Beulah ND to Bismarck ND 3

There is a whole lot of Lewis and Clark related stuff on this route and I only stopped at about every other place. This was a bout a mile off the route and a very well done exhibit. It was also a good spot to take a break and rehydrate.

This explains what this place is all about.

I met and had a nice chat with Carl , a motorcyclist from South Florida wandering his way around America, and Lee a local coalminer .Both were interesting fellows and very informed on North Dakota and world affairs .I can not remember which was which but one was Norwegian and the other Swedish and there was a bit of guy talk sparring about which was the superior group of people.

Lee and I discussed the future of ND as a source for crude oil. Many believe it is the future of oil in the world and is just now getting recognized and drilled. There have been a bunch of new holes getting punched in the ground by oilmen and from the looks of the resulting pumps and storage tanks there have been a fair amount of hits.
In another life time when I was studying geology at the U of Toledo (kickers of BGSU's ass in football on a very regular basis) one of the few things I remember from then was a guest lecturer talking about then huge oil reserves in the nDakota,souther Canada area and that one day it would be the new middle East as far as production. I never heard that theory again and and sort of forgot about it til biking thru the area. Personally I hope all that is true and that all the finds are on Indian reservations and they turn into the 21st cebtury Arabs.

We also discussed the unusual weather patterns happening this year. Lee even brought up the east wind thing and said that it causes a lot of the rain this area gets and it has been unusual this season. The lakes and rivers are higher than they have been in decades and that this is a green as anyone can remember bseeing the country side. nSo for all my bitching about the wind the upside is that I am seeing the area at its absolute best so I have to be happy for these folks and being able nto see it.

I could not pass up this bicycle art thing in somebody's front yard. Also, this is another example of the direction and intensity of the wind.