Friday July 13, 2012

Last night in the hospitality room of our hotel we were talking to several guys from the Army Corps of Engineers who were on assignment to shore up the levy around Devils Lake. They mentioned how the water level has risen over 13 feet and how many farms are now under water. They also mentioned as we head west on highway 2 we will be able to see the farms and fields that are under water. Myrna took several pictures of the underwater farms. It was really sad to see the barns, farm houses and prime farmland sitting several feet underwater. It reminded me of my visit several weeks ago of the Ernst farm in Roscoe, South Dakota (see June 14, 2012 post) and the acres of prime pasture land that is underwater due to the heavy snows from a couple years ago. We were on the road at 8:30am and 77 degree temperatures. We passed many of the underwater farms and also many other farms that are flourishing with beautiful yellow fields of Canola and purple fields of Flax. North Dakota has beautiful farmlands and we were really enjoying the scenery and smells. But just as tranquil the countryside was it gradually changed dramatically after we reached the small town of Stanley (where we lunched). I had heard of the new oil boom in North Dakota but I was not sure where it was. Well we came upon the oil rigs and trucks and altered farmscape. The further west we went the more the oil drilling was apparent. But things got ugly when we reached Williston. The place stunk of refining oil and there was a haze so thick it almost looked like fog, the place was oppressive. My initial thought was it reminded me of Bakersfield, but Bakersfield isn't this bad! We left North Dakota and entered Montana. We encountered some major road work being done on highway 2 and had to ride on a gravel and dirt road for over 6 miles. The temperature was 95 degrees and I was taking it easy on the gravel riding two-up and pulling a trailer. Unfortunately the bike temperature started to rise so I had to pick up the pace in order to cool down the engine. Myrna was nervous about riding faster on the gravel but she was great about it and understood the reason and trusted my riding abilities. We obviously made it out unscathed and arrived in Glasgow Montana for the night. We traveled 419 miles today and a total of 8387 miles.

2 Timothy 2:6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.