Stanley, North Dakota

Written on Sept 24 (happy birthday, Jenn!).  Will hopefully be posted tomorrow but there may be no McD’s on our route tomorrow.  Today is Day 102 of our trip!

We are in a municipal campground in Stanley, North Dakota.  Stanley will not win a ‘beautiful town’ award and its campground is nothing to write home about, but I am writing home for precisely that reason.  However, it is free and, so far, not noisy,  except for passing trains.  The sign at the entrance says campers must register with city hall but neglects to tell you where one might find city hall (about 4 blocks away).    I asked the fellow next door who lives in an old motor home with his long gray hair in a pony tail.  He said, in a surprising southern drawl, that if we are just staying one night there is no charge as that is what the campground was set up for – those folk who just needed a place to stop for the night.  He offered to unlock the padlock on the electrical box at our site and proceeded to do so.
 

We were surprised to read today that North Dakota has passed California to become the second leading oil producer in the US, behind Texas.  We saw many oil wells today, situated on grain fields, similar to our prairies except their oil wells take up more space than ours.  In fact, this area is just south of our prairie provinces and has many similarities. We have seen a few grain elevators, a structure I had always associated only with the Canadian prairies, although if I had thought about it, I might have assumed they would be in the U.S., too.  I have loved the many shades of yellow and brown on the fields, in contrast to the many greens that we saw on the prairies in June.  The patterns of harvest – straight rows, curved lines around sloughs – have also fascinated me as we drive.   We have seen large piles of corn (off the cob) awaiting shipment to ????  I hope it is not made into cornmeal after sitting outside, maybe feed for cattle or pigs or????

pile of corn kernels

Today we stopped at Rugby, North Dakota to take a picture of the cairn telling us we were at the geographic centre of North America.  Daily, we see more and more license plates from western states and provinces and fewer from the east.  So far on our holiday, we have seen license plates from all 13 provinces and territories and 39 states.  Can we make it to 49 (assuming we will not see Hawaii)??

Another stop today was in Minot, ND.  They were prepping for a 5 day celebration of their Scandinavian roots, mostly Norwegian.  We wandered around their Scandinavian heritage village.
 

Our campground last night at Graham Island State Park was lovely and we enjoyed a beautiful walk there this morning before hitting the road. The trees in this area have turned golden.  The park is situated on Devil’s Lake and I am sure some of the local farmers agree with the name.  We were told the lake has no outlet and that the lake levels are rising every year.  In places, the lake resembles a tree graveyard with many flooded tree skeletons.  Roads and whole farms have been permanently flooded as lake levels have risen so we saw abandoned barns and the remnants of roads.  Some roads have been built up so they are still viable, including the road into the state park.   

In places, smoke on the horizon tells us that the stubble in corn fields is being burned.  Not much flame but LOTS of smoke.

North Dakota is proud of its lakes and ponds and sloughs which give rise to its popularity for fishing, boating and duck hunting.    I think we were the only people in the campground last night who weren’t there for the fishing.   Rob, you would love this place!!!  We have enjoyed it for bird watching.

Another surprising observation –today we saw many dead skunks and raccoons on the prairie roads, far from any trees.  What are they doing out there?  We were also sad to pass an area with many blotches on the road.  We only made the connection when we saw a frog hopping across the road.  There were wetlands on both sides of the road and I guess many frogs don’t make it across. 
 

Sept 25th addition – sitting at Lewis and Clark (yes, the explorers) State Park near Williston, ND.  This morning has enforced the idea of prairie farming and oil production side by side – so much industry set amonst the grain fields and soooo many large trucks on the roads, both oil industry trucks and construction trucks as many new roads are built to move equipment into place.  Looking beyond that, there is a stark, dry beauty to the prairies, bluffs and buttes in this area. 

taken as we drove so not great photography but you get the idea of what the area looks like - the plateaus above the rivers are huge and flat, dotted with the oil wells.

  And, Fran, in your honour, we popped into the Four Bears Casino near New Town, ND – did not get rich!   New Town because the old one was flooded when Lake Sakakawea formed when the Garrison Dam was built downstream on the Missouri River.

view of Lake Sakakawea and Four Bears Bridge from Crow Flies High Lookout near New Town, ND.  

Another wonderful sunny, crisp day so we shall go for a walk and enjoy it.