Moving on
Today was going to be all about the I-94. We wouldn’t normally drive long distances on the Interstate highway but today, the alternative wasn’t a realistic option. So here we were with almost a couple of hundred miles to travel with a couple of places to stop en route. A good road trip day, in fact.
To begin with, we were driving through the familiar, flat landscape and we looked out over the endless green, wondering what was growing there. Was it all wheat? Or were there other crops out there somewhere?
As we approached our first target for the morning, things began to get a little more rolling. There were small hills and trees which might have come as a surprise, had we not known the name of the small city ahead: Valley City. Known for a number of bridges, this small city is described as a favourite place to live in North Dakota.
Sure enough, our entry to the city was over a bridge.
We were aiming for the tourist office in this cream coloured building, about which we’d read something connected with “Rosebud”.
The boards here offered information about Rosebud, which was a railway carriage. So, where was it? I looked around in the hope of finding it, knowing that, even with my limited railway knowledge, what was in front of me was a caboose and not a carriage.
The answer was inside! There was Rosebud in the middle of the building, set up to show how it had been in the 1880s when it was used as a Superintendent’s Carriage. Really well done, with explanations alongside, we enjoyed taking a look through the windows to see what was what.
Around the other side of the carriage was a well constructed exhibit about agriculture in North Dakota and here we were able to find the answers to those questions we’d been asking just an hour or so ago.
More than wheat then! A whole range of crops grown in quantity in those extensive fields. Fascinating!
It was so interesting to read and learn about all of this - the Rosebud Tourist Office was about so much more than Valley City alone. In common with everywhere else we’ve been here too, the people were incredibly friendly and welcoming, happy to offer answers to our questions and make suggestions for other not-to-miss places, first of which was The Bridge.
The huge Hi Line Bridge was a must-see and as soon as we caught sight of it, we thought of it as a kind of equivalent to the Ribblehead viaduct at home. I had the same problem taking a photo of it too - it’s just too big! Fab-u-lous and as always with such bridges, far better seen from afar than crossing it on a train.
There was another place I wanted to see whilst we were here, Medicine Wheel Park. Devised and constructed in 1991 by a professor from the local university and his students, it’s a kind of lunar calendar along similar principles to Stonehenge. I began at the telegraph pole, discovering it to be the gnomon of a giant sundial. This morning, the sunshine was a little weak, so the shadow was fleeting, but it lasted long enough for me to catch a picture.
I climbed a small mound of stones in the hope of getting a better overview of the main stone circle, but just like the bridge we’d just come from, the stone circle was also too big for my little camera! Never mind, the circle is here and the larger stones are representative of the solar system. As if that was ever going to fit!?
The Medicine Wheel Park was close to the I-94, so in no time at all, we were back on our way again, heading for Jamestown, our next stop. Along the way however was another one of those small but important places. We’ve crossed the Continental Divide before, but a different one. This divide - the Laurentian Divide - was a new one for us.
On we went, another hour or so to Jamestown where we looked forward to seeing another local highlight.
Not all the buffalo were live however!
The world’s largest buffalo is actually a sculpture and we found him quite some time before we found our way into the National Buffalo Museum, for obvious reasons. He is enormous!
In the museum we learned why we now refer to them as “bison”, yet the centre is named after the buffalo (an outdated name for the same animal)
Standing on the viewing platform, we hoped for a sight of at least one of the local herd when we spotted a dark shape coming through the trees. In the next ten minutes a small group came wandering into view, for which we were grateful! Right on cue, because we were well aware of the last bit of our journey still to go.
A bit more progress on sock #1 then, the heel complete and we were almost there. Bismarck was on the signs and there wasn’t far to go. Another great road trip day then, with a variety of experiences and things to think about. As promised, a day of bridges, buffalo - sorry, bison - and we’re here in Bismarck.
