northern tier trip epilogue

on friday, july 16, our friend barbara minnick, one of the cyclists in group #2 (the group that rode the route one day after us), died after being hit by a pickup truck while she was cycling toward minot about 12 mi west of town on hwy 2.

several of us in group #1 knew barbara.  i knew her from the 2007 mississippi trip, her first womantours trip, & we had a chance to chat when i’ve had supper with group #2 during this tour.  barbara lived life with gusto, as you’ll learn from her detailed web site.  in her obituary i learned about the many things she did for her church, neighbors, community & those in need in other parts of the world.

friday evening, both groups had dinner together at our motel in minot; the group dinner had been planned a few days before, but it became especially important for us to be together after barbara’s death.  we shared memories of barbara; this was her 4th womantours trip since ’07, so several riders knew her from past trips in addition to this tour.  we grieved her passing, & we celebrated the active life she led & loved.

this photo shows barbara in the foreground on her prized recumbent in june ’07 during the mississippi trip. she loved riding her recumbent, & she loved being part of the womantours family.

july 21: 60 mi to tour’s end, fargo, ND

beauty of a ride again.  patty & denise drove all the way to fargo yesterday afternoon after we got to mayville to scout a good route.  they came up with a beauty:  primarily back roads, good surfaces, little traffic.  & the weather was grand:  warm but not hot, light winds.   usually it’s no fun riding into a large town, but this was a lark.  kudos to denise & patty for their fine scouting work!

i always like to find a photo to take in the early-morning light.  i tried for catching our shadows as we pedaled along the road.  the early sun caught the hay bales & almost made them glow.

i was standing at the 20-mi sag stop when i saw gloria come to a landing at the stop.  this gives you a good idea of how flat & devoid of traffic our roads were.

we stopped when we spotted some horses, especially since there was a colt there with its mom … tho’ i’m not sure she’s the one pictured with him.

these additional horses milling there amongst the junked vehicles were very curious about us bikers.

carol & i both like trains.  we stopped to wave & take a photo as a BNSF freight train came toward us.  you can see carol’s waving arm along the left edge of the photo.  the conductor obliged by tooting his whistle several times.  at that point we were riding on a brand-new stretch of blacktop; talk about smooth riding!

at the 2nd sag stop at 40 mi, carol brought out some of the delicious home-made apricot/almond biscotti that her friend mary-love had sent her in a care package.  we were very lucky that carol was willing to share.  home-made biscotti is a very high-class item for bikers to be enjoying along the road, & this version was scrumptious!

right around noon we made our way into fargo.  first stop was the great northern bicycle shop, which is a renovated train station.  it’s the epitome of bike shops.  gloria, carol, joann & i … after denise took this photo of us with the fargo sign … had a delicious lunch at the shop’s cafe.  (i was dismayed that i ate so much lunch that i didn’t have room for gelato from the shop’s gelato bar.)  then we walked the 2 blocks to the radisson to check in & to take care of all sorts of chores necessary to get us on the road home in the next day or 2.  it already doesn’t seem possible that we’ve covered alost 1500 mi since we left the coast of washington state some 4-1/2 weeks ago.  what beautiful parts of our country we’ve enjoyed up close.

july 20: 91 mi (48 by bike) to mayville, ND

it was a beautiful morning when we went out to the parking lot for breakfast around 6:30, & the weather stayed absolutely lovely all day.

at breakfast jan was sporting her new BIC t-shirt (cut off to make a vest).  i had an extra one with me, so passed it on to her.  she wanted to be more visible on the road; this will certainly do the trick!

we headed east on a little-traveled road; shoulders were good for a long while.  as often happens, the skies were clear early, as in this photo of gloria riding past a field of what i think is soy beans, with hay bales again there along the road.

a little further we rode past this charming little church up on the crest of the hill.

again today, as we were stopped along the road for a few minutes, a fully-loaded, self-supported cyclist came riding by.  i was impressed by how color-coordinated he is:  his outfit matches his panniers & bags.

clouds were becoming more numerous by the time i took this photo of the farm nestled amongst the grain fields.

at the 40-mi sag stop, suzanne had parked near a corn field.  pat has ridden one RAGBRAI (the nation’s oldest & biggest cross-state bike ride; it’s in my home state, iowa), so she’s adept at utilizing corn fields for pit stops.

a little further along, carol & i stopped to snap a photo of these beautiful clouds above the grain fields.

as i mentioned yesterday, gloria, joann & i had planned to get onto the van at cooperstown, 48 mi into the ride.  that was the easiest place for the van to pick us up, since we didn’t want to ride the whole 91 mi.  we’ve developed a more leisurely take on bike touring.  quite a few other riders ended up getting onto the van there, too.  we drove into mayville, getting here just before noon.  we settled into our motel rooms, then went off for lunch at paula’s, a local cafe, just 1/2 block away.  (most everything in mayville is 1/2 block away; the population is less than 2,000.)

then gloria, joann, & i came back to our room & played 3 games of rummikub before carol joined us for the 4th game.  late afternoon i went out to see mayville on foot.  the downtown boasts a corner with stop lights (!), & has more traffic than downtown carrington did.  the library is on the national register of historic places.  i got a kick out of the ATV vehicle parked right in the middle of the street while its driver talked to the woman driving the car.

the inside of the library has beautiful woodwork.  & i learned that this library is one of only 5 remaining in the US with closed stacks.  patrons go up to this ornate window to request the book(s) they want, which are in shelves behind the window.

this is our last supper on the road.  we’ll so miss patty’s cooking!  earlier, i took this photo of part of the group in the parking lot during the map meeting.  you can see that the grain bins are everywhere!

i mentioned linda a while ago, so thot i’d include a photo, along with more details on her amazing athletic pursuits.   she started running at age 37 in 1987.  she’s what’s called an ultra runner.  she has done 85 marathons, five 50-mile runs, & two 100-mile runs (the first she completed in 30 hrs, the second in 27 hrs).  she had completed a marathon (or longer) in each of the 50 states & all 7 continents by her 50th birthday in may 2000; she did a 50-mile run on long island that day.  she has also run a 5-day, 5-stage, 150-mi race in the sahara desert (which included 1 marathon & 1 50-mi day).  on that race the runners had to carry their own food & clothes on their backs.  here’s info on the marathon des sables for those of you who are anxious to sign up.  on another 5-day race, this time in the himalayas in NE india, runners did not need to carry their gear.  linda & her husband live in louisiana.  they have 4 adult children.

whew, all that makes our 60-mi ride to fargo tomorrow sound like a walk in the park.  i hope it turns out that way!  sounds like it’ll be flat on roads that aren’t heavily traveled.  & if the weather is good, as it’s supposed to be, it’ll be a very nice end to our tour.

july 19: 50 mi (30 by bike) to carrington, ND

it was very gray & raining outside when we went downstairs to the casino’s dakotah breakfast room at 7 or so.  we were scheduled to eat around 7:30, get snacks at the trailer at 8, & leave by 8:30.  the surly weather changed those plans.  with only 50 mi to ride, we could afford to wait out the wet weather.

by about 9, the rains had stopped falling, so riders began to leave.  i imagine joann & i cleared out around 9:30.  this was the view from the casino as i rode down the drive to our lakeside road.  the sunshine peeking thru the clouds lit up a patch of water & shown in rays down onto the lake.

the road surface was wet,  & the shoulders often littered with tire fragments & glass.  that combination often spells tire troubles, & by 8 mi, my front tire was flat.  joann & i had seen denise & patty in the van back 2-3 miles where they were staving off  some dogs that were very threatening; the dogs … in a pack of 5 … had already terrorized one of our riders.  i called denise, knowing there was a good bike bump in the van.  she had already gotten a call from a rider further back who had had a flat or 2 this morning, but she’d be up my way after picking her up.

joann & i started working on my tire … keeping our eyes on a german shepherd that roamed nearby.  when denise & patty arrived shortly thereafter, they made quick work out of completing the flat-fixing job.

traffic this morning was a whole different ballgame than yesterday.  beginning at 12 mi into the route, once we turned onto hwy 281 south, where there was hardly any shoulder, truck traffic was pretty heavy.  you had to keep your eye on your rearview mirrow at all times … & we got off our bikes & off to the right of the shoulder a time or 2 when 2 trucks passed each other beside us.  there’s only so much room on a 2-lane road!

we finally got to the 1st sag stop at 20 mi.  there was carol, as always one to lift our spirits.  if this outfit … & the bouquet stuck in the end of a roll of toilet paper … wouldn’t do the job, what would?

carol also pointed out to us the fancy, silver, dome-topped potty stops she had carefully selected for us.

at this point, it was getting warm, & due to the flat tire, joann & i were way back in the pack.  & we didn’t like riding on a narrow road with no shoulder & lots of trucks.  so we put ourselves into & our bikes on top of the subaru (with carol’s help), & got “bumped up” to the next sag stop at mile 40.  there we took our bikes down & rode the remaining 10 mi into carrington.

carrington, ND, is a town of about 2000.  once we got our stuff into our room, i took off walking … to an ATM, & to the post office downtown, which is maybe 6-8 blocks from our motel here on the highway.  on my way back, i stopped at the supervalu across the highway & bot a container of cut-up fresh fruit & a 12-oz container of dry cottage cheese for a lunch snack.  this vehicle was coming down the road as i started to cross the street.   it’s a good indication of the dominance of agriculture in the area when you see a giant piece of farm equipment like that going down a main street of town.

tomorrow’s route … 91 mi … takes us to mayville.  denise says we’ll have pretty much no shoulder most of the way.  gloria, joann & i have already planned with denise & patty to get onto the van in cooperstown at about mile 48 for the rest of the ride into mayville.  maybe we’ll have time for some rummikub once we get there.

july 18: 81 mi to spirit lake casino/resort, ND

whatta ride!  that’s the kind of ride you dream about:  great temps, lovely scenery, back roads with little traffic, & yes, tailwinds (at least most of the time).

we left rugby around 7:30.  we were very happy not to go back onto hwy 2.  instead we headed south on hwy 3, & stayed on that for the first 25 mi.   this photo shows the beauty of the sky & landscape; i like the bright canola yellow against the deep blue of the sky.

there was a stretch of maybe 4-5 mi where they were laying new blacktop.  lucky for us, it was sunday, so no road work going on.  shortly thereafter we got to ride on some of the new blacktop.  here are claudine & judie coming toward me on that stretch.

our first sag stop … at about 20 mi, as usual … was at the entry to a bison ranch.  it was a lovely spot with a lake down the hill in the background.  lacking a bison or 2 to include in this photo of the ranch’s sign, i asked carol to provide some color.  she’s a lot cuter than a bison would’ve been, anyway.

later we came upon horses in a pasture across the road.  i hadn’t gotten a horse photo recently, so we stopped.  claudine & joann are horse experts.  claudine used her official horse whistles to draw their attention for this photo.  well, at least some responded.

but then the horses seemed to get miffed, & in an instant, they formed a line … clearly in a pre-determined order … & off they went.   claudine says the horse at the rear of the line seems to have some kind of condition that has caused it to lose the hair on much of its body.  the horse in the front has on a blanket & face cover.

at mile 50 we came upon the van & trailer.  since there were no service opportunities (towns, stores, etc.) along today’s long route, denise had set out a wonderful lunch right there at the edge of the field.

my plateful of goodies doesn’t really look like something you’d expect to enjoy along the roadside on a long bike ride, does it?  i’ve said it before & i’ll say it again:  we’re very spoiled when it comes to food.

after lunch we started seeing glimpses of devil’s lake.  it’s huge!  this info comes from the devils lake web site:  Devils Lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. Covering more than 163,000 acres it has hundreds of miles of shoreline. This very fertile prairie lake grows large numbers of Walleye, Northern Pike, White Bass, it has earned the reputation of being the “Perch Capital of the World” and has been ranked as one of the top five fishing lakes in the US. Perch weighing more than two pounds are caught quite frequently. In the fall hundreds of thousands of waterfowl migrate through the area and give both local and visiting hunters outstanding hunting opportunities. Devils Lake derives its name from the Native American name Miniwaukan (”Spirit Water”). Early explorers incorrectly translated the word to mean “Bad Spirit” and bolstered by the many legends of drowned warriors and lake monsters, the name evolved into Devils Lake.

you can’t quite see the lake in the distance in this photo of pat coasting downhill amidst fields of grain.

the last 10 miles of our ride were right along the edge of devils lake, as you can see in this photo.  it was absolutely beautiful.

joann, pat & i arrived here at the spirit lake casino probably around 1:30 or :45.  the place is run by the spirit lake tribe.  it’s much, much busier than the 4 bears casino near new town where we stayed last week.  after having a room last night at rugby with a window joann & i could open to the outside & enjoy lots of fresh air all night, this is the view from our window this evening:  an indoor water park!  ergo, we don’t open our window!

we had a delicious supper at a far end of the casino’s parking lot.  the entree was one of my favorites:  salmon filets topped with pesto & goat cheese.  after supper i walked around the area.  this photo shows the causeway carrying traffic to the east.

but we don’t take that causeway tomorrow.  instead we’ll head back west 12 mi on the same gorgeous lakeside road we biked on today, then turn south & head for carrington, a town of about 2000, where we’ll spend tomorrow night.  mileage tomorrow is only about 50.   we’re hoping for ideal biking conditions like today’s.

july 17: 68 mi (0 by bike) to rugby, ND

should’ve done something about it sooner, but as i started to pull out of the motel parking lot this morning near 7:30, i found my front brake mechanism was again wobbly.  both denise & michelle (group #2′s leader) took it apart & found that the screw was stripped that holds the assembly to the bike frame.  i took the bike over to scheels (in the nearby mall) as soon as they opened at 9:30, then waited while the mechanic put in a new screw.  at that point it was 10:30, so joanne & i decided not to try catch-up on the road, & got a ride to rugby in the van.

at the town of towner, we stopped to wait for patty.  while there we chatted with this fellow; he’s doing the northern tier route from seattle to bar harbor, ME, self-supported & camping along the way.  he lives in northern wis.  he did the transam route in ’07.  on the back of his bike he has a bear canister (with the red & white stripes on its bottom); joann recognizes it from her back-packing adventures.  the rider confirmed that that’s where he keeps his food.  bears, racoons, & other critters can’t get in.

also at this convenience store were these 2 young cyclists.  they’ve both just finished college at different schools on the west coast.  they decided to get home to new hampshire via bicycle!  they left vancouver about a month ago.  given that we’re mainly following adventure cycling’s official northern tier cycling route, we see quite a few cyclists like these.

this large sign along the drive to the convenience store proclaims towner’s claim to fame.  that’s linda c. returning to hwy 2 to continue on to rugby.

we got to rugby early afternoon.  gloria, joann & i walked a short distance to a little cafe & had lunch.  then i spent the rest of the afternoon seeing the sights of rugby.  in 3 hours of walking, a person can cover much of rugby!  it really is a very attractive & well-kept little town.

a short ways from our motel, the northern lights inn, is the monument proclaiming rugby the geographical center of north america.  flags of all 3 countries on this continent fly nearby.

alas, wikpedia’s take on the geographic center doesn’t quite match rugby’s:  “The United States Geographical Survey states that the geographic center of North America is ’6 miles west of Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota’ at approximately 48°10′N 100°10′W / 48.167°N 100.167°W / 48.167; -100.167, approximately 15 miles (25 km) from Rugby, North Dakota. The USGS further states that ‘No marked or monumented point has been established by any government agency as the geographic center of either the 50 States, the conterminous United States, or the North American continent.’ Nonetheless, there is a 15-foot (4.5 m) field stone obelisk in Rugby claiming to mark the center.”

also nearby is the northern lights tower & interpretive center.  i’m not sure what the tall tower in back of it is for; it’s fenced off so no one can climb it.  i’d like to see the northern lights tower illuminated at night, but it stays light so late around here that i can’t imagine being awake then.

also nearby is the prairie village museum.  it’s extensive & detailed!  old buildings representing life on the prairie have been moved here, & relics of every description from early times populate every building.  this photo shows part of the compound; it’s very easy to get from building to building on the boardwalk.

& finally, a caboose.  i’ve been hoping to see one.  & i got to go inside, too.  that was fascinating.

in the corner of one room of a 2-story school was a replica of clifford thompson, the world’s tallest man, who haled from around here.

as i left the museum after an hour or so of browsing, i chatted with the 2 fellows who were greeting & selling tickets at the entry, harlan & john, whose photo is below.  i told them what an interesting & well-done museum this is; harlan (on the right) said that many volunteers spend lots of time keeping the displays & grounds in good order.

i stopped by the motel, then walked toward downtown.  turned out that nothing was happening on main street late saturday afternoon, but i enjoyed seeing the area.  this niewoehner bell tower, near a funeral home close to downtown, is very interesting.

i got back to our motel just in time for the map meeting at 5:30.  tomorrow we’ll ride about 81 mi to the spirit lake casino near st. michael’s.  we travel mostly on back roads, & often near some lakes.  should be pretty.

july 15: 54 mi to minot, ND

not a whole lot to say about today … which isn’t all bad.   we were kind of ready for an uneventful day.

the revised plan for today’s route turned out to be shuttling us all in the van the 33 mi from the 4 bears casino back up to stanley, where we got onto our bikes on hwy 2 for the entire trip to minot.  since there are too many of us to fit into the van in one load, we slower riders went in the first load at 7:30, then faster ones … plus our sick person (who seems to have caught a nasty virus that laid her very low half of wed & all of yesterday & last night) … went in the 2nd load.

here are denise (peeking thru some spokes atop the van) & patty (in the midst of a complicated gymnastics maneuver) finishing the bike-loading in the 4 bears parking lot.  those women are as strong as oxen!

everything & everyone got unloaded in the parking lot of that same convenience store/gas station in stanley.  i used the dyson airblade one more time (:->), then off we went on our bikes.  cruising along hwy 2 with a strong tailwind was pretty much our cycling day (not that i’m complaining).

at the 1st sag stop at about mi 20, a car drove up as we snacked.  its license plate said ‘editor;’ turned out it was the editor & 3rd-generation owner (with her husband) of the mountrail county promotor, mary kilen.   she provided us a fascinating overview of the north dakota oil boom, which began in 2005.  mountrail county, where we’ve been over the last day or 2, is the heart of the boom.  a quick glance at the paper’s site gives you a very clear idea of the struggles this area is facing in dealing with it.  mary said that in another 5 mi, the huge trucks & derricks & oil pumps would disappear …. & she was so right.  the real reason she’d stopped was to get info about womantours & our ride; fortunately gloria rode up while she was there, so filled mary in on everything she needed/wanted to know.

this photo pretty much sums up our cycling day.  here’s carol spinning smilingly along hwy 2 with lots of canola & flax adding color to the scene.

for whatever reason, the shoulders weren’t consistently wide & paved, but the intermittent stretches of gravelly shoulders gave us something to think about.

getting into a larger town by bike is never fun, but on the bright side, joann & i spotted a little restaurant, the alaska alder grill, & decided to stop for lunch.  we knew our rooms at the comfort inn wouldn’t be ready, anyway.  we both had their grilled chicken salad, with an olive oil & balsamic dressing, & it was good.  cute place, too … part gift shop.  they have lots & lots of taxidermy in there … including a buffalo!  maybe during our layover day tomorrow i’ll go take a photo or 2 & post them.

we settled into our room, did a load of our combined wash, & not much else ’til going with gloria for supper back at the alaska grill … which is right outside our motel-room window, a short walk across the parking lot.  i checked a couple of minot travel sites in the afternoon, & the place is rated the #1 minot dining spot by some; how lucky can we get?

gloria & i each had one of the evening’s specials:  sock-eye salmon grilled on a red wine-soaked cedar plank.  joann had steak, also a specialty here.  all-you-can-eat sides included garlic mashed potatoes (with lots of garlic), corn (that tasted freshly cut-off-the-cob), & really good baked beans.  oh yes, here’s a photo.

the only drawback is that we sat at a table whose chairs were higher ones, & they were nice heavy wood ones.  it took some doing to scootch ourselves up to the table without being able to touch the ground.  i’m glad no one had a video camera.  then, as luck would have it, we needed to go get our all-you-can-eat sides.   but we 3 are pretty clever, after all:  gloria & i pulled the table toward us, which made it possible for joann to sqeak down from her high chair & go get platefuls of sides for us all to share.

after supper we returned to joann’s & my room & got out the rummikub game … & the ironing board!  all these motels have ironing boards, but they must go unappreciated for months & months.  (i don’t even know where my own ironing board is at my house.)  when you don’t have a suitable table, you can see that the ironing board provides a nice rummikub alternative.  & just think how happy that ironing board felt with all the attention.

tomorrow is a layover day here in minot.  we may venture out to see some of the town, some will work on bikes, many will wander the nearby mall.  but mainly we’ll do as little as possible.

july 14: 103 mi (72 by bike) to new town, ND

actually, no one rode the entire 103 miles.  the sheriff made sure of that … & thank goodness that he did.

the day started off nicely enough.  it was mighty cool around 6:45 or so as we left the marquis inn & suites in williston.  denise heard on good authority that rte 1804, which was to be our route today to new town, was narrow, full of trucks, & unsafe for cyclists.  so she & patty scouted another route last evening … & passed out cue sheets early this morning.  getting out of williston was a bit tricky, but a frontage road provided relief from the busy 4-lane highway.  not far out of town we turned onto the most beautiful back road … county road 6 … & stayed on it ’til about mile 25.  even back along this idyllic road there were oil-drilling patches in various stages of operation.

right along here some men were laying a pipe. i stopped to ask what the pipe was.  one fellow replied, “poly.”  so i rephrased my question to ask what i intended to ask the first time:  “what is the pipe carrying?”  reply:  “gas.”  you can sort of see the path of the pipe-laying off to the left along the road.  that’s joann coming up the hill … with a big white construction truck or 2 behind her.  just on my left elbow as i took this photo … & off the road a few feet … a new oil well was being dug.  i like the early-morning hues of this photo.

still further along, i stopped … as joann did … to photograph the expansive fields of yellow canola planted along our way.  her jacket & the canola plants are almost the same color.   we see canola everywhere around here, & now i know why:  the northern plains of Minnesota & North Dakota now account for 90% of US production of canola.  (info from US Canola Assn)

at about 25 mi, we turned east onto hwy 2.  the winds were already very strong from the west.  i took this photo of some common sights along our way … blue pipe lying ready to be “planted,” an oil-drilling installation there in the distance, & between them, a blanket of purple flax. the flax … especially for a purple-lover like me … makes a beautiful sight in the landscape.

“Flax was one of the most important crops to early American farmers and to the economy of our emerging nation.”  it was grown in every state east of the mississippi.  now, however, US production is pretty much limited to north dakota & minnesota.  there’s lots more interesting info about flax here.

sometimes i just stop & get off my bike to look around … & to look in back of me.  i don’t want to miss anything.  one of those times i saw lin coming toward me … so took her photo with lots of canola in the background.

this photo is kind of dark in the lower portion, but you can probably see that hwy 2 was a divided highway with a wide grassy median.  & our shoulders were wide.  (& mainly i just like the clouds in this photo.)  we still have to watch very carefully to dodge broken glass & tire shreds, but it’s not bad.  one of the drawbacks of riding on a busy highway like this, tho’, is the noise …. especially those huge trucks hauling oil-drilling equipment.  they sound like locomotives coming up behind us.

several of us had already planned to get a ride in the van from stanley, which was at mile 72, down to new town (the story of new town is fascinating).  some decided to take the option of riding south on hwy 8 about 25 mi, then west on hwy 23 about 8 mi.  winds by midday were gusting to around 35 mph.  that made riding south (with strong crosswinds) on a narrow 2-lane highway with no shoulder but plenty of large trucks a real challenge.

our stopping place at stanley was the large parking lot of a convenience store/gas station.  we went inside to use the restroom.  they have the neatest hand dryers … the dyson airblade.  patty models its use in this photo.

we in the van headed south on hwy 8 from stanley.  it wasn’t long before the sheriff pulled us over.  he told denise & patty that our riders had to be pulled off the road.  he had been getting calls from truck drivers concerned about the safety of the cyclists.  in at least one case i heard about, a fellow in a pickup truck pulled one of our cyclists over & warned her that she shouldn’t continue riding on the road.  so the van stopped to pick up one cyclist …which is all we had room for.  we discovered a group of about 6 cyclists further along; they had stopped at a cafe/tavern, & were quite happy to learn that they shouldn’t ride further …. & that the van would come back out after them.  in one case, the sheriff himself, when he caught up with sherry, our fastest cyclist, put her bike into his pickup & took her the rest of the way to the 4 bears casino, where we’re staying.

the sheriff also told us that the road we’re to take tomorrow is also not at all safe for cyclists, so denise will work out another plan & hand out new cue sheets tomorrow morning.

the 4 bears casino is waaay out in the middle of nowhere about 4 mi west of new town.  it sits on the shore of lake sakakawea.  knowing we’re right in the midst of lewis & clark trail territory, i was surprised that the name wasn’t Sacagawea.  i found the story of the name of the area very interesting.

since winds were still so high in late afternoon & evening … plus patty & denise had done lots of extra hauling of bikers & bikes this afternoon … we had our supper in the casino’s dining room.  it had been a long & harrowing day; most of us were ready to hit the hay early.

july 13: 44 mi to williston, ND

yep, we’re in north dakota now, the last state of our journey.  & i’m back to central time, so i feel at home.  & it was a pretty easy cycling day.

the construction zone we had been so uneasy about turned out not to be horrible.  construction zones are never a biker’s first choice, but since we got to today’s early when traffic was still quite minimal, we got thru pretty easily.  here’s our first flagman sign.  & you can see that the road surface was the type that had been stripped, so is as rough as can be & fraught with pot holes.  no shoulder, either.

but that lasted a mile at most.  then we got onto a nicer section of what seemed to be blacktop.  there was still no shoulder; it was just gravel … tho’ i think it’ll be paved sooner or later.  it was such a pleasure to not see chip seal anywhere in sight!   i took this photo in this section when i had gotten off into the gravelly shoulder to let this very large tanker truck go by.

at about mile 22, we crossed into north dakota.  i took a photo back toward montana.  there’s the last casino we’ll see for a while.  montana is sure full of them!  you can see the subaru/sag on the left side of the road.

a few feet further east,  lin took this photo of joann & me with the official north dakota sign.

gloria pulled up just about that time; she’s done the northern tier route before … but crossing into a new state is always a thrill.

today’s landscape was very rolling … but with strong tailwinds, even the uphills weren’t much of a chore.  here’s joann coming uphill shortly after we’d crossed into n.dakota.  you can see how nice the shoulders are on hwy 2 now that we’re in n.dakota.

it isn’t hard to figure out the big new boom in north dakota:  oil & natural gas!  these types of scenes occur every mile or less all along the otherwise open expanses of land.

& sometimes the drilling/work area is bigger, as it is here.  you can’t see the side of one of the white trucks; it says halliburton.

most everyone was into williston by noon, but our rooms wouldn’t be ready ’til 4.  many went off to find a lunch spot.  joann & i, along with quite a few others, walked across the parking lot to gramma sharon’s.  it was very crowded.  lots of people were filling their plates along the buffet, which had more gravy-laden dishes on it than i’ve seen in one place in quite some time.  my dream of a grilled wild-caught salmon filet atop a bed of mixed field greens went unfulfilled.

after lunch, claudine & holly worked at cleaning their bikes.

joann & i biked back down the road to a very nice library we’d noticed on our way to the motel.  looks like a relatively new building; nice design, too.  another 4-5 bikers spent 2-3 hours at the library, too.

in a multi-block area around the library were fabulous playgrounds, a community center, & also this wheat sculpture.

it was interesting to read the plaque below the sculpture.  it reminds one how big a part farmers have played in development of this area.

the oil culture is even overtaking the playgrounds.  this little boy & his dad were playing on an oil rig near the library.

we’re at the marquis inn & suites here in williston.  all rooms in williston & nearby communities are filled for months & months at a time with oil workers.  joann read the wall street journal at the library; she told me that n. dakota now has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate … something just over 3%.  this notice on the motel’s front door is a sign of the times in williston.

methinks this hummer limo parked not far from gramma sharon’s & near the motel may be a sign of these oily times, too.

supper tonight was scrumptious.  on my plate is a delicious tofu stir-fry (with lots of onions & various colored peppers) on rice; i asked patty later what she put in the stir-fry sauce.  she mentioned garlic & ginger.  hmmm, hmmm, no wonder it was so tasty.  the big green salad had lots of tasty additions to it, & the dark bread was delish.

after supper, gloria, joann & i enticed carol to join us for a game (or 2 or 3) of rummikub.  here are those 3 poring over their moves near the end of our 2nd game.  the motel let us set up in their breakfast room; otherwise we were going to have to use the ironing board in gloria’s room.

tomorrow will be an adventure.  we were scheduled to ride rte 1804 to new town.  but several bikers we & others ran into today warned us against taking that road.  they say it’s 2-lane with no shoulder, & very heavily traveled by large oil trucks.  so denise has devised a new route that’ll take us back up north to hwy 2, then east to stanley.  that’ll be about 70 mi, most of the way with strong tailwinds if the weather forecast is correct.  the van will wait at stanley for anyone who wishes to sag the rest of the way to new town.  (i will be one of those persons.)  others may choose to brave the strong crosswinds, then about 8 mi of strong headwinds, & ride the additional 33 mi south & west to new town.  we’ll see how it all pans out ….

july 12: 56 mi to culbertson, MT

those were 56 very windy miles.  since we were going east, & the winds were most always blowing strongly from the SSE, it was one of those days when you could never really coast … just pedal pedal pedal every minute … except for the 2 or 3 short stretches going north when we could enjoy tailwinds.

we spent most of the day on the fort peck indian reservation on a back road that was mostly pretty good.  there were several very short stretches of rough gravel, a couple of which we needed to walk our bikes across, & also some stretches where there were wide cracks in the road, some of which had been marked to create quite an artistic pattern, i thought (see photo), but overall the road was great, with next-to-no traffic & beautiful vistas.

early before we got off hwy 2, i took this photo of one of our least favorite road situations … 2 semis passing each other.  when we have minimal shoulders, as was the case most of the time we spent on hwy 2 today, there’s little room for a biker in the mix.  sometimes we just get off the bike & stand still or move some into the grass along the road, so as not to be affected by the strong wind currents the passing trucks often create.

at the 20-mi sag stop, which was in front of a school in poplar, 2 little grade-school-age native american girls were sitting watching us.  one asked me if we were afraid of the semis.  i told her no, not usually.  i said to her, ‘we sure wear lots of goofy outfits, don’t we?’  she smiled & nodded her head.

mid-morning, before we got off hwy 2, joann & i spotted this field of hay bales.  the light caught them & seemed to illuminate them.  it was one of our favorite roadside sights of the day.

also around this time i saw a pasture with lots of horses milling around in it.  i tried to zoom to catch a mom & 2 colts.

a little later i spotted these 3 horses in a pasture nearby.  i don’t know if the handsome brown & white horse is a paint or pinto; don’t know the difference between those 2 styles.

these are some photos i took along route 1, the back road:

for a while we were close to the train tracks …. & you know how i like trains.  can’t hardly resist taking a photo of each one.  i saw an amtrak zoom by today, but it was too fast for me to catch.

& i always get a kick out of other vehicles going along the tracks, like what seems to be a pickup truck.

the colors of the landscape were striking today.  i like this stretch of shades of green & yellow with the blue sky & clouds.

this little makaicu presbyterian church sat way out in the open.

we caught sight of the missouri river a couple of times today.  you can see it off in the distance to the right.

as we got to the eastern end of route 1, we got into a hillier section.  these fascinating landforms remind me of the badlands … & we’re headed in that direction.

we had to turn onto hwy 2 about 5 miles short of culbertson, & those last 5 miles were some of the toughest of the day.  we had a verrrry long & pretty steep hill to climb, with hardly any shoulder.  the winds were very strong, so i particularly didn’t like the long downhill, when the gusty winds required tight control on the bike’s trajectory.  by the time we pulled into the king’s inn parking lot here in culbertson … around 3 pm (since we were asked to leave later this morning from wolf point) … we were spent!  i don’t know how we would’ve made it without that quart of chocolate milk joann & i shared at a teeny-tiny convenience/grocery store in brockton 20 mi back.

fortunately, joann & i have got a pretty good system for quick recovery once we get to our overnight accommodations:  she goes to the trailer & finds a couple bottles of good beer & maybe some small bags of chips, i grab the box of cheez-its out of my duffel, & we’re set:

our group had guests for supper tonight … kate & claire, who are riding self-contained & camping from portland, OR, to their home in milwaukee, WI.  a couple of our riders ran across them on the road today & invited them to join us.  treated them to showers in their motel rooms, too.  kate (or is it claire?) just graduated from high school; this bike trip is a graduation gift to herself.  she & her sister, 26, had been planning the trip for 2 yrs.  their bikes are heavy, & one doesn’t have near the gears we have for climbing.  i’m so impressed by a young person who would choose an adventure like this as a graduation gift; so many young folks seem so attached to material things.

when the girls left to go set up camp in the city park, patty gave them leftovers from tonight’s supper.

joann & i went to gloria’s room for a couple rounds of rummikub after supper.  we were so tired; we realized we better move our games up to afternoon.

there are storms brewing for overnight … lightning, thunder, rain, the whole midwest experience.  that should mean lovely weather for our 41-mi ride to williston.  alas, there’s road construction on tap for tomorrow’s ride.