day 34 -- havre to williston, ND

headed out from havre on a bike now with two great gripping tires, just in time for endless straight roads and no turns. more of the same montana countryside, with the space between towns shrinking steadily. from glacier to havre and beyond the hi-line ran to the north of US2, but at some point it crossed over to the south side. the template for towns changed at the same time, from (in north-south order) tracks/grain elevator/main street/perpendicular residential streets to something more complicated but just as formulaic. US 2 was isolated on the north edge of town and lined with gas stations and fast food without entering the town proper. in each town one or two streets cut underneath the tracks to enter the town, which consisted of a 2x1 block commercial district with two bars, one casino, and one cafe fronting the tracks; and western wear and hunting outfitters and municipal offices around the other three sides. too too many places to explore, so I resolved (the third such resoluation) to spend at least part of next summer hopping from town to town in montana and spending at least 2-3 nights in each place. diners in the early morning in time to catch ranchers, countryside during the day to capture the trains and the grass and the sky properly, bars at night.

an attempt on that score didn't work out to well in the whistlestop of saco. I stopped at the diner for a late lunch. two waitresses, a third off duty. the menu has a smattering of prices filled in, greek style, so I figure that marks what's available. club sandwich? not available since they can't afford to keep lunchmeat on hand. and actually nothing from the grill either since it's stuck on way-too-hot. pretty much only the daily special is on offer -- chicken patty sandwich with tots. and I get two patties as compensation for the limited choices, though I'm not really all that excited for that much breaded chicken. straight from the school cafeteria. but...later an elderly couple comes in. the occasion? just dropped off the steer! too perfect to make up.

no time for enough of that on this trip, though. back onto the endless US2. I covered all 664 montana miles from the edge of hells canyon above troy to the first sand hills of the dakotas. all along the route there were signs urging voters to pressure lawmakers into considering '4 for US2,' presumably referring to lanes. outside of havre there were occasional packs of five cars together, but nothing that could reasonably be called 'traffic.' several hundred miles of widened highway for the 100,000 or souls who live along the corridor? perhaps in alaska. more train traffic than cars and almost no semis since all the freight is on the rails, making for a parade of the 21st century railway picturesque. in place of boxcars and tankers and hoppers there are stacked containers. behind the iconic orange of BNSF locomotives a rainbow of the shipping companies: italia azure, hyundai rust-red, yang ming red on white, evergreen...well.

but for residents, not aesthetics-tourists, meth is a bigger concern. the public service campaign here is 'meth -- not even once.' this shows up on official billboards and hand-painted murals alike, often accompanied by images of the family you stand to lose. it's hard to imagine the real devastation meth inflicts, but do forty years of politicized hysterics over marijuana and cocaine blur the no-turning-back reality of meth? cocaine is a you-could-die-each-time gamble, but not the once-and-you're-hooked guarantee. there's no game to it. it is too much to imagine that meth takes hold in only the most hopeless communities, small towns that are in some ways worse than the inner city because there isn't even a distant uptown to dream about?

somewhere between brockton and culbertson the landscape shifted to dakota, the jumble of sand hills into which the plains deteriorate. the border came a bit later, and soon after I spun through williston, ND. I was hoping to stay downtown, but the old west main street hotel-casino was too far in the rearview. so the next best thing -- the 'vegas hotel' on the strip mall outskirts. complete with a random public fantasy football draft at 7pm!