Day 12 Sept 8




It was chilly this morning something that I have come to expect,  However the smokey haze has cleared up.


Last night after dinner Dianne could see the local DQ and we walked over for a treat.  On the way out we saw a Sport Outlet store so went to check it out.  They had new wind breakers that looked a lot better than our old ones.  They were only $20 so we each bought a new one.  They are wind proof so the ride was warmer today than yesterday.  In my opinion it was worth the investment.


We left on Hwy 10 and passed through the town of Taylor which looks like an old route 66 town.  That I guess is why they call Hwy 10 in North Dakota and Hwy 139 in South Dakota the grandmother road.  It was the main way west before route 66.  Then we pasted through Richardson with a large refinery, to Helena, than came New Salem and finally ending in Mandan just across from Bismarck SD.  All the small towns had a variation of the same sign which in part read, “In 1872 as part of the Yellow Stone expedition to control the Sioux.  Custer past some miles (north south east or west) of here. ….ending in the Little Big Horn.”  


When reached the town of Mandan we went south before checking into the hotel to see Fort Abraham Lincoln on the Missouri River.  This state park has a rebuild part of a Mandan village on the site that was occupied from about 1500 to 1750. by the Mandans.  They had a village surrounded by a moat 15 ft wide. and deep, and palisade about. 15 ft high. The village on a Slant had 75 log and mud lodges that each had 12-15 people in them.  If you do the math that means this site had a population of more than 750 people a lot in that time.  They were both farmers and hunters.  They did play a lot games with tokens and sticks, hoops and balls as well  the traditional hunting gear.  I would imagine this is needed during the long cold winters.  


In addition to the Indian Village they have rebuild parts of Fort Abraham Lincoln.  This was the home of the 7th Calvary and 6th infantry group. Build shortly after the civil war the main purpose of the fort was to defend the surveyors for the railroad and settlers arriving to the area from. the local people. that were here forever before we white people arrived.  This was the posting for Custer from which he left to control the Sioux  around the Yellow Stone river.  


Other notes:

  • We parallel I94 there is little traffic on the back roads we rode on again today:
    • 15 transport trucks
    • 28 pickups
    • 17 cars
    • 2 motorcycles 
  • Saw on water bottle on the side that I counted as trash today
  • Crops are. here saw in decreasing order:
    • Hay Lots and Lots of hay
    • corn is spreading
    • Wheat (note not sure wheat should be after Corn it was tough call)
    • Sunflowers
    • Rapeseed (I think could be soya)
    • Again tons of free range beef (note Beef is not crop so I did not try to rank in the crops)
  • Saw a train pulling 125 cars full of coal
  • Custer's home in the fort looks really cool
  • Not sure I would want to live the life of either an Army or Calvary in the 1800s














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