Oil Country

Cyclists, beware. The stretch of highway between the North Dakota Border and Minot via Williston and New Town could easily be descrubed as the road from hell. With the exception of the preserved natural beauty of the Lewis and Clark State Park and a very pleasant stop at Keys Cove (both off Rte 1804), the route will take you through a landscape dotted with giant drills and mammoth 'donkey' oil pumping rigs, many of these setups belching huge burnoff flames that seem to come directly from the fires of Hades.  If the fumes and noise don't get you, the steady of stream of tankers, concrete mixers, and oversize semis carrying heavy equipment to service these monstrosities will. In some stretches oif 1804 and even worse, the infamous Rte 23 where there is no shoulder even the best truckers cannot avoid creating a destabilizing blast of wind that can blow you off the road.  Jean now has the scars to demonstrate this (leg gash and bruise on the bum as the result of being toppled by such a blast). In New Town, which is located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, we were kindly hosted by the Three Affiliated Tribes and advised to take an alternate back route to Minot.  We were greatly relieved to pedal east out of Minot this morning to find that this area has not been 'blessed' with oil. The only sounds were those of birdsong and whispering wind.