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.
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July 20, 2010 at 5:52 pm |
Dusty Pence said to tell you, Holly and Carol “Hi”
Jan B