Sunday 30 September 2018
This morning it is 3.5 degrees C and not yet precipitating when we emerge from the tent. The sky, however, is dark and threatening. We stick to our “cold-rainy-snowy-day” contingency plan and drive 60+ miles back to Medora for a hot breakfast at the warm Cowboy Cafe. The place is really hopping and today, at 11 am, is the end of their season. After enjoying our pancakes and lots of fresh hot coffee we proceed to the Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. It’s about our only option for indoor entertainment today. The museum turns out to be quite interesting, especially the first floor exhibit on the Native American history of this area. This is essentially a litany of broken promises, broken treaties and abuse by the US government. There are also exhibits of beautiful bead work by Ojibway, Metis and Sioux peoples, and an overview of the importance of the horse culture to the plains tribes.
Another part of the museum tells brief tales of many immigrant settler families. It turns out Eric Sevareid of CBS commentary fame years ago, was the son of North Dakota settlers. There is also an explanation of how Texas cattlemen moved herds north to the Dakotas due to overgrazing in Texas. There are more tales of famous rodeo personalities.
By the time we leave the museum rain has arrived. We head for the Little Missouri Saloon for lunch so that we won’t have to cook dinner in the rain. Then we drive back to the Painted Canyon visitor center for the daily 3 pm geology lecture, only to find they ended after Labor Day. We walk around to peruse the displays one more time. I am amused to find the species name for Prairie Dogs: cynomys ludovicianus, dog mouse of Louisianna. Here at the visitor center the precipitation is a cold wet snow, happily not sticking to the ground.
We drive back to the North Unit and change clocks and watches to central time. The time zone border goes west to east, right across the southern boundary of the North Unit. South Unit is still on mountain time. May as well lose our hour today in the rain and be on the correct time for Tuesday’s travels.