(Pictures to follow - I forgot to bring the camera to the library where we have internet access!)
ground speed - 11+ mph
airspeed - about 14 mph
We awoke to a wonderful morning
. The sun was shining, the forecast was for clear skies and a high of 80 degrees. The winds were forecast to be southerly - crosswinds - but at least not against us. After a breakfast of eggs, bacon, doughnuts, hasbrowns and fruit - we almost wanted to go back to bed! But the road was calling, so we loaded the bikes onto the McIntyre Camry. and Chuck drove us back to Glen Ullin.
It was about 9:30 when we mounted up and took off. It wasn't warm, yet, so although we were wearing our cycling shorts we had on long fingered gloves. We stopped briefly at a minimart for Ann to fill her water bottle with ice (she likes really cold water!). Then we were out onto old Highway 10 again. The Adventure Cycling route directions indicated that we had an option of either going out to I-94 (where the rumble strips run the whole width of the shoulder), or about 11 miles of hard packed gravel road. After driving the gravel road last night on our way to camp, we decided we would prefer the gravel (also about 4 miles shorter) to constantly repeating rumble strips (they are merely obnoxious in a car, they are entirely irritating on a bike!) It was worth it in many ways, but not without drawbacks
.
The countryside was beautiful, but photos don't really show it. The land is so vast that the pictures give you a sense that there's not much to see there. But it really is pretty. The rolling countryside also gave us some protection from the winds, which were from the south. The downsides were the rolling hills nature of the land, and the added difficulty of riding gravel. We had a lot of uphills and downhills. These took their toll on Ann, who does fine on level or downhill, but has to slow way down on the hills. We were surprised the amount of traffic - we expected little - which was basically true - but it was still more than we had thought there would be, mostly local farmers or Burlington Northern support trucks.
We stopped at the top of a hill where there was a little cemetery with a well kept look. We walked up to it and there was an arch over the entrance gate - Friendship Community Cemetery. There were fresh flowers at almost every headstone, and a few flags - Memorial Day was not long ago
. Then we noticed that probably 75% of the tombstones were of surname Wetzel, and many others were Nagle. We didn't want to open the gate and intrude to find out more, but it appeared to date from the early 1900s, or perhaps even earlier.
Walking up the short road to the cemetery, some cattle in the adjacent field saw us and started heading our way. Before long, they were bunched in the (fenced) corner, near where we had left our bikes. They were clearly expecting that we had something for them. They were in a field full of grass, but ambulatory people must be a Pavlovian signal to them that something better will be forthcoming! We disappointed them!
We continued on the gravel road and began to feel the extra work that such riding entails. It was as if we were riding with flat tires! And every once in a while your rear wheel would skew out sideways and you'd have to be paying attention to correct for it. Eventually, we got back out onto paved road, and could see the world's largest Holstein! The town of New Salem has a HUGE statue of a Holstein cow on a ridge above town, very visible for a ways from every direction save the south
. It cost them $40,000 to put it up! But it's their claim to fame! (Is it any better than "The Palm Springs of Washington"?
We had been noticing dark clouds forming to the west with some rain falling from them. When we arrived in New Salem we headed for a Minimart out near the freeway, hoping to take a break and perhaps stay out of the rain. Turning north for the 1 mile or so out to the interchange we had a wonderful tailwind! We arrived just as the rain started, leaned our bikes against the wall under the overhanging roof, and went inside.
Dave bought us a Coke while Ann struck up conversation with some employees. They weren't native North Dakotans - there don't seem to be any in this state - they were from Wisconsin. Apparently the oil "boom" has brought quite a few people here seeking work.
After a while, the Coke was gone, the rain stopped, and we started up again under warmer and sunnier skies
. Shortly thereafter, we took off our jackets and long finger gloves. Chuck and Laura were bringing us lunch and we agreed to meet about 12 miles ahead. After about 50 minutes they passed by us and drove ahead to find a suitable lunch spot. Chuck, being the person he is, stopped at a house and asked the residents if he could set up lunch in their field for a couple cross country bicyclers coming along shortly. The older couple seemed quite happy to allow this, and we pulled off the road into their field and had lunch in our camp chairs, nestled out of the wind between the lilacs the woman's mother in law had planted years ago. These lilac hedges were huge! But it blocked the wind and let us sit in the sunlight for lunch. We refueled with sandwiches and leftovers from dinner last night, and after we mounted the bikes again, Chuck and Laura had quite a conversation with the older couple after we left. These were native North Dakotans. The man's grandfather homesteaded the place, his dad took it over, he was raised there and took over from his dad, and one of his sons (one of six kids) wants to build a house on the property
.
We figured we had about 18 miles to get to Mandan, where Chuck and Laura would meet us and drive us back to our campsite, where we could shower and then head out for pizza and the library (which allows me to post today's blog). If only we had remembered to bring our cameras so we could upload pictures! Don't worry, we will get them uploaded at some point.
We have decided to spend another night at the campsight, rather than try to find a spot somewhere else tomorrow. Ann and I will ride first thing tomorrow, out to Moffit (perhaps farther, depending on weather, etc.) then Chuck and Laura will bring us back to camp and we will take the historical tour of the camp (Lewis and Clark wintered here, and Custer left from here on his ill-fated expedition). The tour guides are not only dressed in period costume but lead the tour and answer questions completely in period character!
Our schedule is in complete flux as we cannot meet our original intentions. We'll take it day by day.
Room for improvement?
Monday, June 01, 2015
Mandan, North Dakota, United States
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