July 2, 2013 Travel to Teddy Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

We left our little spot this morning heading north to Glasgow then east on US-2.

Past large stretches of farms and ranches - the railroad tracks on one side and electricity on the other.

The pictures do not really reflect the vividness of this yellow color - it is beautiful:

As we got closer to the border of Montana and North Dakota, the scenery started to change.  This is where the big oil boom is now taking place.  Lots of construction all over.  For miles along US-2, each side is being dug up.  In some areas, it looks like they are widening the roads, in other areas, they are laying down pipes - water? oil? or both depending on the area???

We were through this area in 2007 when it was all sleepy little towns.  Now it reminds me of the stories I read about with the gold rushes and the stories I heard during the building of the Alaskan pipeline.  There are lots of jobs here, not only with the oil business but with all the infrastructure needed to support the increased population.

Burning off the gases:

Oil rigs all over:

Lots (and lots) of temporary housing:

Oil Storage Tanks all over (notice the horses in front):

Many of these dot the landscape:

And in between - farms and ranches.  I love this contrast - there was a cloud overhead:

Drilling a new oil well:

More temporary housing:

Farms and oil rigs in the background:

This is Watford City - most of these buildings are all new since the oil boom. 

And we finally made it to Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit.

The campground was almost empty and it was beautiful.  There is no hookups and it is suppose to be hot so we will see how long we last - LOL!  We are hoping to stay thru the weekend and for $5.00/night - pretty good deal!  However there is no internet or cell service - .  Oh well, I could always go into town.

We did decide to head into town to check it out - plus we needed gas for our generator.  As we left the campground, the local herd was crossing the road.  The babies were so cute - .

Town was so crowded - WOW!  We stopped in the American Legion for happy hour and supper.  We talked with a few of the locals and it was interesting to say the least.  The pros of this boom is that it brings lots of jobs.  But the cons is that prices have gone sky high.  We met one woman who lived here most of her life.  Her landlord doubled the price of her apartment and she is now living with friends - she could not afford it any more.  (These stories really remind me of the books on the gold rush days.)  Very interesting.

Back home we were entertained by the herd close to our RV.  Dusty and Bella were fascinated.  I could not get any pictures because of the dusk and I did not want to use flash.

Tomorrow we will be exploring the park so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 199 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Montana: Yellowstone Road; SR-117; US-2

North Dakota: US-2; US-85