New Town to Williston, ND - day 26 - Friday, June 11th, 2010

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New Town to Williston, ND - day 26

We are beginning to think that we are gluttens for punishment. Our day today started out very similar to yesterday with 25 miles of hills and 15 to 20 mph crosswinds. When we finally turned west on highway 1804 winds had already started to die down (there went our tailwind) and we did 30 miles on fairly flat terrain and then finished it off with 27 miles of hellacious hills - one hill was approximately 3 miles long.

Since we left Minot we have left the flat plains of North Dakota behind and have encountered increasingly higher and longer hills. We suspect that this is a sampling of what we can encounter in Montana and then we will get to the mountains. As of tonight, we are only 30 miles from the Montana border. In spite of the hills, wind, rain, and heavy truck traffic we have managed to increase our daily average to 60 miles per day over the last 26 days. Yes, we are going to pat ourselves on the back for that one.

We met two people today that were long distance biking but we just waved and everyone kept biking due to the heavy traffic and weather.

Although the roads were challenging and grueling at times the scenery has been absolutely fantastic. Leaving New Town, this morning, we rode along the side of Lake Sakakawea for the first 25 miles and then on to rolling hills and multiple oil rigs drilling for oil. A local person, we spoke to, said that two years ago the area had roughly 20 oil wells in operation - they now have about 200 and they are expecting to increase to 400 before things level off. This definitely is a boom area and is the reason for lack of hotel availability and heavy truck traffic.

When we first started out biking this morning John noticed a clicking noise coming from the front wheel that had't been there before. So we stopped and he set the bike up on the kickstand and spun the front wheel and realized that there was definitely a problem developing with the bearings in the front axle. There was no bike shop until we got to Williston so we had no choice but to ride on to Williston where we stopped at the Bike & Skate shop as soon as we arrived in town. The bike mechanic took the front axle out and cleaned up the bearings, reassembled everything, lubed it and it now looks like we are good to go again. We also decided to store our bike at the bike shop for the week while we meet up with Matt & his family at Custer State Park.

We have rented a vehicle and will be taking a week off from biking to give our bodies a chance to recuperate from the last 26 days of biking.

Total mileage as of today is 1,564 miles - that ups are daily average to 60 plus miles per day. Not too bad for two old farts going west!

Happy Trails!

Pelican Rapids, MN to Fargo, ND - day 19 - June 4th, 2010

Pelican Rapids, MN to Fargo, ND - day 19 - June 4th, 2010
Mileage today was 64 miles - started out with overcast skies and we thought we were going to have to get out our rain gear.
We left Pelican Rapids about 6:45 and biked on hwy 59 7 miles north (off the route) to Dunville to the Cornfield Café for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes for John and cinnamon French toast for Kathi. After breakfast we biked east on 34 to get back onto the Northern Tier Route then north towards Cormorant. Out in the middle of no where I saw what looked like a wolf on the road up ahead and panic and was irritated because my husband kept on pedaling. As we got closer we noticed that the supposedly wolf had a collar on and just watched us go by and then gently started to trot after us. Now take a look at the picture - if you saw that dog from a distance would you think it was a wolf? About 18 miles into our ride we came across a convenience store and pulled into the Pelican Hills Convenience Store where there were 5 or 6 old timers sitting on the front porch when we pulled up. One of the guy’s hollered “Where’s the motor on that thing?” I waved off the question, put my index finger to my lips, and pointed to Kathi and said she just doesn’t know it yet! Everyone got a good laugh out of that and before we knew it we were all but rolling on the floor for the jokes and stories going around. Happening across group gatherings and striking up conversations with local people is one of the things we have come to enjoy on this adventure.

Along the way we came across a number of miles of fence post that had a shoe on each post on both sides of the roads. Not sure if these are shoes that were left behind of weary bikers or shoes from the locals in the area. lol

Lakes, lakes, and more lakes today along with rolling hills and curves in between, along with very pretty scenery. By 10:00AM we were out of the lakes area and the terrain leveled out considerably as we approached the western side of Minnesota and the eastern end of the Dakota prairies. By the time we got to Sabin everything was as flat as a pancake. While eating a light lunch at the General Store a very substantial headwind picked up which made the last 20 mile to Fargo really tough going. Although it was perfectly flat we weren’t able to get over 8 miles per hour. When we finally got to Fargo we went to the bicycle shop in the old train depot and enjoyed a smoothie while deciding where to spend the evening.
We checked into the Scandia Hotel, cleaned up and went for a walk downtown Fargo, went to a Chinese restaurant for supper. We want to get an early start tomorrow morning to beat the winds. A 4:30AM wake up call should be about right.
Total miles as of today is 1070.
Life is good!

Page, ND to Cooperstown, ND - day 21 - June 6th, 2010

Total miles biked today is 42 miles - sunny skies, northwest winds 10 to 15 mph when we started out at 6:10AM this morning. Increased to 15 to 20 mph by 10:00AM.

When we got up this morning we enjoyed pancakes, eggs, venison sausage, coffee, and tomato juice, compliments of our host. Believe me you haven't experienced true hospitality and generosity until you have visited the Midwest. Thanks again to Ole and Vicky - we had a wonderful visit and enjoyed the delicious food and conversations with the two of you.

After our delicious breakfast we headed west at 6:10AM. Last nights weather report had indicated that there would be a 40% chance of rain and 15 to 20 mph winds today but we had clear skies and the wind. We thought that western Minnesota was flat, and it is, but this is as flat as the water in a indoor swimming pool without kids in it. The first little town that we came to was Hope, ND and because it was Sunday there was nothing opened so we continued on. 2 hours into our ride we were fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time and to be entertained by a crop duster that would give the Red Barron of Germany a run for his money. It was obvious that he was a experienced pilot - hope he has good life insurance. He did an amazing job of ducking under powerlines, over the highway, and between power poles to apply the spray to the fields.

Also between Hope and Cooperstown we paralleled a wind farm with maybe as many as 100 wind generators.

About 5 miles before Cooperstown we came across one of the sites of the Ronald Regan Minuteman Missile site. We spent about 45 minutes there. It was a very interesting and informative but down right terrifying to think of the destruction these missiles could cause. At the height of the cold war there were as many as 150 of these missile sites in the U.S. and each missile carried a nuclear warhead 25 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Thank goodness our world leaders came to there senses and realized that no one could possibly win a nuclear war.

We arrived in Cooperstown around noon today and checked into the Coachman Inn. Kathi feels quite beat up from the winds today and is looking forward to a relaxing afternoon before we head out tomorrow morning to Pekin, ND which is only approx. 35 miles away. Hopefully the winds will die down.

We hope to be in Minot, ND by Thursday evening. We may spend a day or two in Minot and then our plans are to rent a vehicle (take a week of biking off) go to Medora, ND (John and I were there on our honeymoon 38 years ago) and then meet Matt and his family in Custer Park in South Dakota on the 14Th or 15Th of June.

Total miles for the trip as of today is 1,176 miles.

Happy trails!

Fargo, ND to Page, ND - day 20 - June 5th, 2010