Current location: Dry Lake, North Dakota

Photo: A field of gold and green stretches to the far horizon, topped by a bright blue sky scattered with clouds. In the middle distance, a river stretches across the frame while a low-lying tree casts a long, dark shadow.

Photo: Stretching to the distant horizon is a mottled field of amber and golden flax, where a thin line of dark green trees occupies the middle of the frame. White, grey and slate clouds are scattered across from left to right and in the foreground, low dry vegetation presents a variety of textures and heights.

    Dry Lake, ND is at 48.195925,-99.043306. It is flat as a French pancake. Great expanses of golden brown fields stretch all the way to the thin line of the horizon, seemingly hundreds of miles away. Occasionally, a Van Gogh scene appears, with a sharp cut of road, a few lollygagging round bales of hay, bordered by dark olive stands of trees, and a golden light under a white-blue sky. 

    It is morning. The sun looks like it's been up for hours, but it is still the time of early fishermen parked along banks of flowing creeks and still-sleepy farm houses.

    I badly want a hot cup of tea, but that would mean putting on a jacket over my night shirt, or summoning O.C., our tireless car attendant who didn't even get dinner until well past our bedtime, and was already up cleaning the bathrooms when I walked down the hall. My stomach growls plaintively for some caffeine, but I am glued to the window, the train's faint whistle punctuating the rolling track sounds.

   A person in constant motion, I am suddenly experiencing stillness.