Light filters through the shower curtain as steaming water rains down on my aching body. My legs feel pleasantly strained, the muscles in my calves taught and mean. Shoulders throb lightly when I raise my arms, yet my back is not bothered by the intense saddle time it has seen. I lean against the tiles as dirty rivulets of water swirl and collide before washing down through the drain. Then it occurs to me, I am watching Medora flow away
The trip began, like most others in my life, with tentative negotiations with my wife. Since a business convention was taking me 350 miles to Bismarck, North Dakota, a side trip to Medora and the famed Maah Daah Hey trail was a no-brainer. Do the architecture fandango Thursday and Friday, then play post-season gearhead on Saturday. She was not pleased. Attempts to round up a posse fell flat, and I resigned myself to going it alone, which can be a good thing. Solo trips give lots of great think time, and the wilderness experience can be otherworldly when there are no others to complain about the climb. The weather looked great, the hardtail was chosen, and the gear was stowed. I had decided to park wherever I could find a spot and sleep in the back of my Jeep, cook Raman on a propane stove, and eat old Clif bars. This would be an epic - a solo epic to a part of my home state I'd never been. Post-Labor Day, no tourists, cooler weather, and dry trails. North Dakota nice.
The tone of the weekend was set as I drove west, with the gorgeous prairie sunrise blooming behind me. So went I, so grew the hills, painted in a stark late summer morning solar palette. There had been family discussions about leaving the area, experiencing a new part of the world with our kids, but circumstances keep reining us in. As thoughts drifted and terrain shifted, I realized that this is a good place. North Dakota has an empty, majestic elegance, and I could certainly die happy having spent my life here. Architecture is difficult in these parts, dictated by Scandinavian pragmatism and clenched tight by the almighty dollar, yet challenges are often the best motivators. Life and business, challenges and satisfactions. This is the way.