Pete Torola's Homeless Page

                                LEAH AND I WENT TO NORTH DAKOTA THIS PAST WEEKEND...I DROVE TO DULUTH AND LEAH HOPPED ON...SHE DROVE MOST OF THE WAY IN DAKOTA....THESE PICS SHOW WHAT THE SCENERY WAS....HARDLY ANY TREES, MILES OF FARMLAND, AND IN A WAY HAS IT'S OWN KIND OF BEAUTY.  WE IN MICH. HAVE LOTS OF TREES AND CAN SEE ONLY A MILE OR TWO IN THE DISTANCE BECAUSE OF THE TREES.  HERE YOU COULD SEE MAYBE TEN MILES OR MORE.  THERE WERE SOME HILL HERE AND THERE, AND WITH THE CLOUDS AND CHANGING LIGHT, WAS BEAUTIFUL.

IF YOU SAW A CLOUD OF DUST IN THE DISTANCE, IT WAS A FARMER PLOWING OR FERTILIZING.  WE WONDERED HOW LONG IT TOOK TO DO ONE FIELD, HOW MANY TIMES AROUND IT TOOK, HOW MANY MILES AROUND AND AROUND.....'VAST' WAS THE WORD WE USED A LOT IN COMMENTING.

MANY TIMES, IT WAS A COMBINATION OF FARMING AND OIL RIGS

ONE OF THE HUNDREDS OF "GRASSHOPPERS" WORKING

ONE OF THE HUNDREDS OF MANCAMPS....MANY ARE EMPTY, EVEN THO' THE OIL BUSINESS IS PICKING UP AGAIN.  APARTMENTS IN THE TOWNS HAVE SPRUNG UP, AND SOME CAMPS WERE ORDERED TO CLOSE SO THE WORKERS HAD TO MOVE TO APARTMENTS.  THE TOWN OF WILLISTON IS REALLY A LOT LARGER THAN I THOUGHT AND VERY SPREAD OUT...LOTS OF STORES AND RESTAURANTS, CLEAN AND SAFE.  (walt said  that it was a rough town a few years ago}

AND MANY OF THESE TANKS

AN OIL RIG UP CLOSE....THERE IS AN OFFICE ON THE RIG WHICH IS MANNED 24/7

AND THIS IS THE ROAD....IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON....
MOSTLY STRAIGHT, SPEED LIMIT 70.....IF ONE TRAVELED ALONE,  I WOULD IMAGINE IT WOULD BE EASY TO FALL ASLEEP?  

HAPPY TO SEE THIS SIGN!!!!!

AND THIS IS WHY WE WENT!!  WALLY AND LYNN'S SON CADE WAS VALEDICTORIAN OF HIS CLASS OF 9....I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM.  THIS IS CADE  GIVING HIS SPEECH.
LOTS MORE PICS NEXT POSTING...AT THE GRADUATION, PARTY, CHURCH....