Wow, we need to catch up on our blogging.
After three nights in Medora, ND/Teddy Roosevelt National Park, we were back on the road for two consecutive 300 mile driving days. As we headed east, we came upon many oil drilling sites. And this area is just on the very edge of the Bakken Formation, the huge cache of oil that is being released through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. It was great to see billboards along the highway advertising for workers. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
We barely caught a quick glimpse over the trees of the the top of a capitol building in Bismark, the capital of North Dakota right after we crossed the Missouri River. We spent the night near Fargo and after paying $35 to avoid the Walmart for the night, we still were awaken at 3a.m. in the campground by a couple’s loud argument. The sugar beet harvest was still about 2 weeks away. This area is the largest sugar beet producing region of the country. Many RVers work the sugar beet harvest as there isn’t enough temporary help in the area. On the second day of driving we crossed into and across Minnesota. Just as Oregon named a bridge in our honor, Minnesota welcomed us with an Avenue.
We went to Teddy Roosevelt North last summer--great experience. Then we drove west on US-2; Williston was like driving around a Flying J parking lot full of oil tankers. Also: We just left Olympic National Park and re-read your posts about the area. You took some ambitious trips!
ReplyDeleteYes, they were ambitious but moving the motor home to all those locations would have been tough too. There are a lot of trade offs in seeing that whole region.
ReplyDelete