Buffalo South Dakota

Bob had a good ride to Buffalo of 21 miles with no mishaps, but his back is still niggly, and he's got a cold now. Poor chappie!

He's staying at the fairground, and had corralled the horses and set up his bed in a garage. Wally Stephens from the Nation's Center News arrived to interview him, so I'm hoping that he will let me know the web site for the interview and perhaps forward a photo or two. Bob is resting in Buffalo for two nights.

I must thank Jerry Krogh for kindly getting him some hay and oats for the horses, as well as the sheriff's deputy for doing the same.

Bob had gone to the local cafe for some food and was just settling down when Wally arrived and announced that he was sleeping at their place. So , once he had finished eating, Wally kindly ferried him back to the fairground, packed his gear and lo and behold a comfy bed was had for two nights. Better than sleeping on a table as he was going to do!

He had a very enjoyable stay with Wally and Linda Stephens who took him to his first Baseball game. I must ask him how it went. Whilst he was in Buffalo he also gave two talks to the local school children. I think he's getting to be a bit of a celebrity!

He left Buffalo on 28 August, and had only got 7 miles down the road, and who should turn up but Linda Stephens, with food and drink for him. Later on again, she drove out at 2 o'clock with dinner for him. I can't thank Wally and Linda enough for their kindness, especially for putting themselves out so much to make sure he was fed.

Whilst he was riding along a car pulled up, and a lady got out and said "Hello Bob I've been following your blog site. I'm Sharon Moline's cousin" ( he stayed with James and Sharon at Williston at the beginning of his ride) I e-mailed Sharon to tell her, and she said she was meeting her cousin this weekend for the first time in about 20 years. What a small world it is.

His next stop was about 25 miles down the road, near to Redig, and he was camping outside a cafe (handy for food), but would have to tie up the horses are there is no corral. Behind the cafe is a hill called Crow Butte, and there's an interesting story about it. in 1822, the Souix Indians ravaged a Crow camp and warfare followed between the two tribes. The Crow Indians retreated to the top of Crow Butte for a better vantage point. They were then surrounded by the Souix, who waited patiently until they all to died of thirst. Subsequently, the nearby Canyon of Skulls to the northwest of Crow Butte was filled with the skeletons of the Souix Indians who were decimated by a fever they picked up from the Crow Indians. What irony!

The following morning 29 August, Bob was riding a further 18.5 miles down the road, and will be camping where he can. The weather is very hot again, but he can take his time today, and said he will stop frequently to let the horses graze, as he has no hay for them. His next port of call will be Colony, which he will ride to tomorrow. By then he will have ridden 420 miles.

Keep watching this site.

Ludlow South Dakota

Today I received the following photos from Kim Howie at Belfield, whom Bob had stayed with on 21 August. The first picture is Bob leaving the Howie ranch en route to Amidon. He was to stay that night with another of Kim's relatives. See how flat the land is.

Below we can see Bob and his horses with Kim at the Howie Ranch.

The next picture shows from left to right, Stewart Homelvig, Kim's cousin, Bob, Eric Homelvig who is also her cousin, and her brother Doug Howie.

Thanks Kim for supplying the pictures. It cheers up the blog site!

I spoke to Bob last night, after a bit of trouble with getting through, and he told me that he had given a talk to the children of the local school at Ludlow. I'm hoping that we will get a photo of them to put on the blog site. They all seemed very interested in what he was doing. I expect it makes a change from ordinary school work!

He is currently staying with Suezet and Ron Braaten, who run a bar in Ludlow, which Bob reckons is very atmospheric. He has spent the last day just chilling out after his long trip to get there.

When he was on his way there from Bowman, the horses were a bit jinked when he was crossing a bridge, and a car going the other way with a trailer attached, did not slow down. Apparently, the noise of the trailer crossing the bridge made the horses freak out, and he had a bit of a job to calm them down. Anyway, all's well that ends well, and they made it to Ludlow safetly after a ride of 26 miles ( hot as usual). Bob was glad of the chance to stay over at Ludlow for 2 nights as he was pretty well exhausted after that trip, as were the horses.

He has to be on the lookout most of the time when he's riding on the verges beside the roads, as not only are they full of bottles and cans, especially near place signs, where people driving past throw their bottles at the road signs, but are also full of holes dug by Praire Dogs.

Many thanks to Suezet and Ron for looking after Bob whilst he was in Ludlow.

Whilst I'm on the blog site, I must also thank Kayla from the Bowman County Fairground, as she not only ferried Bob around to do his shopping, but also took him for a complimentary meal on his arrival at the fairground. He had a really good steak!!!! Also, the following day when Bob had resumed his journey, she drove out with water for him and the horses, which was very welcome. Thank you so much, Kayla. It was much appreciated by Bob.

Today Bob was heading for Buffalo, so I will keep you all posted with the next chapter of his adventures.

Amidon and Bowman

Bob arrived at the home of Kim Howie on 21 Aug after a ride of 20 miles, to a warm welcome. The ride was quite uneventful, apart from the heat and, as seems to be usual, when I spoke to him that evening he was relaxing with a beer. My thanks to Kim for her hospitality.

He left Kim's home early the next morning, 22 Aug, ( he's getting the packing and care of the horses down to a fine art now), but there was a stiff breeze going for the duration of the ride, and unfortunately, he was heading into it, so by the time he arrived in Amidon at the home of Lynn and Norman Homelvig, his face was very burnt. Guess what he was doing when I phoned that evening ? Yes, beer was at the forefront again!!!!

His back is improving daily. It's no longer giving him problems, and he says that he is feeling really fit and the horses are doing just fine. They know who is boss now! He said they are responding very well to him, and I think he is forming a deep attachment with them.

A little snippet of information. Amidon is the highest point in North Dakota.

Once again, I must thank Lynn and Norman for sharing their home with him, and making his journey a little easier.

He now gets up at 6am to get on the road a bit earlier, and avoid a little of the sweltering heat, and left the Homelvig's on 23 Aug for the 22 mile ride to Bowman. En route a man passing in a car stopped and said "you must be Bob Jones", and got out and shook his hand and wished him luck.

When I spoke to him in the early hours of this morning (in England) he had just arrived at the Bowman County Fairground, and had settled the horses for the night. Kayla from the fairground had got in Hay and grain for the horses, which was waiting for him. Thank you, Kayla.

I believe another reporter was coming to see him at the fairground for an interview, and he was then going into Bowman for a steak. He will be sleeping in the barn, but has the luxury of an electric light, although he says the horses' accomodation is better than his!

On 24 Aug he has a 26 mile journey to Ludlow, his longest trip yet, and apparently the weather, which had cooled down a bit over the last few days, is going to be really hot again. When he reaches Ludlow, he will be in South Dakota.

Thank you all the kind people in North Dakota. We think you're great.

Riding To Belfield

The above photo is Bob with the Fulton's dog, Ash, Maggie and Katie, and a family friend.

Here we have the Fulton clan. From Left to right, Nick , Connie, Maggie, Wyatt, Bob, Katie, and last but not least, Don.

Here's Bob at eight o'clock in the morning, ready to set off again en route to Kim Howie's home. He has quite a long ride today, and unfortunately it's very hot again .

Yesterday Bob rode alongside the Interstate to Belfield, a distance of approx 18 miles. The weather was really hot, about 97 degrees, with no breeze whatsoever. I received an e-mail from his new hosts earlier that day to advise me that he had been spotted about 5 miles from their home, which was good as it put my mind at rest. The verges along the Interstate are really wide, but you have to look out for bottles etc that could be a problem for the horses. I thought that traffic might be a problem, but everything went smoothly.

When I spoke to Bob last night he had arrived at Don and Connie Fulton's home, and was chilling out with them and their children, and the dog ( a cocker spaniel, I think) by the name of Ash. He was drinking a Coor's beer with tomato juice! Don called out over the phone for me to join them. I would love to get some of that sunshine, and leave our rain behind.

My thanks go out to Don and Connie for being such wonderful hosts and for forwarding the photos so quickly to me. It's nice to be able to put up pictures on the blog site whilst Bob is still in that area.

Happy riding.

P.S. Bob found his watch which he had mislaid up in the Maah Daah Hey.

Rest Days In Medora

Temperatures in Medora are very high , 97 degrees, so Bob is resting and trying to get rid of the backache.He thoroughly enjoyed the concert last night, and my thanks go out to Mryna and her family for being so hospitable to him. I do hope they get this message, as I can't contact them by e-mail.

Bob spotted a large Elk on the hilltop in Medora, and reckons he took some good photos. Please can we have some for the blog site!

He had another newspaper interview last night, so I'm hoping that will be sent to me, so I can pull it off, and keep it for when he gets back.

He also told me that the good people of Medora are being extremely kind to him, with a special mention to George at the stables who drove for miles to get Bob grain for the horses.

Bob will be on the move again tomorrow with a ride of 17.5 miles to Belfield.

More news later.

Bob Arrives At Medora

Another long ride of 22 miles to the Wannagan Campsite over very hill terrain, but Bob arrived without mishap. The horses could roam free again that evening within the fenced off campsite. Their shoes are bearing up well, with hardly any wear showing.

An early start at 7.30am from the campsite for the last 16 miles to Medora. He spotted buffalo a couple of times and there was one on the trail which he took some really good photos of.It was so close he could have touched it, but because he was on horseback the buffalo didn't seem to realise he was there. He also saw a lot of what he called "lumpy lizards that looked like tortoises without shells". Turns out they're horned toads! Apparently there are a lot of Elk up in the hills, but he didn't see any at all.

He arrived at Medora about 1.00pm, and had to hose the horses down when he got to the Medora Foundation as he had gone through a river on the way and they were covered in mud. He will be resting in Medora for two days now, and the horses have got pens for the duration. When I spoke to him he was sitting outside an icecream parlour with double rations of ice cream in 92 degrees of heat. He will be camping with the horses whilst in Medora.

He has met up with Myrna Eberle and her family from Williston who are down in Medora for a show ( unfortunately poor Fred had to work and couldn't make it.) So they've got a spare ticket, and Bob is going with them this evening to the show.

I think he's looking forward to chilling out for a few days, as the Maah Daah Hey was quite hard work, even though he enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the photos of the scenery up there.

Had a comment on the blogsite from one of the cyclists he met up in the Maah Daah Hey, which was nice. Look forward to hearing from other people on the blog site that he meets on the way.

Magpie Campground & Elkhorn Campground

Bob had another long ride of 23 miles to get to Magpie Campground, and he was in the saddle for 10 hours. He reckons it takes him about 3 hours to get ready every morning(he was never any good at doing anything in the mornings!). So in future will make a far earlier start, as when I spoke to him on 13 Aug, he was still riding to the campground at 6 that evening. He is suffering with backache, but hopefully as his back strengthens, that will disappear.

Saw a rattler in the campground, but it disappeared when he approached.

He reckons the campgrounds are fantastic, as they are all fully fenced against wild animals, and the horses can roam free without having to be hobbled. They also have fire pits, and running water, together with benches and tables (all mod cons).

The following day (14 Aug), he had a 20 mile ride, with out of this world scenery, and arrived at the Elkhorn Campground, where he stayed for 2 nights. The first night he shared the campground with 3 cyclists, but apart from that he has not seen a soul for several days.( he did see another snake today) . He has been enjoying the solitude, and catching up on his diary. The following night he met up with Bob and Marla Neugebauer from Menoken, and had an enjoyable evening with them sharing beer and popcorn ( A nice change from iron rations). My thanks to them for their hospitality.

Apparently, Theodore Roosevelt had his ranch very close to this campsite, which was called Elkhorn Ranch.

I spoke to Bob this evening, and he'd just climbed to the top of a hill in order to get reception. He's up at 5 am tomorrow to get an early start, as he has a ride of 22 miles to Wannagan Campground. He will spend one night there, and the following day will ride out of the Maah Daah Hey and towards Medora. Weather still very hot, unlike rainy old England.