Rugby, ND - Wednesday, June 28

Photos

I sent several photos home to Karen a few days ago - Washington and Idaho. She has posted some of them on the web, and has created a link to them.

Click 'Paul's Photos' at the right; then click the 'Slideshow' button. Thanks Karen!

Rugby, ND
Seventy-one sunny miles today, with a crossing head wind. Eastern Montana and North Dakota don't have a lot to see. Increasingly, the terraine is getting flatter, and we are beginning to see more trees. Just like home, I saw a soy bean field today - the first one I have seen on this trip...no corn yet. The most interesting thing about Rugby is that it is the geographic center of North America.

Ann and Hans went to the Rugby Ice Cream Social after supper. They were too late to see the entertainment, but they got some free ice cream.

As he had said at the begining of the trip, Andy has set up new cook teams. We are at about the 1/3 mark, and he will probably change the teams once agin. The new teams are Linda & me, Cal and Andy, Hans and Ann.

Minot, ND - Sunday June 25

Williston, ND - June 23
As I mentioned in my last post, we were going to the county fair. We had the usual foods, except that they had 'fry bread' in place of 'elephant ears'... Fry bread is an American Indian sweet, and elephant ears are apparently not known nation wide like they are in the Midwest. Cal played a game of some sort which required throwing skills; he won a naked chicken! Now this naked chicken is following him all across the country. This fair was actually a regional fair: bigger than a county fair. They had a lot of entertainment including a jalopy race of some sort. It would have been a typical Midwest 4-H fair, except there were fewer animals, and nearly all the animals were beef cattle. As is the norm, the locals spotted us as bikers right off the bat. I had a pleasant conversation with a guy running for some elected office. Rain just before sun-up, as is becoming common also. I was really tired at the end of this day.

When I get home I will need to publish a correction to the ACA address for the Davidson City Park. The ACA address is not wrong, but it is hard to find Davidson Drive since it is only a block long.

Newtown, ND - June 24
This was a difficult day for me. Seventy-four miles with no nice places to stop and rest. It seems to me that the daily exertion is taking it's toll. I lost my appetite, felt nauseous, weak and dizzy: I bonked when I got to camp. It was my turn to cook with Hans, but Ann filled in for me; I was very grateful. Andy offered to get me a 7-up, which is what his mother would have advised, but then he brought me a Sprite instead. Oh well - Sprite was the best he could do, and the sugar helped a lot. Ann and Hans made a good supper, but I could only manage a few bites, then had indigestion all night.

Minot, ND - June 25
For those of us who are linguistically deprived, it is pronounced 'my-knot'. I have been corrected several times.

Another very difficult 70+ mile day for me; I had not fully recovered from the prior day. I forced down some oatmeal and raisins for breakfast, half a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and 4 bottles of water. I was determined to ride slow and easy. At about 50 miles, I started lying down by the side of the road for short rests. Once a car stopped to ask if I was ok: I said 'yes, thanks'. At about 60 miles, a pick up truck stopped with the same question. After a very brief conversation, I put my bike in the back of the truck and the husband and wife drove me 15 miles to the outskirts of Minot - about 4 miles from camp. Minot was a scheduled rest day, but I started having thoughts of resting a couple of days and renting a car to catch up with the group. That evening, Andy decided that we would take 2 rest days in Minot; we are at a nice campground and I think that will provide the recovery time my body needs. Andy thinks I just need to ride slow and easy and drink more water now that we are in 70 - 80 degree temperatures. We are still ahead of schedule and have some rest days in the bank.

Today, I am at the library catching up on things. Libraries are wonderful places. My bike is at the bike shop getting some work done on the drive train. I went to the post office and mailed some cold weather stuff home since we are out of the mountains. And I plan to have a big juicy fat-filled hamburger for lunch.

I am finding the weather interesting. Since we crossed the divide, the pattern has been fairly consistent: clear sky at sun-up, clouds building during the day, often with a storm someplace on the horizon, a short rain shower or two sometime during the afternoon or night, and then clear again the next morning. The storms on the horizon, with rain falling out of the clouds, sometimes with visible lightning, are especially visible because there are virtually no trees, and you can see forever.

Williston, ND - Friday, June 23

Glasgow, MT - June 20.
Nice day - High temp of 70. West wind of 15 - 30 mph: mostly a tail wind. Seeing less wheat, more cattle, and fewer prairie Dogs. Stopped at the Sleeping Buffalo. This is a sacred place for the Indians, and was kind of special.

Wolf Point, MT - June 21
We have been mostly in Indian Reservations for the past two days, but they are behind us now. Linda and I arrived at the rather dumpy Rancho campground first, and set up our tents. Then Andy arrived and found that the price had increased to $12 per tent ($72 for 6 people): he tried to negotiate a deal and the manager was very rude, so we packed up our tents and moved on the the municipal park and swimming pool. The park was pretty nice, but it was late when we arrived, so we had Subway sandwiches and watched a Little League baseball game. There were a lot of kids in the park. The Indian kids were very outgoing and asked all sorts of questions. Twice they asked us for money, but when we said no, they did not pester us about it. The park was about a mile from the railroad - we heard the whistles, but not the train wheels. Again, we had a 15 - 20 mph tailwind. We also went through about 5 miles of road construction, where we rode on gravel. The mountains are completely gone. Until now, there has always been a small range either to the north or south.

Culbertson, MT - June 22.
We saw a new kind of rock formation today. Sandstone worn into interesting shapes and colors. Got some nice pictures. We got off of US-2 for most of the day, and had very little traffic. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a train which had stopped. According to the locals, this is common. Had a light tailwind. Stayed at the municipal park, and showered at the municipal pool which was located about 7 blocks away. The park had a shelter, which is good because it rained in the evening and at night.

Williston, ND - June 23.
Had a headwind today. Camping at the municipal park which is really nice; it has a recreation building with nice showers, hot tub, and sauna. We are going to the county fair tonight to have supper.

Malta, MT - June 18 & 19

Enjoying a layover day today; our schedule is quite changed from the original itinerary due to Logan Pass being closed, and doing an extra long day on June 18. We combined two scheduled days into one day to take advantage of the 10 - 15 mph wind. It was a 90 mile day, but the tail wind made it bearable. We have now had 3 straight riding days of favorable winds; they were really strong the first couple of days, but I think they are coming to an end. Today is a sunny 80 degrees.

Bicyclists always want to know what is the 'best' tire. So far, Linda has had 2 flats. The same shard of metal caused both, she just couldn't find the shard until after she flatted the second time. Ann flatted once, from a large piece of glass. Cal has had a lot of flats, but just one since he got new tires and liners in Whitefish. It was a pinch flat.

In Montana, we have been basically following US-2. It has been a smooth 2-lane road with light traffic and usually a healthy shoulder. The towns are spaced about 10 - 40 miles apart, and have populations of 200 - 3,000 or so. Clearly, the railroad was built before US-2. The towns are built around the railroad, and US-2 is often about 1/2 - 1/4 mile away, with one street going into town. In the larger towns, there is usually some new development along US-2. One map of Montana I looked at showed the railroad, and labeled it the Amtrak Route. We do see Amtrak stations and trains, but they are far outnumbered by freight trains. We have been waving at the train engineers, hoping to get a whistle: sometimes it works. (Yes - we are all kids at heart). Of course, the campgrounds we stay at are near the railroad: that would make it a little difficult to sleep if I wasn't so tired at the end of the day.

This transportation corridor always follows some kind of river; right now it is the Milk River. Except for the mountains, we have seen a lot of Cottonwood trees. When we were at Sandpoint, ID, the Cottonwoods were at their peak of flowering. They still are flowering, but not so profusely as earlier.

Surprisingly, we saw quite a few Seal Gulls for a while. I was told there was a large lake nearby that attracted them, but I didn't find the lake on my map. And starting yesterday, we saw Prairie Dogs. They are about the size of a small squirrel, have a rat-like tail with a little hair on it, and act as confused as a squirrel when crossing the road. They frequently run along the edge of the road, in front of my bicycle, then scamper into a hole in the ground. As you might expect - they are common road-kill.

We are beginning to see some tumble weeds. Not many, but a few.

Two days ago, in Chester, MT we attended a 50's Sock Hop. Within 15 minutes, everyone there knew who we were, where we came from, and where we were going. The Lions' Club and the art society combined to have hamburgers, hot dogs and root beer floats. They closed off the main street and had a DJ who played 'oldies'. The little kids danced a bit, had a limbo contest, and a hula hoop contest. There was also had a parade of old cars (there is a club that seems to be touring US-2 towns right now). I never saw any adults dancing: maybe because I left early.

Havre, MT - June 17

Nice tail wind again. . . 62 easy miles. Wind should continue another day so we are shooting for 90 miles tomorrow followed by a rest day. Staying at the county fair grounds tonight.

Cal's Journal

Cal is also keeping a Journal of the trip. I have added a link to his journal.

Chester, MT - Friday, June 16

Good news. I found the shirt I thought I lost. Cal and I seem to be making a habit of doing that sort of thing. We have a place for everything, and keep everything in it's place. But when we put something away in the wrong place (for example when we are in a hurry in the rain), we get totally confused. Oh well - we are the seniors of the group, so we are entitled.

It continued raining in Cut Bank until about day break. The wind also died down. Linda and I moved our tents to an area protected by the wind, which helped a lot last night. Ann started moving her tent, and accidentally tore a hole in the fabric, so she just took her tent down and laid out her sleeping bag in the campground's recreation room. Andy set up his sleeping bag in the recreation room right from the get-go. He was a happy camper until a kid came in and turned on the TV at 6:00 AM. Cal, Andy & I sampled the spirits at Cut Bank, and we all had supper at Pizza Hut. Of course we had cold pizza for breakfast this morning. Yummy yummy - just like home! Hans is happy because he managed to catch some of the World Cup soccer on TV.

I thought the ride from East Glacier to Cut Bank was great, but today's ride to Chester was just as good. I have come to love 50 - 60 mile rides with a 20-25 mph tailwind. I hope they continue. There has been no rain for about 18 hours. The sun even came out for a bit today. We are camped in the town park. We have cold water and port-a-potties. I was able to do a sponge bath at the restroom at the town office. The park is pleasant, has a nice sheltered picnic area, and should work well for us.

Cut Bank MT. June 14 - 15.

It started raining just after we got our tents set up, and it has been raining ever since, and the temperature is in the 40's and low 50's. Very windy. There has been a constant 15 - 30 mph wind, and our campground is high on the edge of a bluff. We are currently ahead of schedule since we had to take an alternate around Logan Pass due to snow. We are taking a much needed rest day today, and will push on eastward tomorrow, probably with a strong tail wind. Cut Bank is on the edge of the Blackfoot Indian reservation. Montana has small casinos all over the place. Wisconsin has a bar on every corner: Montana has a Bar/Casino on every corner (I exaggerate of course, but all bars are also a casino).

I lost my favorite shirt at the last campground...It will be hard to replace until we get to a big town. We are definitely out of the mountains...It is 'all' down hill to the Mississippi. We are expecting dry hot weather as we ride through the northern plains of Montana and North Dakota.

Cut Bank, MT. June 15

June 11. Columbia Falls, MT. A very nice campground. We made the Whitefish bike shop rich. I got new brake pads, Cal got new tires and tubes, Hans got a new saddle, Andy got a new head stem. The owners (May and Ron) then hosted us to a chicken bar-b-que at the campground. May is on the board of Adventure Cycling, and they run a great shop.

June 12. West Glacier, MT. What should have been an easy 20 mile day turned into a difficult 38 miler for me. I got lost and rode about 15 miles on gravel. Yuk. Changing our plans, hoping the highway opens.

June 13. East Glacier, MT. The 'Going To The Sun" road was closed due to snow, so we skipped St. Mary, Waterton, and a third place I don't remember. We went directly from West Glacier to East glacier. This took us over the continental divide. We had terrific head winds - 30 - 40 miles per hour. This was one of our most difficult days. Big thunderstorm at night, but not a problem.

June 14. Cut Bank, MT. The best ride I have ever had in my life. All down hill for 50 miles, with a 20-25 mph tailwind. It was sunny but started raining again just after we set up camp. Extremely windy. I am getting booted, by the library. I will get back on later.

West Glacier, MT ~ June 12

Going to The Sun highway is closed due to snow. We may need to take an alternate.

Libby, MT

Stopped raining yesterday just before we set up camp. Nice today. Scenery is great again.

Colville, WA - June 4: Raining again today. I'm staying in a motel tonight, mainly to dry out and wash some clothes. The others are camped at the state fair grounds. Another long, tiring day. I think we are out of the Cascades, but certainly not out of the mountains.
Cal had 4 flat tires today and is having problems with his bike. I'm not sure what he will do with it.
(Posted by Karen from a phone conversation.)

Republic, WA - June 3: Just completed 2 very long and tiring days. We get up about 7:30, on the road by 8:30 and get into the next camp between 6 and 8 pm. The good news is that I haven't had to walk up any more passes - probably a combination of being stronger and changing my technique. The big climb today was Loup Loup pass at 4,020 feet.

We had rain all day yesterday and packed up in the rain this morning, but it cleared up in the afternoon.

The interesting thing I noticed was that the climate changed dramatically today. Before this it was all rain forest, but at the bottom of the pass today I suddenly was seeing sage brush. I didn't even realize they had sage brush in Washington.

I'm certainly having quite an adventure.

(This post is transcribed from a phone conversation by Karen. Paul was to tired to type.)

Winthrop, WA

Arrived at a great KOA yesterday, Wednesday, after a rough day of riding. Today is a rest day for laundry and sightseeing. Winthrop is a nice little town with a Western Frontier motif.

Started at about 700 Ft, did Rainy Pass at 4,850 feet, then Washington Pass at 5,477 feet. I started feeling the rare air at Washington Pass. Now we are at about 1,900 feet. I had to walk up a lot of hills - but made it ok.

Had BBQ Hamburgers for supper last night. Sunny and nice day.

Wintrop, WA

Tuesday we rode to Colonial Campground in North Cascades National Park...a nice ride since the sun had finally come out.