Fargo to Minot...

So we left Fargo, reluctantly, wishing for one more night of Sammy's pizza (you can see Sammy's from our hotel window, its on the front end of the brown bldg with awnings past the parking lot and facing Broadway) , but Highway 83 called, and we had to go,  following the 52 north west for 258 miles through the middle of nowhere more or less to Minot where we were to spend the night before beginning the 83 journey north to the Canadian border and then back down again as far as Valentine, Nebraska.  There was much to appreciate, but little to see (photographically) in the relatively unchanging and barely populated farming areas along the 52, with the situation negatively compounded by a flat cloudless sky, photo-anathema further limiting the possibilities of what might have been...There is nothing more dispiriting to a photographer than a bland, non-contributory sky, but when you are only passing through, what can you do?

Boring, but there's a narrative to be followed here for better or worse.  Trust me, it gets better at some road, just not so much on the 52.  In fact the only sort of bright spot was a little town called Anamoose, a town that takes its name seriously, or maybe not all that seriously, promising fun and good times, and we were hoping for a bite to eat.

When we got to town, about 1/4 mile off the main road, it was the same old sad story of another abandoned town built along a railroad siding that had outlived its usefulness, but why?  We were lured in by the promise of good times, but there were no good times to be had.  Just about everything but the post office and the auto mechanic seemed long gone and boarded up.  The bakery/ lunchonette was still demarcated by a sign, but it was broken and dusty and looked like it hadn't been open for years.

That's Anamoose, more or less.  The reason you don't see many cars or any people is that there is no longer any reason to come to town other than to pick up your mail.  But 264 people are reported to live there and I don't doubt it.  There were many occupied homes, and a well tended park with a playground.  But what do they do, where do they shop, have a cup of coffee with friends, anything?  If you are traveling for any extended period on ND Highway 52, pack a sandwich, you'll need it.

                                                                  Pablo