I have driven through much of the state of North Dakota several years ago when it became my 48th state to visit and spend a night in (leaving Alaska and Hawaii at the time yet to go). But I really did not get to drive through either the northwest or northeast corners of the state. So on my way home, I decided to drive through the northeastern part of Montana (also never before visited) and the northwestern part of North Dakota. That was really the only reason I was in this state during this trip -- just to drive some two-lane highways never before driven on by me.

North Dakota is basically two things -- farmland/pastures and oil drilling. Otherwise, western North Dakota looks much like eastern Montana.

While driving I saw numerous pipes coming out of the ground (anywhere from a couple of feet to twenty feet above ground) with a flame going, assuming burning gas in the ground. To my naive way of thinking, that seems like a waste of energy. But presumably there is an engineering reason they burn like that.

North Dakota has many large lakes, particularly in the central part of the state. Presumably some are formed from dams on the Missouri River.

Along highway 36 between Wilton and Wing I saw a farm that had a long single line -- maybe a mile and a half long -- near the highway of evergreen trees. Looks like the owner is growing them for people to cut for their Christmas tree.