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.