The route I am now following is known as the old red trail highway 10). It is the old 2 Lane Highway that was The main thorough fare across western North Dakota until the interstate highways came about in the 1950s under the Eisenhower administration.
The Old Red Trail tracks closely the route that George Custer led the seventh cavalry In May and June 1876 on their ill-fated mission from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Mandan to Little Big Horn to quell skirmishes with the Sioux. It was a journey beset with problems from the start, including having to hunker down for three days in a severe snowstorm at the end of May(!!!) And losing at least one Of their wagons in the process of fording a creek. Little did they know things were about to get much worse!
Today the old red trail is part of the official route mapped out by Adventure Cycling for both the Lewis and Clark Trail and for the Northern Tier route across the United States. I stopped at a small grocery store for supplies and to Drop off a dog that had been running alongside me at 10 mph for 4 miles. I am surprised by how accustomed the people here are to seeing cross country touring cyclists.
Oh, and the dog. A woman in the store took his photo and did a Facebook Posting. She apparently knew just about everyone in the town of a few hundred, because by the time I finished eating the dog’s owner had been notified and was on her way to to pick him up.
The old red trail is a bicycling dream full of countless vistas of amber waves of grain and endless fields of sunflowers. And there are almost no cars!
no dog photos??
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