Day 27– June 30 – Glendive, MT to Medora, ND – 62 Miles

We stayed last night at the Super 8 motel in Glendive.  The campground where we wanted to stay was closed so we opted for something near the interstate.  We got our earliest start today in effort to beat the heat.  We rose at 5:00 AM thinking we might be ready to leave by 6:00, after grabbing a few things from the continental breakfast. We didn’t get out of town until just before 7:00.

Our ride today was entirely on I-94.  Adventure Cycling Association charted the route partially on the interstate as well as parallel sections of “Old Route 10”.   The first 9 mile portion was on I-94.  The shoulder was wide, the surface reasonable and the wind was at our back.  We covered the portion quickly.  When we came to our turn off to take “Old Route 10”, we stopped to evaluate the situation.  We readily decided we liked what we were on better than the unknown, so we continued on I-94 all the way to our destination, Medora, ND.

The ride went quickly as we were able to maintain a good cadence even on uphill grades.  We arrived at the Medora Campground at about 12:30 PM even after stopping for photos at the North Dakota State Line, and lunch at the Subway in Beach, ND.

I was asked today if it was scary riding on the interstate.  I can say that with the consistent wide shoulder, and long site lines it is quite a bit less stressful than a 2 lane highway with no shoulder, and cars and trucks zipping by at the same speeds.  Of course the scenery is often less appealing on the interstate vs a rural two lane, but for today’s ride we opted for the convenient rather than the scenic.

As we rode today, we saw dramatic changes in the scenery.  From the rangeland in Montana, the landscape transitioned into one of hills with very defined conical shapes.  Old volcanoes ? Finally the landscape transitioned into the “Badlands” of North Dakota and the Little Missouri National Grasslands.

Arriving early has its benefits as well.  We settled into camp and took showers.  I did laundry while Joe work on his AP Chemistry summer work.  This evening we walked to historic Medora for supper.  The city pool is near the entrance to the campground, and seems like a logical place to spend at least part of our rest day.