In anticipation of another sweltering day, I made the executive decision to book us into a hotel in Williston, ND so we knew we'd have a good air conditioned room tonight. We also got up this morning at 4:30am and were on the road by 5:30am. We wanted to get the majority of the ride done before the heat of the day set in. It was a great decision.
The morning was gorgeous - that beautiful time of day before the sun rises. As we packed up camp, we watched the sky brighten and the birds come alive. It was so peaceful. Until we fired up our bikes to leave! Our apologies to our fellow campers for the ruckus at such an hour!
You know... a lot of people have asked us, over the years (in reference to our cross-country trips) - how wonderful but what about those prairies? The inference is that the prairies are some kind of wasteland that one must "suffer through" in between all the good stuff out west and east. Well. I'm here to tell you you're missing out if that's your impression! Yes - the prairies are flat. And yes, they are far reaching and sometimes do feel a bit endless but, if you put your eyes in and actually have a look around as you're riding along, you'll discover the perhaps more subtle wonders of the prairies.
Today, North Dakota put her party dress on for our visit.
We hoofed it along to Devil's Lake where we stopped for breakfast. It's on the edge of a National Game Preserve and the lake itself is very large and beautiful. The town is quite large as well and has everything one might want or need so it's a great place to stop.
From there, we continued on to Rugby. The prairie itself is stunning. At the moment, the canola and alfalfa are in high bloom and the colours are ka-pow! The canola fields are neon yellow stripes across green fields and some of them are so huge, they go to the horizon. The yellow canola, along with the stunning blues and purples of the alfalfa create a quilters dream of colour and texture, as they mix with the variegated greens of other crops. The sky itself was shell yellow at the horizon and then it climbed through the colour spectrum of turquoise greens and blues to baby blue, then sky blue and then a deep cerulean blue directly above. Barns and trains punched reds and oranges into the landscape and the final delight came from the rent up earth where it had been dug up or scraped away - delicate shades of coral and pinks in some places, deep hues of rose, reddish orange and burnt orange in others, reminiscent of Prince Edward Island. North Dakota was the entire colour palette. And the scents! Oh my! Great wafts of perfume permeated the air as we rode beside the fields in bloom and the heaven sent smell of fresh cut hay is one of my favourite smells ever. It was a sensory delight today... and, as it turned out, one of my favourite riding days of this trip as a result.
In Rugby, we discovered we were in the geographical centre of North America and there is a rock cairn in the middle of town celebrating that fun fact so we had to pull in and stop. We joined some other motorcyclists who had also stopped and met Glen, Dan, Henry and Doug - The Boys from Illinois - who were riding out west to do the Going To The Sun highway through Glacier National Park in Montana. We chatted with them for half an hour and then they left and a little while later, we left. A couple times during the rest of the day, we passed them when they had stopped somewhere and then they passed us, each time with us waving to each other. Given that we're heading in the same direction and will do Glacier as well, I have no doubt we'll keep seeing them along the way.
All throughout North Dakota, Route 2 was in great shape - the road was in good condition and there was very limited truck traffic - until Williston. Suddenly, it went from single lane to multiple lanes and heavy trucks came out of nowhere. Williston is a booming, bustling town that has mushroomed with the explosion of fracking about 10 years ago. In fact, in 2014, it was the fastest growing community in the entire US. The town is chockablock with Atco trailer and modular home camps, testaments to it's burgeoning growth. This is one place the oil and gas industries are going bananas and all along the countryside, in this area, you'll see farmed fields and bobbing oil rigs that look like woodpeckers, odd roommates in the shared accommodations of this land.
Our hotel was right behind the enormous Love's Truckstop and, when it cooled down a bit this evening, we walked over just to see the show. WOW. Enormous parking lots filled with dozens and dozens of semis and a store that had everything you might need - no end of electronics, tech stuff, walls of mechanical parts and accessories, gifts to bring home to loved ones, clothing, shoes and a surprising display of whacky masks and hats (go figure!) I was immediately entranced by a silver steampunk kitty mask - every girl needs one of those, right? I had to buy it and, with a sale price of $15.99 it was a "bargoon!" They also have a fast food chicken outlet along with all the other truck stop comestibles like hot dogs and nachos. It was a thing of glory.
We opted for truck stop smokies and ate them outside as the sun went down, watching all the goings on in the parking lot and gas bars which were as busy as a saloon on a Saturday night. As it grew dark, the fluorescent orange flames of sour gas outlets dotted the landscape, bright fiery torches in the distance like some kind of mediaeval signalling beacons.
I hunkered down tonight and managed to catch up on some blogging which has been hard to get to on these days of big miles and long hours. I was so grateful for our AC as well. It was so nice to be able to get out of the heat and weather. We both napped for quite awhile this afternoon as we didn't sleep all that well last night and then we were up at the crack of dawn today. Tomorrow, Montana.
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