I Was Wrong -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I've been blogging for some time about the passing lanes being put in south of Williston on US-85.  I've said that for all intents and purposes, the project would make US-85 a four-lane undivided highway. I was wrong.

I just came back from a round trip from Williston to Dickinson this evening.  The passing lanes will alternate down the highway and except for Indian Hill, will result in three lanes much of the way. Two lanes one way (one a passing lane) and the third lane coming the opposite way, and then alternating up and down the highway, if that makes sense.

I must say that in the passing lane at 70 miles an hour, it is a bit unnerving meeting a truck coming at you in oncoming lane going just as fast.  Again, tonight, whenever I got into a passing lane, I moved into the slow lane if a truck was behind me to him it pass. I was touring; the trucker was working. 

It's 2:19 a.m. I have to be up at 6:00 a.m. to be back in the Bakken, so going to bed now. More later.

What a beautiful road. Wow, it was a beautiful drive. If anyone has the time, I would highly recommend taking the drive but I would start out in the early evening. The traffic will still be heavy but not as bad as it would be during the day. We stopped at a service station on the west side of Watford to get a cola, and the station was filled with trucks. It was a hoot maneuvering in and among the trucks. When I come back in another life, I hope part of it is as a truck driver.

The passing lanes will be between Williston and Watford City, it appears.

South of Watford City, through the Badlands, the highway is finished and beautiful.

Between Watford City and Alexander, the new passing lane work looks complete.

From Alexander north toward Williston, the work is in various stages of completion.

The road is in great shape regardless of the weather.

I say that because unrelated to the passing lane project, there is a huge road project at the top of the hill going down into the turnoff into the North Unit of the park. This is where the landslide was earlier this summer that completely closed the road (US 85) for awhile.

The road is now open but all dirt for about a half mile. There is heavy equipment on site, and it is absolutely sporty to take the drive through this half mile. If it rains, it will be a mess, and I assume the road will become impassable for automobiles. It does not look like they can complete the road before the end of the year, but maybe they can. I am absolutely impressed how fast these contractors are working. I am really, really impressed with how much money and how much work is going on with regard to roads in North Dakota.

But I can't say enough how pretty the drive was between Williston and Dickinson. Exactly 130 miles from Four-Mile Corner (Williston) to Exit 61, Dickinson. The traffic was a bit heavy at 8:00 p.m. but on the return trip at midnight, almost no traffic. If the weather is bad or if the traffic is heavy during the middle of the day, I can imagine the trip taking a lot longer than anticipated.

We did not see any bighorn sheep crossing US 85 in the five-mile stretch of bighorn sheep crossing, but we did see one meteor. (I mention that because meteors are important in my life; bighorn sheep not so much. We did not see any moose either, south of Williston, which had been spotted earlier this spring/summer.)

There's a spirit of pioneer camaraderie in the truckstops. I wish we had a Mark Twain or a Hunter S. Thompson to write about it; it's history in the making, good, bad, or indifferent. Mark Twain would compare it to the gold rush he participated in. Hunter S Thompson would think we are all nuts.

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While posting this, someone sent me the following: if you can't afford a doctor, go to the airport where you can get a free x-ray and breast exam. And if you mention Al Qaeda, you will get a free colonoscopy. Yup.