Going West 2013

Wednesday July 31

We’re in central North Dakota now, we just went through McClusky, ND. It’s claim to fame is as the geographic center of North Dakota. This area has many small lakes or ponds. We’re very surprised by the number of them and that they exist at all. We crossed Garrison Dam at the end of Lake Sakakawea, the way Sacagawea’s name is spelled and pronounced in the Midwest. We drove through many changes in topography as we headed east, now rolling fields as far as the eye can see. While Montana is known as the Big Sky state. ND could certainly share the title, especially in the eastern part, which is very flat. Working farms quickly replaced the oil fields and prairie as we moved east. We saw wheat, hay, corn, soybeans and fields of beautiful blue flowers (don’t know what they are). Each town has a grain elevator, the old ones made of wood, the new ones metal, and there are many new ones. I think ethanol production has stimulated corn production. Many towns are celebrating their centennial, which reminds us how recently the west was developed. We stopped for coffee at a gas station and chatted with the attendant who had travelled east several times. He contributed to our decision to travel along the northern shore of Lake Superior into Canada, which he said was a beautiful area. Yesterday we met a couple from Minnesota at Roosevelt Park who also suggested we take that route. If two different people suggest something, it has to be done! We’re spending the night in Hillsboro, ND, just a short distance from the Minnesota border. By the way, we just learned on the news that it is now legal to carry a gun in church in ND. We were entertained by the sign for the Bang Church for one reason, this new law provides a whole new interpretation!