G is for 'Go Somewhere'

We’d been talking for months about doing a road trip again. The thinking was that if we didn’t plan too much in advance we could switch destinations at the last moment. We’ve experienced two vacations thrown off course by hurricanes so we think about “Climate Crisis Travel Strategies” before we leave town

On a crisp morning two weeks ago we backed out of our driveway, drove ten miles to get on I-94 going west and got back off the next evening at exit 27 - which leads into Medora, North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We stayed four days in Medora, a small tourist town with three restaurants that are open in the evenings. It also has one gas station that’s nearly always open and which sells granola bars, yogurt, bottles of juice, and souvenir stuffed animals for grandkids. I think we dropped $150 there and none of it was for alcohol (which they also have). We’d brought peanut butter and banana sandwich makings so we ate them once a day. Dinners were in the three restaurants.

We hiked each beautiful day. Temperatures in the 40’s in the morning but 70’s by noon. One day was so windy we couldn’t wear hats. We saw bison, prairie dogs, one big rabbit who didn’t want to move off our path – Len had to argue with it. We called the black and white crow guys ‘whiskey jacks’ until someone told us they are magpies. One bighorn sheep winked at me as we drove slowly by and several times, via binoculars, we saw herds of wild horses. Rocks were awesome, especially those cannonball concretions in the park’s north unit. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion

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Here are some of my thoughts now that I’ve been home a week.

ONE: When I drive by myself I listen to radio, music, or podcasts. When Len drives by himself, he does the same. But if we are in the car together we can’t listen to much of anything for more than 45 minutes or it will make us both bored and sleepy. Why? Does this happen to any of you? This it’s so weirdly unhandy. We talk a lot, often its uncommonly good conversation. But it sure would be nice if we could just plug in a book and listen to it a few hours.

TWO: Did you know prairie dogs dig ten feet deep? The prairie grasses the used to cover the west had roots that went down 6-8’. The prairie guys lived beneath those roots, interconnected their tunnels which aeriated the plains.. If success is having enough to eat and having family and friends close at hand, prairie dogs have figured it out. 

THREE: We went on one ranger-led hike. He used to design and built theater sets and I love a guy who can affect a career change like that. Also, I think he might have been somewhere in his 30’s and boy he hiked fast. After four miles up and down countless coulees and ridges in two hours, we were genuinely startled at how hard we can apparently hike and not get hurt. Two of the other folks on our hike were gym trainers and WE KEPT UP!

FOUR: The American West is so spectacular and gorgeous. Why do so many people who live in such beautiful places end up being so anti-anyone who is not like them? I would think that the morning sun and those wide, wide spaces, and the interplay of all those animals living in their world would make them feel small and grateful and welcoming. I know that, absolutely, all westerners are not one thing. But there’s enough of it that I wish I understood. Doesn’t wild natural beauty lead to generosity? 

FIVE: There is something pretty fine and humorous about being old, partnered people who suddenly spend hours outside together. Far from home, no to-do lists, not sure what we are doing now, not sure what we are doing next, going further than we usually go, ambling, talking, taking post-hike naps in the car with the window cracked open, laughing really hard at stupid things we can only half remember later. We never got to the end of two out of the five designated hikes we did.  Once because Len thought I knew what we were doing. Oh Len. And once because, I swear, the All Trails app is written by and for people who are 32 years old. I do not call them “stairs” if the height from one step to the next is three feet and there’s a canyon over the side. 

I feel sorry (sort of) for super privileged people who never get in a good enough car with a person they trust to travel too far to see something they haven’t seen before. And then come back with all those memories and laundry.