The Little Missouri River -- one of God's awesome sculpting tools.
Another lunch spot -- beautiful, peaceful...
Open grasslands swallow failed dreams.
This part of North Dakota harvested plenty of hay. Storage is not an issue.
Temporary housing crowds old elevators, testifying to the massive influx of people working in the oil fields. The area is a curious mixture of ranchers and oil workers. In some ways, the cultures seem to co-exist but not mingle. Then, at times they run smack into each other's space, resulting in friction and frustration. And, North Dakota can't decide whether to be offended by the change forced on them, or pleased at their swelling coffers. Regardless, the stress created shows in crowded housing forcing low income people out of the area, labor shortages in service industries, wear on the infrastructure, under manned and under prepared police, 'women of the night' and drugs and violence as in the Gold Rush days.
But God...
They call this a 'slump formation'. If you don't know what that is, look it up. Anyway, what happens to the soils and rocks is on public display. There's little vegetation to disguise anything.
