Little Missouri River National Grasslands Campsite

Medora, ND: Almost Home

I've drove for nearly 18 hours since yesterday and decided to make my last stop before home a slightly longer one. That is where Medora, ND comes in. A small town, filled with historic shops, and more tourists then residents...
Medora has a surprising amount to offer. A massively expensive (but still delicious) pizza at the Badlands Pizza Parlor Saloon, and a Wicked Cheap cinnamon roll (which was larger then my pizza) filled my gut to the brim. Its an agreeable place, with amazing cellular coverage for North Dakota's standards (using cellular tethering to my laptop right now) and despite the blistering 110 degree weather, feels like a great place to go camping. Still on the agenda is a 2.5 mile hike with camp gear in tow, maybe a free musical tonight, and a campfire with strangers. There are a few cautions I've been given... don't bother the prairie dogs (they don't like strangers) and watch out for yellow rattlesnakes. Hopefully I will get some swim time in tonight before bed. I have a solid 8 hours to go tomorrow.

A few interesting sights along the way:
Flocks of birds playing chicken with my care (some didn't win)
prairie dogs watching as cars zoomed by (considerably more cautious then the birds)
Giant plastic Jelly beans at Cowboy Lyle's Candy and Western Wear
a Traffic jam with cows
A Tree growing out of the road
rudimentary weather machines
amazing sunrise and sunset in Montana
windmill blades trucking down the highway
an old lady that flew passed me on the highway (I was going 85!)
Crop dusters flying too close for comfort
Joey "O" the Acrobatic Golf Comedian

Lets see what tomorrow has in store!

A Fond Farewell to Seattle Summer - Skatepark

Woodland Skate-park is one of the many amazing skate-parks in the Seattle area. But it was a whole lot more than that to me. I met some of the coolest people, smartest kids, and learned so much myself. I spent a large amount of time there, whether I was rollerblading, slack-lining, running rails, or just hanging out. I cleared over 5 feet of cones on rollerblades, taught over 80 people how to slackline, but most importantly, it became a large part of my experience while I was here and I am glad that it happened. The best part about it was the people that I encountered. I met new friends for life (Brennan) there, ones to teach me a thing or two about life, and others for me to teach. I became part of a small community of people that are out to have fun, enjoy life, and stay out of trouble. One group especially stood out. Although only 12-14, these kids understood many of the simple mistakes that even adults make. They don't smoke, don't drink, and don't do any drugs, unlike many kids their age are trending towards. It was really about enjoying a common interest (skating) and having fun through the summer.

Joe, Tim, Paul, Amara, Garrett, Liam, Silver, Tino, Taylor, Andrew, Tyler, and all the others, you are all good kids, try and stay out of trouble!