It was the original icebreaker. Nathan came home from work today and declared that a giant wall of ice was headed down the Little Missouri River, straight toward Medora and he intended to go watch. I'm thinking, ok, this must be some wall of ice, as I pictured a 50-foot tall bulldozer of a wall careening at top speed towards the bridge at the edge of town.
My suspicions were confirmed when I got to the bridge as there were two other cars there already to watch the destruction - the largest crowd we've seen since Cowboy Christmas. Nothing happened, so we decided to drive to a place where there was more action. We found it. On a little overlook outside of town, there was, I kid you not, the entire population of Medora. Only one thing could awaken this town from its winter hibernation - the ice thaw.
It had gotten warm enough this week that the ice on the river had started to thaw, causing a wall of ice, sticks, and debris to accumulate, break away, and push downstream, crushing anything in its path. The funniest part about it was that word spread like wildfire and EVERYONE got down to the river in a hurry. Why? I'm still not sure, but I have to admit it was pretty neat.
Ice when we got to the overlook:
Ice when we left:
The best quote of the night: "Well, I guess 100 people really do live in Medora!"
Please enjoy this National Geographic-quality footage courtesy of Nathan:
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