Day 65 (July 20): Watford City to Kildeer, ND

Mileage: 57.8; 1,799 total

This was a somewhat uneventful ride, with the exception of a long climb (about 3 miles at about a 5% to 6% grade?) near the entrance to the northern section of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had never heard of this park before, and I only rode along its eastern border rather than entering it, but it is apparently a very beautiful park and an excellent place to go to "get up close" to buffalo.

On my ride south, alongside the park, I bumped into Josh and Natalie (I had met them a couple of days earlier, in Sydney) who were riding north. They had biked into the park to camp for a night, and thought it was a fantastic place, with buffalo within yards of their tent and lots of grunting from the males, because it was rutting season. They were headed north to Williston, to catch a train to Fargo in order to speed up their trip a bit, because they were running short of time.

In Kildeer I had been told that I would find a place to eat in Grassy Butte, about 30 miles south of Kildeer. Unfortunately, this place was closed on Sunday. I didn't miss the food much, because I was able to eat another bagel w/peanut butter, but I did have a serious need for more water. Grassy Butte only had a few buildings, but one was a community hall where a family was holding a reunion; the community hall didn't have running water, but the family had some large jugs of water and I was able to refil my water bottles there.

The motel in Kildeer was somewhat of a dump, but the owner was nice. He offered me the use of his pick-up to drive to the nearest restaurant, about a mile away. And the food at the Buckskin Cafe was suprisingly good.