October train to Minnesota

Friday, October 21, I took the Amtrak train to Minnesota to get Tammy and move her here to Montana.  Unlike the previous day where the train was over 5 and 1/2 hours late to Whitefish, the train was on time the day I rode it.  The train lost some time as it went across Montana so I arrived in Red Wing, MN twenty minutes late.  For Amtrak that is not bad.

My train car was a little over half full with passengers but I was able to get two seats to myself.  When I walked through the three other coach cars I found that they were less than half full with a number of two seats without people.

I only had 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before so I slept as the train went through the mountains. I woke up east of the mountains and this is what I saw.  Yup, fresh snow on the mountains.   When I returned home there was much more snow on these mountains.

East of Browning, MT

Between Malta and Glasgow, Montana the train tracks go near the Milk River as it curves back and forth.  It is very pretty in the Fall when the colors change.

In this area the BNSF railway had upgraded their communication network - apparently to satellite as they had removed all of the power line poles along the track and had quite a number of stacks of poles along the tracks.

At Havre, MT the train stopped for 20 minutes for refueling and we could get off the train to stretch our legs.  The weather was nice.  Here is the car I rode in.

While I noticed several border patrol agents on the platform outside the Havre train station this was the first time the agents didn't walk on the train asking everyone if they were U.S. citizens.   After I got home I found out why.

Current and former Border Patrol agents said field offices around America began receiving the order last month — soon after the Obama administration announced that to ease an overburdened immigration system, it would allow many illegal immigrants to remain in the country while it focuses on deporting those who have committed crimes.

 The full story can be found here: US northern border checks scaled back


Before the North Dakota oil boom few people got on and off the train at Williston and Stanley, North Dakota.  On this trip the three top destinations were: Chicago, Minneapolis/St Paul and Williston.

A Montana truck driver getting off at Williston told others that Williston and the area is like living through a gold rush.  He claimed there were over 6,000 trucks operating the Wiliams County alone.

Minot, ND was devastated by a flood this past Spring.  The train tracks, which were flooded, are located at the south end of the valley.  As the train came into Minot I looked out the window for the city lights.  I could see the lights of North Hill, but one can always see those lights before entering the city.  This time I turned around and looked out the south train windows to find we were in Minot as those lights were bright and I could see where we were.  Large areas of the valley to the north that were devastated by the flood were still without house and street lights and it was eerily dark.

The Minot train station is still closed due to the flood damaging the train station and platform.  The train still stops there for refueling but no one is allowed to get off the train during this time.

While the train refueled at the closed Minot train station I talked with a man heading home to St Paul for a break from work.  He had a job laying new train tracks.  Private companies are building oil loading terminals and also new train tracks. 

The Bakken boom: Rail terminal construction picking up speed

The St Paul man had a job back in Minnesota but his brother, working in the oil fields, strongly encouraged him to come to North Dakota to work.  His wife and kids are staying back in Minnesota but he hasn't regretted it as he is making good money and paying off his house mortgage, his debts, and is building a nest egg for his kids' college tuition.

But then he hasn't spent a winter in North Dakota.  He said the train track continues to be laid even in the dead of Winter.  The company has a large structure that covers the area where track is to be laid and heats the ground allowing for track to be laid when normally the ground would be frozen.  With the oil boom going full blast no one can wait and allow Winter to slow things down.

While the St Paul man and I were having a pleasant discussion on ND and Minnesota winters another man chimed in about how the wind blows in North Dakota and not Minnesota and North Dakota winters suck.  He didn't know that I had lived in Minnesota and can call his BS about the wind not blowing in Minnesota.  I lived in southern Minnesota and the wind there blew just as much and strong as in North Dakota.

This second guy was also from Minnesota and he was a prideful ignorant Minnesotan who thinks Minnesota is better than all other states.  He reminded me of what a person who had lived in both Minnesota and Texas (but was not a native to either state) once told me: Minnesotans are like Texans in that they think they are better than others.  The difference is that Minnesotans don't have a sense of humor about it.

Here is another example.  A bicyclist rode across the U.S. and had a blog on the New York Times website describing his ride.  He wrote about how nice and friendly people in North Dakota are.

Welcoming Monks and Wild Horses, in North Dakota

Of course a Minnesotan couldn't let it be.  Here is her comment on the article:

Funny.  When you read the bicycle rider's blog about his ride through Minnesota he didn't mention how nice Minnesotans are.  Gasp.

Anyway the Minnesotan on the train - who was wearing a t-shirt with the saying "If you can read this, thank a teacher" - wanted to brag about Minnesota to me.  Uh, oh.  Wrong person.  I lived quite a number of years in Minnesota and know that "Minnesota Nice" is just a marketing slogan.  Only Minnesotans or former Minnesotans use this phrase.

He was a classic case of cognitive dissonance.  He used two methods of resisting information: attitude bolstering and selective exposure.  For more on cognitive dissonance, click here.

For example, since he couldn't get anywhere bashing North Dakota and Montana and saying how much Minnesota is better than these two states, he switched and said he was happy to pay higher taxes as Minnesota schools are the best there are and he would never live in Alabama and Mississippi because they have low taxes and bad schools and roads.

Another point he tried to make was Minnesota was better than North Dakota and Montana because Minnesota had more people than these other two states. He tried to ridicule Montana and North Dakota because they have less people than Minnesota.  Really, then why do so many Minnesotans take their vacations in Montana? And why are so many Minnesotans working in North Dakota?   Here is a Minneapolis StarTribune article on the subject: Minnesotans drawn to North Dakota’s siren song of prosperity

From another Minneapolis StarTribune article...

So even with facts on your side one can't argue with people like this.  It is a waste of time. They have a closed mind and are annoying.  So I excused myself and left the observation car and returned to my seat.  The St Paul man had left earlier after the second Minnesotan hijacked our conversation.  I left the Minnesota man to wallow in his "Minnesota niceness" and superiority.