Montana Monday 4 August 2009

I can't believe it's already August. This morning we started off in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and then rode 95 miles to Culberston, MT. Last night, we camped there at the TRNP, and although it was 30 miles out of the way, I'm so very glad we did that. TRNP ("turnip") is amazing. Riding our bicycles out of the park, we saw bison. A herd of bison. We were on our bicycles. I stayed pretty far back, but it was still amazing. And the views were spectacular. I don't even know how to describe it. There are buttes partially covered with vegetation, but you can still see all the layers that they're made of. You can see time in these here hills. One butte had red lines regularly spaced, so it lookes like some repeated event happened every so often. I wish I knew a little more about geology. Oh well. There were more of these formations along our ride today, even along the banks of the Missouri river, which we crossed today. Not to mention we are now in the Mountain time zone. I've never been in the Mountain time zone before. Wow. For the most part "wow" is all I could think of today. Big sky out here, too. It's been quite some time that I've wanted to see this Big Sky Country. Montana is pretty awesome. You can see for miles and miles and then there are these formations rising up out of the land...these formations that are eroding away which gives them an ancient and rugged, yet fragile, beatuy. Each layer represents a period of history. In which layer did the dinosaurs live? What layer saw the Native Americans arrive on the continent? Which layer saw the Civil War? So much history in a pile of sandstone that is being washed away by the rain. Granted, that is taking thousands of years. Oh Montana, thank you for the best first impression ever.