WILLISTON, NORTH DAKOTA: "Boomtown, USA"

August 14, 2017

Union Depot. St. Paul, Minnesota. My trip to the Great Plains begins here.

Minot, North Dakota: After a long night, this is where the passengers can finally get off the train for a while.

Minot is pronounced "MY-not." (A vice-president for the huge corporation I used to work for once told a story about visiting Minot in front of a few thousand of my fellow employees. He pronounced it "mi-NO" as if it was a French town. I, for one, got a chuckle out of it.)

Williston, North Dakota: Upon reaching my destination, I was unceremoniously dumped in the middle of nowhere with my bike and my gear.

The pictures above pretty much sum up the 11-hour train ride from St. Paul to Williston. Three quarters of it was a sleepless slog through utter darkness. I'm not going to get into WHY it was a sleepless slog because it would sound like I was saying mean things about Amtrak's uncomfortable seats and about the other passengers, who talked loudly, complained frequently, fidgeted and snored. Still, those are the reasons why I only got about one hour of sleep in five-minute increments.

Nevertheless, I felt surprisingly chipper when I got off the train in Williston and started loading my stuff onto my bike. I had about four hours to kill before check-in time at the Motel 6, so I headed out to do what I do best--pedal my bike. I explored the city from east to west and from south to north. I tried to catch up on some sleep at a city park. I picked up some groceries. I had an ale at a local brewery.

After all that immersion into its geography and culture, I can safely say that Williston will never be found on anybody's list of the world's greatest cities. It's probably not even one of America's greatest cities. Even so, I did see a sign stating that Williston was awarded the distinction of being "North Dakota City of the Year" in 2015.

I must say that Williston is not the greasy, grimy oil town I was expecting. I liked it. It wasn't run down at all, and the people I met were quite friendly. It's fortunes from the great oil boom have come and gone due to declining oil prices, but the city remains positive. It still calls itself "Boomtown, USA."

I almost didn't pull the door handles on principal, but the beer was pretty good.

I'm not sure why I staged this picture of me napping in the city park. Obviously nobody would believe I set the 10-second timer and fell asleep that quickly. But I really did take a nap a little earlier on that very same table.

As I was getting ready to leave the park, a brother and sister of about 8 and 9 years of age came riding up to the shelter on their bikes. "Are you on some kind of a bike trip," asked the older brother?

"Yes, I am," I replied. (Well, it's true.)

"Where ya going?"

"I'm going to ride in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota," I said, trying to simplify my trip as much as possible.

"You're gonna get tired," warned the younger sister.

"You're right, I will, but I'm going to stretch it out over a few weeks."

"We went to South Dakota last year," she said with pride.

"Oh, that's cool. Did you go to the Black Hills?"

"No, we went to Mount Rushmore."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills.

I started to worry about how it might look to other Willistonians, not to mention the local police, for a stranger in town to be talking to two little kids in a park. Especially a stranger on a bike carrying, for all they knew, all of his worldly possessions. So I said goodbye and pedaled away.

"Safe travels," the girl wished me.

Really? I was stunned. What kind of eight year old says "safe travels?" Then her brother added, equally stunningly, "be careful of the cars. They'll turn right in front of you!" These kids were bike-smart.

********************************

A few years ago, the Adventure Cycling Association made the decision to change its well-established Northern Tier Route across the U.S. The ACA cited the dangers of riding among the heavy oil-related truck traffic as its reason for doing so. As a result, I missed this area while on my first multi-week bike tour. Yes, I followed the newer, more southerly route instead. Now I'm back to see what I missed. I'm ready for the danger. Bring it on!

In a way, the first few days of my tour are a "frack you" to the ACA.

Wait a minute! That wasn't a swear word. Fracking, as I understand it, is the process of injecting sand into the earth to help oil drillers dig sideways. Some say fracking is a necessary stabilizer for extracting oil in this part of the country. Others say it degrades the environment. I'll just stay out of the debate.

Anyway, fracking has opened up a whole new industry in the states surrounding North Dakota--sand mining. Trainloads of sand are shipped from the mines, and the sand is transferred to trucks that run non-stop around here. I'll see that truck traffic tomorrow.

Proof that Williston is "Boomtown, USA."

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 18 miles (29 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	6
Comment on this entry	Comment	0