Sick as a (Prairie) Dog in Bismarck

The prediction that we might be eating our way across the country should have been taken more seriously.  Gluttony never has a happy ending .  I didn't see much of Bismarck, North Dakota.  As the night wore on, I kept hoping I would be in good enough shape to continue the trip the next day, instead of waiting for hours in the local version of an Urgent Care Center for someone to prescribe me some relief.  After a long sleep, I felt a little shaky but good enough to drive on.  I picked up a few newspapers and got most of the following information from them. 

North Dakota from the interstate traveling from east to west seems like endless miles of nothing but farms and grazing lands.  There’s no indication of any other activity.  But did you know that North Dakota’s population, currently about 650,000 (yes, for the whole state), is projected to reach one million by 2015?  And that North Dakota is now the second-largest oil producing state after Texas?  The newspapers are full of the evolving details of the ever-widening impact of the oil boom in the northwestern part of the state centered around what used to be the small town of Williston.  That poor town has grown from 10,000 to 30,000 in just a few years.  Here’s a quote from the current mayor:  “It all still seems unreal to us.”  All I know is that you can’t find a decent hotel room anywhere in western North Dakota for less than $150 per night.  North Dakota.  Go figure.  On to Montana!