Western North Dakota is home to Theodore Roosevelt National Park where Teddy himself used to own much of the land.

Here you can find wild horses, buffalo and prairie dogs along the banks of the Little Missouri River. We saw one horse up close. I think he was waiting for someone to hand an apple out their car window.

We took a short hike up a bluff and snapped a couple photos of the area.

I also got a shot of a rock formation that looks like a ghost to me.

You have to look closely at these photos to see a prairie dog, buffalo and wild horses.

As we drove into Montana the sky was looking big so I took a photo out the windshield.

At Makoshika State Park in the badlands of eastern Montana we found one of the best camping sites that we've ever stayed at. Just behind the van there was a small shelf or plateau with180 degrees views overlooking the gorge below.

The weather was perfect. We were the only people there. It was Friday night. We were so far north that it stayed light until well after nine.

We made a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner with a nice wine.

Lorri takes one last look over the edge.

Day 16, Saturday, June 20, 422 miles, 7383 total

Pompey's Pillar national Monument is just off I-94. This is where William Clark carved his name in the sandstone in 1806 and is the only physical evidence of the Expedition that still exits. It's sort of hard to see and harder to photograph. The second photo from the right is a replica and the photo on the far right is the actual carving, protected from the elements and vandals by a glass enclosure.

The top of the "pillar", as noted in the Lewis and Clark journals, offers excellent 360 degree views. The river is the Yellowstone River which I think has its headwaters in Yellowstone National Park and flows northeasterly and easterly across southern Montana into North Dakota where it joins the Missouri.

Just past Billings we got off the Interstate and on to US 212, a "shortcut" down to Yellowstone. On the way we drove over the Bear Tooth Pass, a spectacular route that takes you over the spine of the Rockies and approaches 11,000 feet. Unfortunately the weather had turned cool, rainy and nasty so we didn't get very many good photos.

Many of them were taken out the side window or through the windshield. We were still in shorts, tee-shirts and flip flops from the morning.

We were way up above the tree line and there was still plenty of snow.

Apparently this pass had just recently opened for the summer. I'm glad it wasn't much colder. Otherwise the rain would have been snow!

Yellowstone National Park

We made it to Yellowstone late Saturday afternoon of Fathers Day weekend but, according to the Ranger and the signs there were still spaces at some of the campgrounds. We did a drive-by shot of a buffalo and soon afterward were stopped at a mini-traffic jam while a couple old cows ambled across the road.

Here are some more buffalo. All the campgrounds were full. It was cold and rainy. All the lodges were booked solid. It was getting dark. Finally at one of the bigger campgrounds I went into the office to plead with them to let us park somewhere for the night. Luckily, while I was standing there discussing the options (he was handing me a list of hotels and campgrounds outside the Park, hours away) with the agent, three sites were released due to cancellations. We got one of them and spent a happy night listening to the rain on the Sportsmobile roof.