The Betterlands

Having loved our arrival and previous night in Medora we felt that it deserved more than the cursory glance we had given most of the other cities and towns we had stayed in. To tell the truth we were a little hungry and hoped to get a good breakfast that could sustain us most of the rest of the day since we would be on the road as soon as we were done at the park. Our hunger was satiated at a local place called the Cowboy Cafe.

If you want authentic, small town atmosphere this is definitely the place. A small space about the size of a modern college coffee house this place was completely full with a few people waiting for a table. The walls were not covered in the manufactured paraphenalia most of us are accustomed to. Each wall was floor to ceiling full of wooden framed photographs of local ranchers/cowboys. The frame had the name of the person or people in the picture and underneath had the brand associated with their ranch. The booth we were sitting in was all wood slats and the uppermost slat of the backrest was decorated in the brands of the local ranches. This was similar to the brands found on the walls of the pizza place we had had dinner at the night before. These people are fiercely proud of their own and with good reason. Two Medorans were about to be inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and not for riding a bull either. So much history, so authentic.

Our final stop in Medora was something we had driven by the night before and were very curious to know more about. In the middle of a grassy field there is a very tall brick chimney standing as a solitary sentinel of a bygone era. It turns out that the chimney was the smokestack of the Marquis de Mores failed slaughterhouse/meat processing plant. The plant was finished in 1883 and was abandoned three years after it opened when the winter of 1886 ruined not only the Marquis' foray into ranching, but Teddy's also. Near the turn of the century it burned to the ground. Today is it on the National Register of Historic Places and you can see the cornerstones of several other buildings in addition to a display containing the blueprints for the entire operation.

Teddy Roosevelt National Park was very much like the Badlands except that it was much greener. Additionally we were able to see Teddy's, very small by today's standards, cabin he had built when he bought a stake in the Maltese Cross Ranch. It does not stand in it's original location, but that is probably due to the fact that the Maltese Cross Ranch is still a working ranch in the area. The cabin itself is three small rooms -- a kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom. Most cabins of the day were one big room in an attempt to conserve heat, but apparently Teddy liked his privacy and so required that the bedroom be sectioned off. Quaint to say the least it was cool to see the simplicity which one of our former presidents preferred to his life in the big cities. There is much to admire in the life of President Theodore Roosevelt.

It has gotten to the point where the long drives are not as much fun. We're done with the national parks that we were going to visit and now we're on the home stretch. We plan on visiting a few big cities and watching some baseball. I'm excited to check some more major league stadiums off my list.

And finally, your bison of the day: