Someone please fix how expensive plane tickets are here

So for those of you who don't know my boyfriend got a job in Bismarck, North Dakota. He is moving there tomorrow. So congratulate him. It's a great job as a sports reporter and there is a NBA development league in the area. And if you know him you know his love of basketball. His friends have joked about him marrying a basketball. That's cool with me I'll just work on converting Anderson Cooper to the heterosexual side. Just kidding. But since the basketball and Mr. Cooper probably won't work this creates quite a conundrum for our relationship. There is no easy way to get to Bismark from Butte. I know a lot of people are probably thinking well North Dakota is the state right next to Montana so it's close! WRONG. The states are big out here in the West. So there is a 10 hour drive between us. So now you're probably thinking ok 10 hour drive that's like a 1 hour flight. Easy. WRONG again. Since Butte and Bismarck are both small cities there is no direct flight between the two. You've got to fly to Salt Lake City then to either Denver or Minneapolis and then on to Bismarck. So it's about 8 hours to fly there. Another problem, flights are expensive. The cheapest is about $500 and once you add taxes, bag fees, and the price to keep your car at the airport for however long you are gone while that adds up.
But I had an idea today. To just drive there. Obviously not for one night but if I have a 3 day weekend or get a few days off I could do it. I've never driven 10 hours by myself but whatever I'll just make sure there's good music on my ipod. I originally didn't want to do that drive because I didn't want to do that to my poor old car. (Oh RAV4 how I wish you were still in your younger days) However, I can rent a car! For only $145 for 4 days. And that's including the being too young fee so if I were 24 that price would be cheaper. So $145 plus gas is still HUNDREDS less than a flight. And only 2 hours of travel time more since there are no direct flights. So hmm I think driving sounds like a good idea. Unless someone has a private jet they want to let me use or someone can come up with a way to get me some cheaper flights. Seriously, why does it cost so much to fly in and out of these little midwest/western towns? Let's spend some stimulus money to fix this. Oh and if anyone else has some suggestions I'll gladly take them. Or I'll just have some fun adventures across Montana and North Dakota.