When you're the only customer at the counter of an all-night joint in Bottineau, North Dakota, it is hard to stay out of a conversation. You're a little like a solitary astronaut meeting two other alien astronauts during a stroll around the Moon. You tend to strike up a conversation. In fact, there are many who feel that a couple of days on the Great Plains of Northern North Dakota is every bit as good as any trip to the Moon. In some ways, it is. . .