Day 26. Medora, rest day

The night’s thunderstorm had cleared by the time I woke up, and my tent had performed admirably. More on that in another technical post, but in short I had no water inside, and I wasn’t stressed about the wet tent because I didn’t have to pack it up, and it would dry in the sun on its own.

I woke at my usual 5 and went to pee, catching this lovely morning mist.

Then, realizing I didn’t have to be anywhere, I got back in my cozy sleeping bag and drowsed until nearly 7. Such a luxury!

I was still having trouble shaking The Mood, feeling like I was trying to get through tour rather than digging being on tour. I puttered around for a bit organizing myself, texting with Andrew, and thinking through the day. I’d heard from a couple of people, including Jo, the westbound cyclist I’d met the previous day, that Teddy Roosevelt National Park was packed, and indeed as I’d come into Medora I’d seen it.

Figuring the whole reason I’d ridden the extra couple of miles (and big hills) was to stay in a quieter state park, I decided to go for a hike on the Maah Daah Hey trail, a 144+ mile mountain bike, equestrian, and hiking trail that starts in the park. I didn’t really feel up for it, but figured I’d go through the motions and see if I could get out of my head.

It was gorgeous, and I did. Warning: rhapsody-level number of photos coming.

I saw two other people the whole time I was out, a couple of women headed back down, one of whom was complaining that her husband had told her to go out for a walk because it was a gorgeous day. The rest of the time it was buttes and grasses and river and sky. It was grand, and I loved all the flowering plants finding a way.

Back at camp, I called mom while charging things in the (absolutely outstanding, shout out to Sully Creek!) shower house and had a heart-lifting chat. Then I rode into town for a burger and fries and provisions. I parked myself at a table at the same bar & grill in town and ignored the July 4 parade while I people-watched, wrote some posts, and did some planning. The server couldn’t locate an outlet outside, but offered to take my power block inside to charge while I ate. My goodness.

Fed and provisioned, I climbed back to the campground, feeling pretty okay about that now that I realized that aside from two steep climbs it was actually a downhill slide into town for my departure in the morning. Knowing it was supposed to start raining late morning with heavy winds—but feeling emotionally more equipped to handle it—I made myself as ready as I could for a 5 a.m. departure and hit the sack in my fully dry tent. Sully Creek ftw, y’all.