Days 25, 26 and 27-Mb2Cb Tour-Watford to Williston to Fortuna, North Dakota

I'm indeed fortunate this evening to find myself in Fortuna, ND. This is a delightful little town, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, just 10 miles from the Canadian border. Fortuna, is very small, but is populated by folks with very big hearts. I stopped here late in the day knowing there was neither a motel nor campground anywhere close by. Bev, who runs the Border Tavern (Fortuna has 1 church and 1 bar) listened to my tour story and told me that I was welcome to pitch my tent in the community park, across the street from the Tavern. The community park is beautifully landscaped, and looks completely out of place. Obviously these kind souls like their parks, bibles, and liquor. My kind of folks!! Just outside of Fortuna I stopped at Pearson's Cafe and had the best meal I've had since the tour started and met two of the most interesting and lovely people ever. Patresha, the cook, is a native of Jamaica, and cooks up the absolute best Jamaican Jerk Chicken & Rice. Along with Greg, her husband, they cook up wonderful dishes, and they'll even sing and dedicate spirituals hymns and prayers to you. It's meeting folks like the Pearson's that make this tour such a great experience. Patresha and Greg Pearson, fine cooks, fine Christians, and even finer human beings. If you're fortunate enough to find yourself in Fortuna, ND. you must stop by Pearson's Cafe, and tell them Randy sent you.

I cannot leave North Dakota behind without commenting one last time on the oil boom currently underway. I'm from Texas, and I worked for a time in Pasadena, right in the middle of the largest concentration of oil companies on the planet, but I've never seen anything like this. Oil related activities are infused in everything. Everywhere there are gigantic RV and trailer cities, comprised of thousands of units each. These are temporary housing for the hundreds of thousands men and women working the oil industry. This place reminds me of an ant hill, after you've poked it with a stick. But instead of ants, there's thousands of big trucks running every which way. Big trucks hauling, oil, road building materials, drilling equipment, and especially earth moving heavy equipment. There's clearly a great deal of money and jobs here. The restaurants, bars, stores, motels are all doing very well. What is less obvious, is what the state, county, and city governments are doing to mitigate the damage being done to the environment. My travels through the state have shown me the good and the
bad. There are incredible natural vistas and lovely, tiny, towns like Fortuna. However, more easy to see, are the torn up roads, the litter and debris from the big rigs, the endless and ugly temporary housing units, and the deep scars on the countryside. What side do you fall on?

Tomorrow, Friday, I will cross into Canada. I hope to motel in Weyburn that night. Saturday I should arrive in Regina, SK. ending the Mb2Cb Tour 2012. Stay tuned for what will probably be the final post of the Mb2Cb Tour.