We didn't know what to expect from North Dakota - none of us have ever been here before. The landscape consists of rolling grasslands and never-ending wheat fields. I never would have guessed how big the oil industry is here. Oil rigs are scattered throughout the hillsides and Halliburton trucks outnumber normal vehicles, at least from Williston to New Town.
Yesterday I'm pretty sure we stumbled across some underground missile silos in the middle of a sunflower field. It was a small fenced area that was mostly concrete except for the 10 x 10 foot green door on the ground. We had been resting on the side of the road in the sunflower patch for maybe 5 minutes when 2 young guys pull up wearing full battle gear, including AK-47's and helmets. They kindly asked us to keep moving. Perhaps a sign saying "no trespassing" would be a good first defense. I guess I'm glad those two teenagers are driving around the highway with AK-47's defending our homeland from dangerous bike tourists. Maybe our newly grown beards sent them into Red terror alert mode.
We were in the Minot Daily Newspaper yesterday offering our volunteer services to people in the area and so far we haven't gotten any takers. Anyone have any ideas? It seems people don't like to ask for help so we may have to change our strategy. We are going to stay here in Minot and do laundry, hit the bike shop, and do an interview with the news station. Tomorrow we head to Rugby, ND to meet Rob and Michelle who have offered to let us stay with them, cook us a meal, and sleep in their basement - as well as hooking us up with the local television news station. We've never met these folks and they are offering their home to us! It's amazing - thank you so much Rob and Michelle.
Time for breakfast - have a good weekend!
Donald
3 comments:
Towner, ND:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Southwest wind 5 to 8 mph increasing to between 13 and 16 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 58. South wind around 15 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph.
Those military guys should be alarmed...you guys were cycling East towards Mecca and had beards!
The beards look great!
Glad you guys are still going strong. Last year across the MT stretch we didn't have one bug. Guess we were lucky.
Our cabin was wonderful.
We thnk on you often and try to keep up with your travels.
Post a Comment