Fort Peck to Fort Buford

8/5/2019

The day began with phone calls to Progressive and Safelite in order to schedule a windshield replacement. Looks like Minnesota will be a good place to stop and have it done on our way east.

Fort Peck had a good campground and we enjoyed the night there. The town itself has a theatre, a hotel, and a dusty Bison pasture.

Bison weren't the only large mammals wandering the pasture.

After a short drive east, we stretched our legs at the Wolf Point, MT Amtrak Station where we were the only souls around.

Grain Silos and the railroad station are why the town is here.

By noon we were in Culbertson, Montana where their museum  has the slogan "Where the west begins." With a couple of museums on our agenda later today, we elected to skip this one.

Intrigued by this house on wheels, we still aren't sure if it was an early travel trailer or just a way to transport a historic structure across the museum grounds. That's what we get for not stopping.

1356 marked the time when we crossed into North Dakota completing the 635 mile trek across the beautiful state of Montana.

Near Fort Union, ND  we passed an oil train with one hopper car on the tail end. We wondered if it is placed there for safety reasons. It might provide a little buffer if the train is rear-ended.

Our first stop in North Dakota was the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site.

Active between 1828 and 1867, the trading post was one of the busiest on the Missouri river. Seven different tribes traveled here to trade with the American Fur Company.

The area has attracted artists who captured the local wildlife like this one by Karl Bodmer.

The National Park Service has done a fine job of restoring the facility and displaying some of what life was like here in the 1800's.

Our evening stop was at Fort Buford State Historic Site and Campground.

The historic site sits at the strategic confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.  This is the house where Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881.

"I surrender this rifle to you, through my young son, who I now desire to teach in this manner, now that he has become a friend of the american people. I wish to teach him the habits of the whites and to have him educated as their sons are educated. I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man in my tribe to surrender my rifle..."

After dinner, we walked to the confluence where the Yellowstone could be seen meeting the Missouri.

A $5 fee covers entrance to both the Confluence Center museum and Fort Buford.

On the return walk we passed the rusted bones of an old steam shovel.

We were one of only two couples relaxing under the shade of a few trees on the edge of this field. Tenting and RV camping is free for up to 4 nights.

Our evening walk was to the Buffalo Soldier Monument. This Riderless Horse metal wire mesh statue is a tribute to the 9th Calvary soldiers "that will never again ride these prairies."

Walking back to the campground with the sun low in the sky, it was easy to see what inspired the verse "amber waves of grain."

Today's drive from fort to fort.