Category: RA 2011

Indian Creek Rec Area (Mobridge) SD to West Whitlock Rec Area SD A long climb up a hill out of Indian Creek Rec Area started out our day.  And I might add this was all without pancakes.  Little did we know… We parted ways with Roger at the junction of SD1804 (the Lewis and Clark Route we’re following) and US83.   Roger decided to take a straighter, possibly less hilly, and possibly better paved road today, meeting up with us about midway through. This idea immediately proved out correct, because we were presented with a series of steep hills in the

Beaver Creek Rec Area ND to Indian Creek Rec Area (Mobridge) SD This morning, around 3AM, I awoke and gazed up at the best stars yet of the trip.  I grabbed my camera and started playing around with long exposure times, hanging out of the tent, and even got one to sort-of turn out, despite a jostle of the camera at the beginning of the exposure.  Just fantastic in person. Jack and I breakfasted in camp and hit the road – another long ride planned today.  The route included plenty of hills and stunning country, and the terrain turned into

Bismarck ND to Beaver Creek Rec Area ND A trek to the grocery store first thing this morning was needed since we’re headed into to primitive camping tonight.  We then hit Perkins for omelettes and pancakes – what else.  Mr. Pancake. South out of Bismarck, we passed by a neighborhood that was readying for flooding.  I couldn’t believe the preparations.  Sandbags not only barricading each house, but team efforts that barricaded whole blocks of houses.  Well-designed steps leading up and over the sandbag walls.  And elaborate plumbing of the houses rain gutters so that the runoff would drain into on

Bismarck ND Super chill rest day in Bismarck ND.  Late rise, then breakfast at the Super 8 feed trough.  Back to the room for more rest, wi-fi, TV.  Basically some serious chilling. Among the few items we did accomplish today was a trip to the bike shop for spare tubes and also a spare chain for Jack.  Lunch at Applebee’s (I had a sirloin dinner), then I went shopping for  a Sham-wow since I left mine hanging on a tree at Totten Trail Resort.   Finally found a box of them at a CVS, took two out and gave all the

Don Steckel Boat Landing ND to Bismarck ND Fantastic stars last night – the best of the tour so far.   By sliding my sleeping bag up and opening the tent fly, I had a perfect view of half the sky for the entire night, well, when it wasn’t blocked by eyelids. Ran into another bull snake down ND1804 – there seem to be plenty of them around.  This one blocked the bike lane but just snaked off at the unwanted attention.  I read that these guys intentionally mimic rattlesnakes, and occasionally eat them too. ND1804 took us along the Missouri

Stanton ND to Don Steckel Boat Landing ND I am truly finding every day on tour great in its own way.  But some days just stand out. Breakfast at Café Du Mond in Stanton ND, pancakes (Kimmie scale = 5.5) and eggs as usual.  Then south on SD31 into a headwind.  For the first time Bill rode with us, taking his usual pace WAY down.  He said it was actually a difficult thing for him to do, and he really had to work at it. Gary spied two snakes, one of them a rather big bull snake, by the roadside. 

Totten Trail Resort ND to Stanton ND Relaxed departure from our camp at Totten Trail Resort ND this morning for a short riding day.  We rolled across a 2 mile land bridge that separated Lake Audubon from Lake Sakakawea. Our route called for a turn onto ND48, but when we reached it there were ROAD CLOSED barricades.   Gary, Jack and I asked ourselves if we felt lucky, and the answer was yes, so we turned onto it and started down.  Roger, about 150 yards back, stopped at the signs, saw us rolling along, and started crowing, “What is going on!?” 

Berthold ND to Totten Trail Resort ND [We’ve been out of wi-fi range for a few days now.  Four new posts are below.] Nice sleep last night at the Berthold ND park, then an equally nice breakfast at the Tumbleweed Café.  I know it is cliché for touring cyclists to take pictures of the food they eat, but I had to do it this morning because my pancake was the biggest one yet (no, I couldn’t quite finish it).   Jack says that Fran wants to start calling me Mr. Pancake. We took CR10 out of Berthold, a really nice secluded

Tioga ND to Berthold ND Tioga ND looked a little better in the morning.  Still, it was one of the few city parks we’ve stayed in where I was a bit concerned that my bike would still be there in the morning, and was glad to see it.  Bill said he’d even seen a brothel business being operated out of a pick-up truck last night, servicing the RV clients next to the park.  Can you imagine? Jack and I left last from the park, then hit up the town for breakfast.   I noticed that practically every vehicle parked in town

Culbertson MT to Tioga ND Early start (for us) from Culbertson MT at 7AM.  Roger and Bill took off even earlier.  We said a tentative goodbye to L. E. because he did not immediately favor the idea of going all the way to Tioga. We got a 15 mile headstart on the day, pulling in to Bainville MT for breakfast with Gary. Pancakes were good – I gave them a 7 on the Kimmie scale.   We quipped to a curious patron that today was a 90-90-90-90 day for us:  a 90 mile plan in 90°F at 90% relative humidity with