Day 3: Melrose, MN to Lewiston, Montana
Left Melrose MN at 8:00 am. Finished up in Minnesota, continued through North Dakota and into Lewistown, Montana. North Dakota was flat farmland in the first half. Awesome visitor center in Fargo with cookies, internet access, and more. Terrain slowly turned into buttes, then into the dramatic Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we took a 1 mile loop hike to the canyon bottom. Saw several wild bison and a herd of wild horses and several wild turkeys on our way out. (More wildlife than in our 2 week trip to Maine). Weather scattered showers. Rainbow in Montana.
Montana terrain still with lots of buttes. Mostly ranchland, tumbleweed, grasslands. Few trees. Looks like the moon. Stopped in Circle for a fresh hamburger, steak, and strange looks from the locals which are all too familiar to us. We travel hundreds of miles without seeing a McDonalds, and the gas pumps here are from 1950. We fill up every time we’re less than ½ a tank and come into a town because they are so few and far between. The speed limit here is 75 on the interstates, but most of our travel today is on SR 200 West, which is a two lane (1 each direction) road without a shoulder, and often has steep dropoffs on either side without guardrails. The speed limit on this road (not limited access mind you) is 70 mph! Gained an hour again entering Mountain time zone. Mileage = 770.
