Big bales of hay and fields that seem to stretch out across the North Dakota prairie into eternity were the first sights that greeted a well-worn 1978 RV carrying some cross-country travelers to the state.

When Glenn Maynard and his new wife, Tracy, decided to extend their honeymoon to travel the United States, they did not know where their journey would take them. It brought them through the well-spread-out state of North Dakota, and one of its small towns - Zap.

"It seemed so small on the map; we wondered what it would be like to live there," Maynard said.

In nearly a year, they traveled to all 48 lower states. While on their journey, Maynard was a travel correspondent, writing articles about their trip hoping to eventually produce a travel book.

When Maynard compiled his travels into "Strapped into an American Dream," he included his experience on the North Dakota prairie.

"The landscape evolved from prairie into a rugged nature in the form of eroded Badlands. They were so bad that they were good, but we were glad that we didn't have to walk," Maynard wrote in his novel.

Driving west on I-94, they chose to travel off the beaten path, took a right at Glen Ullin and found themselves face to face with a sign reading "Zap, the Little Town with the Big Heart."

"Everyone was waving and saying hello, and we are just not used to that," he said.

When Maynard parked his RV near Zap, he did not know what to expect in the town. They had chosen to visit this town based on its original name. With a little more than 200 residents and no grocery store, Maynard had difficulty finding a drop of milk.

"There wasn't exactly Vegas; we were using it as just kind of a layover," Maynard said.

However, with friendly strangers waving and greeting them with smiles, Maynard found a local, Carol, a bartender at one of the two town bars, who sold him three-fourths of a gallon of milk for 50 cents.

With a dart board as their main source for entertainment, and chatty locals, they enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere the rural town provided, and found Zap, and North Dakota as a whole, to be a place filled with warm and amiable citizens.

"When I did so, Carol grabbed me and gave me a big hug, offering Tracy the chance for a cheek-to-cheek photograph. All this from a lady we hadn't even known a few days ago. That's North Dakota, and it's also Zap," Maynard wrote in his book.

"Strapped into an American Dream" is available online at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

(Reach reporter Kay Kemmet at 250-8260 or kay.kemmet@bismarcktrbune.com.)