Go south again, young man

Whew. Returned from a busy four days in North Dakota. T'was a good time seeing one and all. Fourteen people in the house, seven kids age 5 and under. Not for the faint of heart. But, we enjoyed ourselves.

I always enjoy driving through the North Dakota countryside. It's funny how well I know the terrain between Minot and Fargo. I've driven over it so many times it's about as familiar as neighborhood city streets. It must have been that way too for the Indians who roamed the plains.

If one looks beyond the open spaces between Jamestown and Minot, one can see some of the very interesting geographical features of North Dakota. Highway 52 roughly parallels the Missouri Escarpment. The highway proceeds north from Jamestown to Carrington, and then turns to the northwest, where the Escarpment also turns. You can see that line of hills to the west from the highway.

I also keep thinking that would be good tank country, the wide open relatively flat terrain. It must be a lot like the terrain in western Russia, which saw some enormous tank battles in WWII. Indeed, the terrain of North Dakota reminded many Germans from Russia of what they came from, which is one factor in why they settled in ND.