior electrical outlet no doubt used for Christmas lights.
I feel like this is droning on so I'll finish up- Teddy Roosevelt National Park is divided into 3 units: the foundation of his ranch, and a northern and southern unit. I'm camped at the South Unit that comes complete with an interpretive center for historical lectures and a nature loop. The North Unit is a staggering 2.5 hours to drive, round-trip, from here. It's much more scenic of a drive, with breathtaking vistas and a herd of buffalo.
I got a lot of other stuff to get to today before a few hikes so I'm leaving it here. More Later!
JT - 7/8/2022