Showing posts with label North Dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Dakota. Show all posts

Friday, January 28, 2011

In 1976...

...when I retired from the Navy, I was driving from Virginia Beach to Seattle.  I was driving a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon (remember those).  Just outside of Medora, North Dakota the car overheated, the air temperature was over 100 degrees,  we were stuck on the side of Interstate 94, maybe 15 miles from town.  Someone stopped and drove me to a garage in Medora, they had a tow truck and we went back for the car.  When we got back, it was closing time, not to matter they said, they stayed open to repair the car.  The owner took my wife and two children to his house, his wife fed them and tried to find a room for the night - because it was July, and the Park was full of tourists there were no available rooms.

My car was quickly repaired, and he was putting together the bill.  He knew I had just retired from the Navy, and what with selling back vacation (leave) time and all, I did have a "bit" of money on hand.
When he handed me the bill I was SHOCKED, for towing, repair and "entertaining my family" the grand total (drum roll please) was.......$21.00!  I'm sure my good friend Glen who lives in that fine State won't be surprised.  That started or intensified my appreciation of the State of North Dakota, and Medora,  home of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Lots of hills


A river run through


...and the buffalo roam


and, they have winter


Monday, September 6, 2010

After he...

..was a Rough Rider, Theodore Roosevelt had a ranch,
out in North Dakota, it's still here, and not by chance.
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park, it's named;
and that is not by chance.  He founded the system, for him it's framed.


These are the cattle, raised on his ranch,
the Dakota Territory was alive, on the Little Missouri branch;
out here in the Badlands, western part of the state,
the lands are still bad, but the scenery's great.
This is an overlook, you can see what the lands about,
cowboys and cattle, could get in and out,
it's hot in the summer, and there ain't much shade,
and real cold in the winter, one never 'has it made'.
You might find a nest of Eagles, high up on the cliff, lucky you!
On the banks of the Little Missouri River, as it winds through;
the river provides the water, an element needed first,
for the wildlife and the cattle to quench their thirst.
There's the river winding, you know it's headed south,
eventually it'll end up, in the Mississippi Deltas' mouth;
it's a long, eventful ride if we were to go that far,
might be a good idea, now that "rivers" are made for a car.
So, while we ponder that, as the sun sets in the west,
maybe we should have been cowboys, as the life we loved the best.
We could ride the range with horses, lasso a cow or two,
or, we could be, here and now...just like me and you.

Enjoy!