After leaving the dust of Williston, it was a pleasant surprise to see the clouds of filth being left in the rear view mirror. Rugby is a nice community. Its claim to fame is the fact that it is the geographical center of North America. (I got a pin!!!!!) They also had an expansive museum of donations from various families. It was fascinating.
We had stopped several times from Williston to Rugby trying to find a campground with an opening. Rugby was the only town that had a campground site available - so we jump right into it! As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we were traveling East on Highway 2. The campground was located at the intersections of Highway 2 and Highway 3. I kid you not. We were so happy to find a clean campground with a hint of a bucolic atmosphere. Woodalls 2006 book is not the best judge of what goes on in 2011, and this campground explained it. The one in Williston was given three stars!!!!!!!!! This one received only two. Part of our problem in finding a site was the aftermath of the Spring flooding in North North Dakota. Many campground were still under water, and others had not been able to open yet.
We had noticed that there were two signs advertising a Good Sam's Samboree in town. all right! Something different to do. Next morning we headed out to the Cornerstone Restaurant. It was a kitchie little place also on the corner of 2 and 3.The landmark marking the geographical center was right in front of the diner. They served really good breakfast at a really good price!!!! DO YOU HEAR THAT WOODALLS? GOOD FOOD, GOOD PRICE, CORNERSTONE RESTAURANT. Really nice people, you betcha! Maybe it was my imagination, but all the people we had encountered were really nice. We left there headed for the Visitors' Information Center just across the street sitting at, you guessed it, highways 2 and 3! Although the signs clearly said it should be open - it clearly wasn't. Not to worry, we decided to take in the "Samboree." We had never been to one and PaL had attended the one in Louisville. They raved about all the vendors and the interesting people.
Off we went in search of the great Good Sam's Samboree. After a little poking around, we found the site. It was being held at the county fairgrounds. We approached wondering what was what. There were a fair amount of RVs parked there, but we didn't see any vendors in any of the RVs, so we poked around in an enclosure that held lots of crafted items for us to drool over and - and - (Hold your breath!) and buy! Oh cherish the moments. I had visions of a new lawn chair, maybe a throw rug to cover all the spots in the living room and all the gimmicks and hardware to browse through. The only thing at this "Samboree" to rave about were two little old ladies, one from Minot, SD and the other from Williston !!!!!!! The were so very cute. They filled us in on the situation in Northern ND!
In the last few years, fracking has been perfected and oil fields were able to be tapped that were untouched previously. It became a feeding frenzy. Taking advantage of the situation, the local vendors and business owners boosted prices to outrageous heights. Stores like WalMart adapted to the customer needs and at the same time raised prices. All this really has taken its toll on the core residents. It was never a demographic of wealthy people, it was lots of retired folks and moderate to low income families. Williston ballooned from a census of 10,000 to what is guessed now at 45,000 - in only 2 years.
The many single wides we had seen as we drove toward Rugby are called Man Camps. These are operated very much like Military Barracks - even painted a slate grey. Man Camps, how droll. However, these operations are running 24/7 and giving the workers homes away from home. Some workers did bring their entire families. This presented more problems. This accounts for the high numbers of RVs and the need for more RV campgrounds. Of course, with an RV you CAN stand alone with occasional refreshing.
Thinking of all that, it is a bit more exciting. Thinking of all that, it is frightening. Even with today's advancements, are the basic needs of those "pioneers" being met. What kind of society will evolve for children of the workers. Today's workers aren't using picks and shovels which was scary enuf then, but now these behemoth "tools" demand more and more operators. Barry spoke to a person that verbalized that a person can make $100,000 a year and be homeless.
Then comes a need for lots of housing for the workers that are being poured in to work the oil fields. With a population triple and quadruple came a crunch for housing, clothing and food. Large companies were sold entire apartment units, rental homes and land to develop. With that push, rentals rocketed and forced low income families out.
This of course, created a social disaster. Families forced out with no place to go. We saw the by products of these sociological disasters. Explosion of crime placing a crunch on a police branch developed for a town of 10,000. Support businesses stumbling and struggling to keep up with demands. Utilities not equipped to handled demands of such a population explosion.
So, as you see, we went to "Samboree" to learn and see, and we did learn, allowing us to see the reason for what we had just driven through. All this to give an example of how our education has been greatly enhanced by traveling by RV. How could you possibly relate from a train or ship?
Traveling by RV is not a piece of cake. There are lots of issues that have to be addressed. There are lots challenges that have to be understood and faced. Maybe some people only want a superficial view of their traveling adventures - but for those adventurous and willing to expend the effort that riding the roads takes, it certainly can be very rewarding.
Tomorrow we bid adieu to Rugby and hit the road again.
from the MABarry - over and out.
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