A Plain State
There is only one way to describe the landscape as you as you approach North Dakota from Minnesota: Flat. There is field after field, all the way to the horizon – no rolling hills or small towns pepper the countryside. North Dakota lays before you as a vast uninterrupted flatness.
In my mind a flat state is a boring state. To be fair, most of my experience with flat states is driving through Ohio. Switching between insane traffic and mind numbing emptiness, driving on I-75 in Ohio is one of my least favorite experiences. This vista in North Dakota did not inspire much confidence. At my first stop, my expectations sunk even lower.
Grand Forks is the oldest city in North Dakota. Its position on the Red River, and importance as a meeting place for Canadian fur traders, gave it significance long before the Northern Pacific Railway gave the rest of the state a reason to exist. By all measures it seemed to indicate that North Dakota had more to offer. Grand Forks has art museums, beautiful parks, and most importantly, a brewery. I asked the bartender at Rhombus Guys what North Dakotans do for fun.
“Drink,” he paused to consider if there were any other options, and then silently walked back to the dish machine.
I got back on the road, but what little enthusiasm I had mustered for this new state was dashed. Some of the other bar patrons had defended their state. One student at the bar had maintained that North and South Dakota had been divided wrong. East Dakota sucks, but West Dakota was exciting. She claimed that if you make it to Medora, you’d love North Dakota.
Google Maps shows that Medora is almost a 6-hour drive on I-94 from Grand Forks. The drive looks like it would be a longer version of the Cleaveland to Cincinati slog. Hard Pass. Stick to the smaller highways.
Do you know why there aren’t many great stories about driving East? Because you can’t drive off into the sunrise. And that first night I found you can chase sunsets for hours in North Dakota. Maybe flat had a few advantages.
Michigan, North Dakota
There are four cities named after my home state in the US. They are in West Virginia, Vermont, Indiana and North Dakota. A camper staying at Michigan, North Dakota, is one of the more exciting things that happens to that town. The city maintains a free campground that provides better amenities than a $35 RV park. The only payment is to trade stories when the whole town comes to the campground after dinner.
The people are nice and walking around near sunset you can find great subjects to to point a camera at. They are equal in number to those found among the lakes and mountains of the more scenic states I have visited. Score another point for North Dakota.
The Open Road
Driving through North Dakota is nothing like driving through Ohio. There is no traffic on the two lane highways, unless you count the occasional combine. The speed limits are all 75 mph. The vast nothingness, also had a few charms of its own. North Dakota is a great state to drive through, and not just because you’ll get better fuel economy on the flats.
North Dakotans also seem to have a habit of building giant sculptures to get you to stop by as you are passing through. The enchanted highway between Gladstone and Regent is a 32 mile stretch with a collection of the worlds largest scrap metal sculptures. Built out of old equipment from the oil fields, some sculptures stand over 70 feet tall and 60 feet long
Now to be fair, I still didn’t find much to do in North Dakota. My days consisted of driving, volunteering online, swimming holes, and sleep. But the small charms I did encounter made me firmly pro-North Dakota.
In fact, there are numerous great flat things like, crisp twenty-dollar bills, Frisbees, and blueberry pancakes. North Dakota isn’t one of them. That is because North Dakota isn’t actually all flat.
I made it to Medora.
