something magical

Along this seemingly endless prairie, things spring out of absolutely nowhere and nothing, like magic. Take, for example, Minot, North Dakota (why not?!). Now the home of a huge air force base, which is the dominant economic engine of the city, Minot sprung up literally overnight as a tent city during the construction of the Great Northern Railway. Within five months, the city grew to 5,000 residents, and gained its nickname as the "Magic City".

But the city exists in stark contrast to the prairie that surrounds it. Unlike some of the smaller towns we've passed through, which exist as more concentrated nodes along a huge farming and ranching network, Minot is an obsessed military town in polite, midwestern veil. Surrounded by more than 200 nuclear warheads, apparently armed and ready, Minot is probably more of a fortress than anything. According to a very affable member of the All Saints Episcopal Church (our host for two nights here), and former first lieutenant in the Air Force, we passed by several of them along our ride from Rugby yesterday, and will pass by more going to New Town tomorrow. These weapons of mass testosterone, capable of ending life on this planet as we know it, are apparently pretty nondescript, loitering along the roadside, enclosed by an electrified fence, marked with radioactive warnings.

Crossing the middle of nowhere yesterday, about 20 miles outside the city, I saw a huge airplane cross the sky at a relatively low altitude. Here, cropdusters and small craft are typically the only things that dot the sky. It was a B-52, one of several I have seen since arriving here. Minot AFB is one of only two bases in the country where the B-52 is housed. My god, there are far too many fun facts about this place, I'm not sure where to begin. But the library is closing and I'm being kicked out. We're on our way out of civilization for a while. Hopefully more blog postings will follow soon.