Medora, this small (real small) town in North Dakota, is a place I have wanted to return to since we came in the 1970's. Maybe it is a bit of a tourist thing, but it is nice. The entrance to the South portion of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a portion of the Badlands, is here.
We took the scooter thru the park on the loop road. Amazing scenery!
I know I use that word a lot, but it never ceases to amaze me what God has done. Some of the formations look like they have been leveled off with a bulldozer, but it is not done by man. This is the Badlands and the French were definitely right in calling it "bad lands to cross" (I am not a french scholar, so you get this in English). Without any imagination, you can see where a person or even a group could get lost and never figure out where they are. In the old cowboy movies, the bad guys always headed for the badlands. Trust me, that's how they got away never to be seen again in "these here parts".I really like it here. The weather on Wed was really nice, thus the scooter ride. Thur has been rainy and overcast.
On our ride, we saw several prairie dog towns. I think they are larger than the town of Medora. The prairie dogs scamper all over. We saw one man and his daughter trying to coax one to come to them. Of course there are signs everywhere telling you to stay away from the wildlife. (Even one asking that we not feed the prairie dogs) I guess the dogs just looked hungry and not wild.
We came across a lone buffalo (well off the road) who was just rolling around in the dirt. I guess scratching his back. It is weird seeing something that huge and, seemingly top heavy, rolling around having a good time just like Traveling Dog does. We were tickled that we saw the wild buffalo, figuring it might be the only one. 
Then we saw a small herd just off to the left of the road and thought we'd really it the jackpot. Little did we know! As we came around a curve and topped the hill there right in front of us was a small herd. I do mean "right in front" as in,
they were blocking the road! Yep, just meandering around - like,"we're bigger than you and we were here first." They were exactly right and we were not going to argue with them! So, we waited them out. There were only 4 or 5 cars (and 1 scooter) stacked up on our side, but the other side had quite a lineup before it was all over. While we were there is was obvious that a couple of the bulls had picked out cows to try and impress, they sound real tough, but look funny with their blue tongues hanging out while they roar.We waited about 50 minutes for them to clear. It would have been longer, but there came a point where the only ones on the road were small ones; so a person in a red pickup with a brush guard, like that would help against a bull buffalo, started inching up trying to "herd" them off the road. At one point, it looked like they might just walk down the road ahead of the truck. This made me feel just a little uneasy, since they were headed right at us, so we got on the scooter and TM started it up for a fast get away. Fortunately a lane opened up we would fit through, but we'd sat there to the point that TM had gotten just a little crazy, because as we were leaving I could have reached out and touched a lone bull standing by the side of the road eyeing us closely, but I didn't and he left us alone as we rode out of sight. Whew!
they were blocking the road! Yep, just meandering around - like,"we're bigger than you and we were here first." They were exactly right and we were not going to argue with them! So, we waited them out. There were only 4 or 5 cars (and 1 scooter) stacked up on our side, but the other side had quite a lineup before it was all over. While we were there is was obvious that a couple of the bulls had picked out cows to try and impress, they sound real tough, but look funny with their blue tongues hanging out while they roar.We waited about 50 minutes for them to clear. It would have been longer, but there came a point where the only ones on the road were small ones; so a person in a red pickup with a brush guard, like that would help against a bull buffalo, started inching up trying to "herd" them off the road. At one point, it looked like they might just walk down the road ahead of the truck. This made me feel just a little uneasy, since they were headed right at us, so we got on the scooter and TM started it up for a fast get away. Fortunately a lane opened up we would fit through, but we'd sat there to the point that TM had gotten just a little crazy, because as we were leaving I could have reached out and touched a lone bull standing by the side of the road eyeing us closely, but I didn't and he left us alone as we rode out of sight. Whew!
This old bull was bellowing the entire time we were there, but the cow he was keeping from the rest of the herd didn't seem to care much.
These three stuck together as he tried to encourage her, and she tried to run the calf off.
Just a nice overview of the entire scene.
They just kept walking back and forth across the road, with the bulls taking turns rolling in the dust on the right side of the road.
Since we had left TD in the trailer we only stopped once after this little event, so I took pictures from the back of the scooter as TM rolled along at 25 or 30 mph. All in all a great day. Just before we left the park we saw another lone bull, this time laying up on a ledge like he owned the park, sure wish I'd been able to get a shot of him.
Our last stop, the weather was starting to go bad and TD had been cooped up for quite a while.
God Bless
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