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Today good news was announced for the US in terms of supplying more of its own energy needs .......... Specifically the amount of oil and shale gas in the main reserves found in North Dakota was today declared to be twice as big as previously thought ............ and it was already thought to be massive........ it has entirely transformed North Dakota and its finances.......... I was up there yesterday taking a little peek at the oil business close to Dickinson North Dakota........... This crazily spectacular sky above lasted for about 30 seconds as I was shooting this nodding donkey oil rig against the setting sun........ these rigs just go night and day on their own ........ mostly no one attends to them.
After I shot this I popped back into town for a celebratory visit to Taco Bell.......... :-)))
But then I was still up and about so I decided to roll to South Dakota specifically to Rapid City SD .......... Matt had already told me this would not be a sensible move in the dark .......... he is back in Atlanta but he was right of course........... 250 odd miles through total nothing......... the so called 'Bad Lands' ....... virtually no towns or settlements........ no gas stations no big roads.......... really nothing......
Anyway I filled the car full of gas and a spare tank too......... checked the tires........ checked the coffee and tick-tac situation......... then rolled........ it was 10PM .......... should be sort of close to Rapid City by around 3AM.........
The road was amazing......... total blackness........ only the road and absolute blackness either side ..........
I drove and drove and saw no sign of other people ...... no lights or buildings......... for maybe 50 or 100 miles at a time............ the whole journey I only saw one other car driving ........ driving the other way down the road towards me............. it was surreal............
At one point I was listening on the sat radio to the BBC World Service.......... they had a program about the surface of Mars......... I started to hallucinate that the incredible 'Tolkein-esk' landscapes they were describing were extending out from the road in the blackness either side of the road......... it was so pitch dark ........ anything could have been happening.......... the surface of Mars with evil aliens too..... maybe? ......... after all it is the 'Bad Lands' .......
I finally came to a little town about 50 miles from Rapid City.......... with a gas station that had 24 hour pumps........ no one actually there............ but I was glad to finally get gas ......... I was running low on the main tank........ and I was really glad to see signs of other people once more.............
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXX
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.... The photography and slightly mad life of reportage artist Jez Coulson ....