Heading eastward, I hailed a guy and a gal going in the opposite direction. From our very brief exchange I learned they were headed to Seattle and they were not Americans. My guess would be northern Europeans. I also met a young man going from Bellingham, WA to Indiana and he said he was running behind schedule and was feeling the need to alter his route in order to get back to his job on time. I waved to another rider who was so loaded with bags and gear that I could hardly see the bike itself. I didn't talk to him, but judging from the size of the load he was carrying, he must be on an around the world trek and he is collecting a souvenir from every town he has been through.
I saw my first sand plant. Yes sand. They crush rock into sand, load it into railroad freight cars, and ship it off to the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota for "fracking."
The badlands of eastern Montana began to reveal themselves on today's desolate 50 miles. The city of Glendive is the gateway to Makoshika (the Indian word for "badlands") State Park and the park has an excellent display of that weirdly eroded landscape.
Barring any disasters, this should be my last night in the great state of Montana. It is a very beautiful and diverse state and I will leave it with a bittersweet feeling. Bitter in that I am leaving what I consider the unknown, the frontier, the far from home and the different from home. I think of North Dakota as not much more than Minnesota's next door neighbor. And sweet in that it is a step closer to home which I am truly starting to miss.
No comments:
Post a Comment