Day Nine -- to Billings, MT

Keith's note: we're getting spotty web connection, so entries will be coming in fits and pauses for awhile

Day 9 – Medora, ND, to Billings, MT
What a blindingly bright morning in Medora! I stepped from our dark, wood-paneled motel room into the blazing North Dakota sun and thought my eyes would fall out. At 8 a.m. it was warm, too. We ate breakfast out of the back of the Teardrop about a half a block from our motel room; the kids played on an awesome wooden play structure built to resemble an old-west town while we poured cold cereal and served it up on tables nearby.
Since we checked into the motel, we noticed that the town seemed to be populated by an unusually large number of clean-cut, well-scrubbed, happy, 20-something youths – as if Medora had been taken over by the cast of Up With People. We found out today that most of the town is run by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, which bought up and began to rehabilitate a few of the hotels and motels in the 1960s, and is still going strong today with tourists outlets, restaurants and even a nightly country music spectacular – some kind of show all about the history of Medora – under its umbrella. So, most of the young people working the motel front desks and waiting tables by day are singing and dancing their little hearts out on stage at night. Keith got a kick out of this, as it brought back memories of his own summers spent playing in amusement park bands.
Our first stop after breakfast was the visitors center at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where Natalie signed up to be a Junior Ranger. She was given an activity book to complete as she toured the park, and when she brought it back at the end of the day, she was made an official Junior Ranger; after she recited a JR pledge, she received a badge and a pin. So exciting!
One of the requirements for the JR badge was taking park in a ranger-led program. So we listened in on a very interesting talk about Teddy Roosevelt and the time he spent in North Dakota, and took a brief tour of his tiny cabin. We learned a lot about T.R. and his transformation from kind of a sickly little rich kid to a gonzo outdoorsman, as gained a new respect for him. We especially appreciate his views on conservation, and the government’s important role in this – an idea that’s as timely now as it was then.
After our stop at the visitors center, we drove the 36-mile loop around the national park, stopping to take short hikes or to snap pictures at impressive overlooks. The dramatic rock formations in this rugged landscape really bowled us over. This is truly the Wild West. The kids enjoyed seeing wild horses and prairie dogs along our drive.
The drive, along with all of our Junior Rangering, took us a couple of hours. So we didn’t get on the road until almost 3 p.m. Destination: Billings, Montana.
At an interstate rest area about 70 or 80 miles into the trip we met up with our dopplegangers: a gold Honda Odyssey with a soft-sided Thule on top and a tent trailer bringing up the rear. The family – two parents and three kids maybe between 7 and 14 – had all gotten out at the Theodore Roosevelt overlook where we were having lunch earlier in the day. When we saw them again at the rest stop, we found out that they are from Ann Arbor, MI, and that they’re headed to Yellowstone, and that they plan to camp tonight in Billings, as well. We saw them again, about 100 miles later, at a gas station and figured we’d see them again in Billings, but we haven’t seen them yet.
Against our better judgment, we decided to stay at a KOA in Billings. Keith has some aversion to KOA, left over from his childhood RVing experiences. But I was curious. How bad can it be? We just needed a place to park our tent for the night. And this wasn’t just any KOA – it has the dubious distinction of being the Very First KOA Ever. So it’s got that going for it. We called ahead and made a reservation.
It may interest you to know that the rumors are true: The sky in Montana is exceptionally big. Why is that? One advantage to big sky is that you can see exactly what kind of weather you’re headed into. In our case, we saw huge dark clouds and giant bolts of lightning – the kinds that shoot straight down to earth in that electric, jagged shape.
We pulled into the KOA just as the wind was picking up. The spot that had been reserved for us happened to be in the middle of a family reunion. So we went back to the office and requested a different site. The next one didn’t have enough room for our tent. The third one, thankfully, had plenty of room, and was smack dab right next to the entrance. So we had fun serving as the welcome wagon for everyone else coming in that evening. We managed to get everything set up before the rain hit. So we threw the kids in the car and drove in torrential rain through Billings – which, as far as we can tell, is the armpit of Montana – in search of an Applebee’s; we had seen a sign for it on our way into town. By the time we got to the restaurant, it was after 9 p.m. local time. Our poor kids. If we decide at the last minute to extend our trip to Hawaii, it’ll be no problem, because they’re already functioning in that time zone.
After dinner, we went back to camp and threw the kids into their sleeping bags. It rained most of the night, but we all managed to stay dry.
Keith encouraged me to avoid the morning shower lines by taking one before bed tonight. I reluctantly gathered my stuff together and trudged through the rain to the shower building, steeling myself for an experience in one of those gross campground gang showers, for little privacy and wet floors covered with somebody else’s hair. What a surprise to find completely private shower *suites*, each one with its own sink, toilet, automatic air freshener and plastic plant-in-a-basket on the wall. What luxury! And what spectacular water pressure! This may have been one of the best shower experiences I can remember.