Frackin' the Bakken

Randy:
Frackin the Bakken has really ruined North Dakota from my perspective and I really feel sorry for the natives.  I can't even begin to explain this whole boom town mess with big tractor trailer trucks by the hundreds on every single road.  Everywhere are oil well pumps with 6 to 12 storage tanks for the crude because they are pumping more than they can ship out...it really is awful.  There has been talk of this sort of thing in Northern Michigan..it would just ruin it.  You really have to see it to understand how awful it is.

Off our original itinerary...by many miles, we decided to go to the Ted Roosevelt National Park, North Unit...should only take a couple hours to get there at 111 miles.  4 hours later we pull into the park and I immediately get stopped for speeding (39 in a 25) sheesh; fortunately just a lecture and no ticket.  So here we are in the ND badlands...gotta say; beautiful.

 It is a 14 mile drive up and 14 back on the same road, quite stunning; even saw a herd of Bison.  About half way through, going up a hill the car got pretty loud, not sure what that was but now it sounds like an old washing machine; it's probably a cracked exhaust manifold or some such nonsense...doesn't really matter because there is no place to get it fixed. We had discovered that if you turn up the radio it is not so bad. Montana, there is a state for you.  Jim Sutika told us it is flatter than piss on a plate and he is right...at least the first 200 miles of highway 2.  We are all set up for a great night sleeping in the van...found a delightful campground; life is great!


Lynn:
The Northern unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park is very beautiful. Unfortunately, I took most of my pictures with Randy's camera and they didn't upload.  The place smells strongly of sage, which is really nice.  I will try to add some photos later.

We are spending the night in Glasgow, MT, which bears absolutely no resemblance to Glasgow, Scotland.  Scotland, of course, puts me in mind of Edinburgh, and the Tiger Lilly.  This could not be farther from the Tiger Lilly.  We are in a campground, it is 90 degrees, and buggy. And in all likelihood it will be pouring in an hour. This because it is a better option than the 3 hotels in the area, which I would not set foot in.

Camping

Not camping