Jamestown, North Dakota
As part of the rental agreement, I needed to change the oil on the car when it reached 3,000 miles. I hadn't driven 3,000 miles by that point but I got the car with nearly 700 miles on it. After the oil change was finished, an elderly couple approached me. They had been considering buying a car like the one I was using. They were very friendly and revealed a lot of things:
- Unlike most states, North Dakota has no recession. They have many unfilled jobs.
- Graduating classes are in the double digits due to low population. In some cases, whole school districts, even after consolidation, have less than 100 students.
- Oil has been discovered in ND and there are many unfilled oil related jobs.
- They encouraged me to get married and move to ND. Then they suggested having a lot of children to help stem the problem of UNDERpopulation.
- The state actually has a budget surplus.
- Farms are usually a minimum of thousands of acres.
- Farmers spend millions on seed and supplies. Typically they work from 5am to 11pm.
- North Dakota going from being totally flat to being almost mountainous at the west edge.
In this part of the country, postcards are plentiful. You can find them in almost every gas station and they're inexpensive (usually, 25 cents each). In states to the east, they're usually difficult to find and some can be as much as 50 cents each. I got my ND postcards at the first gas station I visited.
I then visited the Basilica of St. James. In the nineteenth century, a Catholic man gave land to the Catholic Church so they could build a church in Jamestown. He also gave land to other Christian denominations to build their churches in the town. The stained glass windows include scenes from the building of the church. This is the first time I have seen people in more modern clothing featured on stained glass windows. The other stained glass windows in the church focus on the Joyful and Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. See the photos.
After visiting the basilica, I the third and final of the trio of "EXTREMELY IMPORTANT" landmarks. This time it was the world's largest buffalo statue. Jamestown is considered "Buffalo City" and the buffalo symbol is seen on banners on the main streets. In the 1950s, the statue was constructed. When taking pictures, I again forgot to use the appropriate lens filter. Therefore, most of the pictures of this "very important" landmark are lousy. See the photos.
Years after the Buffalo Statue was built, the surrounding area became "Frontier Village." Old buildings were denonated and placed together to form a small western style village. These included a bank, barber shop, jail, saloon, dentist office, schoolhouse, etc. There was a Louis L'Amour "Writer's Shack" which showcased his books, some photos, and other biographical information. Some of the buildings included working gift shops. When shopping in the gift shop, I had to pay in cash. When I picked up a quarter, I just happened to pick up the Kansas quarter. It features a buffalo on the back. See the photos.
A gift shop was available a few blocks away. They had two buffalo in a tiny pen. It seemed way too small for two large animals. But, I was able to see buffalo for the first time in my life. It was the last time today but not the last time in this trip...
The National Buffalo Museum was nearby. This included a viewing area where one could see buffalo in a 200 acre pasture. Three of the buffalo are albino, which is rare. One of them is named White Cloud and is apparently famous. He is featured in postcards with the title "White Cloud and friends." They look like they've been Photoshopped so White Cloud almost has a smile. I didn't get to see White Cloud or any of his friends. They were in the pasture somewhere but not within view. The pasture has lots of trees so they could be anywhere.
Minot, North Dakota
My destination for the evening was Minot, North Dakota. This is in the north-central part of the state. The eastern part (where Jamestown is located) is flat. I took US 281 for a while and continued to see flat lands. Then I went on US 52 to get up to Minot. As I moved further west, the flat land gave way to rolling hills. It was definitely quite pretty.
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At various points, there were fields of thousands of sunflowers. I had seen small fields of sunflowers in Colorado. In various western states I've seen them growing wild along interstates. But never have I seen such huge fields. In the many visits I've made to Kansas, the "Sunflower State," I have never seen anything like this. But, a friend from Kansas explained that Kansas soi, is too rich to use on sunflowers.
When I arrived at the hotel, the clerks were very friendly. One had never been to the state where I live and was fascinated that someone from there would come to ND and particularly to Minot, which is not on an interstate. She asked if ND was stereotypical to what I had heard about it. I hadn't heard much about ND so I couldn't really answer that. We got talking more and I learned that this particular part of ND gets very little snow. She couldn't even remember when they had a major storm. But, it gets extremely cold and windy there. The other clerk had been to the area where I am from so she had a better perspective.
Minot seems at first like a tiny "blink and you miss it" town. On the GPS, it at first looked like a place where two US routes cross and that's it. But, it has a shopping mall and lots of chain stores all around. It has lots of hotels and restaurants. It has a large downtown section with small shops. I was really quite surprised to see this much.
I've been used to eating just fruit and sandwiches on this trip due to lack of time. It also helps to lose weight. I saw a Mexican restaurant which was open late. I decided to have dinner there. The food was excellent, but the portion was so large. In the past, it would have been no problem. But now I'm just not used to that much food.
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