Paul Bunyan and Boomtowns

     We left Bemidji, MN on Thursday morning of June 19th, waving goodbye to Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue.  We also saw the headwaters of the Mississippi.  Once again, a cold and rainy day, temperatures around 60 degrees.

Paul Bunyan and Blue

Head Waters of the Mississippi

We got a motel room in Devil's Lake, North Dakota.   There are several very large lakes here and lots of fisherman, but not much else.   220 cold and wet miles.

Friday June 20th started out chilly and cloudy, but as we headed west on route 2, the clouds broke up and the temperature finally topped out in the upper 70's.  As we approached Williston, ND, we started to see lots of oil wells along the highway.  Williston is a modern-day boom town.  Everything is brand new.  I have never seen so many heavy duty pick up trucks in one town in my entire life.  There are help wanted signs up everywhere, and the Walmart is paying $17 and hour.   Naturally, it's impossible to get a cheap hotel room.  We were lucky to get a nice room at the brand-new Best Western for $100 a night.

Prairie with Oil Wells in the distance

We decided to stay and take a day to check out Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a tiny place about an hour south of Williston.  The scenery was beautiful, and we took a short hike out to an area called the 'Prairie Dog Town'.  There were hundreds of Prairie dogs!  We also saw a small buffalo herd.  It was a beautiful day with highs in the low 80's, but  it was very windy and Kerry had a challenge keeping the Wing straight in the wind and also negotiating a lot of road construction areas, sections of dirt and gravel, and LOTS of trucks from the oil fields.  We did about 150 miles today.  Tomorrow we head into Montana.

Hello, buffalo!

Teddy Roosevelt NP North

Teddy Roosevelt NP North Panorama

Prairie dog Town