Logbook: The Hi-Line

Friday morning, KC and I left Eureka and drove south to Helena where I met my friend Greg who had flown in from Seattle to join me for an old-fashioned “road trip” along “The Hi-Line” -- The northernmost highway across Montana and North Dakota which more-or-less follows the trail of Lewis & Clark. So after spending the day driving SE through the “hilly” part of Montana, Macgellan got back in a car and started driving NE to the “flat” part of that immense state. About 200 miles later -- after stopping to eat in Wolf Creek and then to poke around the lovely town of Fort Benton -- we hit the Hi-Line (Highway 2) in Havre, MT. The local Super 8 Motel -- free (intermittent) wireless internet! -- was our home for the night.

In the morning (yesterday) we started the day with a brief internet check-in (Greg was a good boy and Skyped his wife back in Seattle) then had breakfast and headed out of town. The miles just fly by on the Hi-Line at the posted speed limit of 75 mph, and by the time we reached Culbertson -- 261 miles form Havre -- we figured we’d pretty much had the “Hi-Line experience” and decided to head southeast through the “badlands” -- or at least “not-so-good-lands”-- of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. What a drive! Miles upon miles of absolutely nothing! By about 6pm -- after 8 hours of driving -- we were ready to stop for the day and tried to find a room in Medora, ND, the “center” of the Park. Alas, no rooms were available so we headed east again, trying Dickinson, Richardton and Glen Ullin before finally finding a cheap, basic, “good enough” room in a roadside motel in New Salem. Needless to say, the place had no internet, so we got up this morning, drove here to Bismark and have found breakfast and an internet cafe. In a little while we will head east again, bound for Fargo, ND.