Stark Beauty

Today I was better able to enjoy the stark beauty and openness of the vast empty landscape.  The first couple of hours revealed water water everywhere, enough so that every duck could have its own lake!

After a few hours, things changed and it was obvious that North Dakota is oil drilling country, which is right now the most oil producing part of the United States.  There are oil drilling rigs all along the way.  Oil drilling towns pop up with temporary housing units, mostly square boxes or trailers and not very attractive.  I doubt if there are families living there.

We encountered the centermost geographic point in North America.

There are not too many things to see or do along this way, Rt. 2, which we are traveling--the uppermost highway across the United States.  We wanted to see through the eyes of those who live here, and we have!

This morning there wasn't even much traffic, so the contrast between the complexities of navigating the cities last week, and meandering along the wide open spaces this week is rather striking.  This is "down time", with no pushing to get to the next place---just a leisurely day.

Some of the scenery was just breathtaking. I especially loved the canola fields growing.  (that's what we were told they are).  There on the hillside are these brilliant yellow fields.  Actually, the variety in the colors of the plains is amazing.

Tomorrow, Montana (and for several days after.  I am hoping that the scenery has more variety.  I know from looking at the empty spaces on the TripTik map that Montana also is quite sparsely populated.

Maybe we'll see a buffalo.  Who knows?

It might be about time to play the pun game again to entertain ourselves!