Day 30, June 29, 2019

Henry's notes for today:

Bismark at dawn

Jaya Allen

Day 30: Fearful of the impending heat and potential change of wind direction from east to west later in the day, we did wake up at 4 am, and were seated at the Perkins restaurant by 5 am. Having filled our bellies, we were ready to roll at 6 am. As promised, a tailwind from the east caressed our backsides, and we crossed the Missouri River between Bismarck and Mandan. We rode steadily up and down over many hills, which was not nearly as onerous as it could have been. At our first break after 36 miles, we stopped at the grocery store in New Salem, ND. The store was blaring polka music through its outside speakers, for unclear reasons. To ward off the potential for heat exhaustion, Tim had an ice cream cone there at 9 am. He says that's fair, because he had already been awake for 5 hours. We continued riding, crossing from CST to MST in Hebron, ND. There is a sense of controlled euphoria when crossing a time zone, as it signifies progress. Today's routing took us partly onto Interstate 94, because of the paucity of county roads in this section of ND. Sounds nerve-wracking, but it was not as bad as we previously imagined. Given the time change, we reached our original destination of Richardton (pop. 529) by 12:30 pm. The cloud cover protected us from direct sun, but it was nevertheless quite warm and humid. None of us wanted to set up tents, only to bake in them, and the only motel in town appeared to be a potential haven for bedbugs, with no pool and questionable AC functionality. We did not feel physically taxed yet because of our healthy tailwind, and made the decision again to push forward to Dickinson, a mere 22 miles away, which had more plentiful hotel options. As in Bismarck, we were lucky to get a very nice hotel room, with the town's lodging almost fully booked for "Roughrider Days Fair & Expo".

I was able to coordinate a brief visit with Jaya Allen, who pitches softball for Dickinson State University. She was a star pitcher for Shadle High School, and her mom Chandra was my scheduler and patient coordinator for many years.

We each felt blessed to be riding today, and it is a manifest delight to have all the tall grass in front bowing down away from us as the miles click away, giving us reassurance that our helping hand is still behind us. We encountered 4 other cross-country bike riders today going the other way. They seemed discouraged, as they were not the favored ones today. Even so, we all wish each other safe travels, and we know that we are destined to take turns being helped or hindered by the fickle winds in this vast expanse of land.

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3796376850

Jeff had a twitchy thumb today
Part A:
https://www.relive.cc/view/u3635090443

Part B:
https://www.relive.cc/view/u3635914852

More pictures:

More Farm Art

Crossed the Missouri River

Cow on ridge above New Salem