Week 4: June 30 - July 6
Stillwater, MN to Tolna, ND
This week's photos
Week 3 journal
Week 5 journal
June 30
"We retraced some steps today, crossing back into Wisconsin and heading
north to re-enter Minnesota at the town of Osceola. The hills of that
part of Wisonsin reintroduced themselves to us like old friends ;) It was
warm and humid so I had to contend with not being able to see too clearly,
what with the mist rising off the fields from last night's rain... and my
glasses fogging over on the climbs. Steve made the comment that he felt
Adventure Cycling deliberately chose the hilliest routes . I'm sure the
climbing practice will pay dividends in western Montana, though! on
crossing back into Minnesota, we came across another group of cyclists,
who also happened to be going westard to Seattle. Not only that, but they
also were from Connecticut! They were doing a fund raising ride for
Habitat for Humanity, a very deserving organization. It appeared,
however, that they were fully sag-supported, since each cyclist carried
only water and repair kit... Now that's the way to travel!...
unencumbered by the 50 or so additional pounds apiece that Steve and I are
hauling. It wouldn't surprise me if they also had each night's stopping
point planned in advance, at some sponsor's location... I'm
jealous!
For instance, take tonight's search for a home as an example. We had
traveled about 82 miles and were planning on camping in a site that ACA
indicated was right there on our route... however, being a private
campsite, the owner had, sometime since the maps were printed, decided to
stop catering to the walk-in trade. I can't say that I blame him, since
seasonal site leases are a lot more steady as a source of income. But
that left me and Steve to retrace about 8 miles of our route and stop to
camp at the town of Cambridge fairgrounds. We share the facilities for
the early evening with a wedding reception for "Ryan and Debby", and a
graduation party for "Courtney and Heather". In the meantime, the wind is
starting to pick up and Steve and I are waiting to see what develops
before we pitch our tent... We are set up under a large pavillion next to
a small lake... so it really isnt too bad!
Some repairs needed to be done tonight to Steve's bike. It appears that
one of his rear spokes snapped, so while he was showering, I wove a new
one into place, without even having to remove the tire or the wheel from
the bike! Fortunately it had broke on the side of the hub away from the
cluster. We'll have to keep a close eye on it as we move on toward Fargo.
I would rather spend some money to get it professionally trued before
tackling the remoter stretches of North Dakota and Montana. So it
goes..." --ez
July 1
"As I walked down to the camp office so that I could sit down and begin
typing in this journal entry, I glanced behind me...
"Like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round, walks on, and turns no more his head
Because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread."
Here's a hint: we're camping in a state park in Little Falls, MN, close by
the banks of the Mississippi.
Here's another hint: I have heard them referred to as "the state bird of
Minnesota".
Give up? ... I was being pursued by a cloud of about 300
mosquitos! One or two the size of hummingbirds, or even sparrows I could
handle... but in large numbers, I swear they form a collective
consciousness and know exactly how to push you to the brink of insanity.
Get the picture?
Last night we put our tent to the wind test, as a dry cold front moved
through. Happily, it was still intact in the morning.... more happily,
the wind had died down to a manageable 15 mph into which we soon headed.
In spite of the breeze, today was ideal for biking! It started out cool
(low 50s) and both Steve and I were wearing our rain jackets to keep warm.
The humidity was so low as to be nonexistent. The sky was a perfect blue
and we were feeling strong. After 20 miles, we removed the jackets, but
the temperature would never make it much above 70 degrees today. We
actually sat in the sun on our breaks to keep warm. In fact, in a very
small town of about population 70, we found a newly built little league
"Field of Dreams". After having our lunch in the shaded bleachers, we
both found a spot in the sun to lie down and doze. It was very idyllic...
what with our full stomachs, the breeze (to keep the bugs away), and the
sounds of the cows mooing beyond centerfield... you just had to be
there!
We also crossed the Mississippi River today, which I suppose means that
it's all uphill to the Rockies from here. The town of Little Falls is the
boyhood hometown of Charles Lindbergh, and we are staying in the state
forest that bears his name... in fact the home where he grew up is within
my sight as I type this. We traveled 97 miles today, the last 7 or 8
were out of our way to get to the campsite. Note, there was a Super 8
motel in town and we resisted the temptation! We felt good enough after
the ride, that we took our gear off the bikes and then rode the 3 mile
round trip into town to get some dinner. During the meal, at a very
reasonable family style restaurant, we got into a number of conversations
with the locals. By far the most interesting story to relate was not
ours, but that of a locally born man who had a 25 year career in the air
force, during which he spent time on every continent in the world,
including Antarctica. He told us of cycling in Italy, and the steepest
street in the world in Auckland, New Zealand, where he married a New
Zealand girl and lived atop the hill for a number of years. He moved back
to his hometown to care for his elderly parents before they passed away in
the last three years. How does he beat the cold Minnesota winters? Being
ex air force, he can travel to Australia round trip for $20, and stay with
his daughter and grandchildren during their Summer.... at least those are
his plans for this season.
I now have to figure the logistics of gathering everything I will need
tonight and tomorrow morning, and diving into my tent so as not to let a
single bloodsucker inside with me. I don't think it's possible :(
So it goes..." --ez
July 2
"We finally got to test our rain gear today. We broke camp while it was
still dry, but that didn't last long. Shortly after leaving Little Falls,
it began to precipitate more and more steadily. It was in the 50s... so
it was a cold rain, at that. Both Steve and I wore our rain jackets, but
decided against the rain pants, since the knees weren't articulated, and
they were a little restrictive as we pedaled. Oh well, at least they kept
us warm, dry and mosquito-free while in camp.
The rain kept up for about twenty miles of travel, and when we stopped for
a break, we realized that unless we continued exercising via pedaling, we
were going to get pretty chilled. Maybe it would have been better to wear
the rain pants after all! Fortunately, the rain stopped and though it was
to remain around 60 degrees, windy and overcast for the rest of the day,
we began to dry off and feel better about the day. In fact, growing up in
Buffalo, a cool cloudy day after the rain had let up was as good as a
sunny day to me ;)
We passed through the town of Long Prairie, and on to the town of Parker's
Prairie. It was there that we got some bad news. We were planning on
staying at a motel on this particular night, because of the fact that we
were both a bit chilled, and we had been pushing pretty hard for the last
couple of days. However, calling ahead to the few motels along the route,
we found that they were all booked up because of the holiday... even the
one motel in Parker's Prairie had no vacancies. We found a great bakery,
had lunch and discussed the situation. We had already gone 60 miles, it
was 1pm... a little early to quit for the day. So we called ahead to the
larger town of Fergus Falls, and found a motel with a vacancy. Now we had
a target, the problem was that it was over 40 miles away... another 100+
day! We got about 4 miles out of town and had to stop for a while while
Steve's stomach settled down... probably something he ate? While waiting
and deciding about whether to return the four miles and check at town hall
to see if we could camp in the town park, a group of cows (bulls,
actually) which were in a field right next to us, all started to walk over
to the fence next to me. They were coming from all over the field. It
was like lemmings, where one went the others had to follow. Not one was
grazing, they were all looking straight at me, as if they were expecting
something to happen. When they all got settled and were as close as
possible to me and each other... I felt that I had to say something to
the throng. So I started to talk to them about their poor self-esteem...
how they were much more than future Big Macs and baseball gloves. I told
them how they should go over to the farmer's house and voice their
grievances. The weird thing is, that as I was talking, one of them who
was facing away from me started mooing and grunting... almost as if he
was translating my nonsense to them! When Steve and I finally got on our
bikes and began to move down the road (having decided to push on), the
entire group of bulls began to run along side of us as far as their
pasture would allow. Pretty soon we left them behind, but if there is any
news report of bulls taking vengeance on a farmer in western Minnesota,
please don't let the authorities know it was my fault!
We stopped at "Big Foot's", a food stop in Vining, MN. One intersting
thing about this particular stop was the several giant sculptures that
were displayed on the large lawn out front. We got some pictures, went
inside, and found that the artist "Ken" was a local, whose daughter is an
astronaut with NASA!
We made it into our motel after riding 107 miles on the day. In fact, we
may have a strange problem of traveling too quickly across the country...
because of personal/logistical reasons. Over the last 5 days of riding,
we've averaged over 100 miles per day. More on this later...So it
goes..." --ez
July 3
"Although we had absolutely no hills today, I still needed to chant as I
pedalled to the Northwest. My song was "They Call
the Wind Mariah". If the wind keeps up with this direction and
ferocity all the way across North Dakota and Montana, then I won't have to
worry at all about finishing the ride too soon, instead I might not finish
until October! It was hellacious. About 20mph constant wind directly out
of the Northwest... where we were heading. Every time a truck would pass
in the opposite direction, the blast of wind would almost knock us off our
bikes. My hope is that the wind strength doesn't reach its peak until the
afternoon. If that happens to be true, then Steve and I will be getting
used to hitting the road about 5am each morning.
This morning, we took our time getting up and ready to leave... after
all, we only had about 60 miles to go to the Fargo/Moorehead area. We
left around 8:30 and trusted our route to a 2001 issue of a Minnesota map
put out by the state. After missing our turn because of a misprint on the
map (lesson learned), we backtracked and got on course again, after having
wasted about 7 miles of travel. We were traveling along the western edge
of Minnesota... Did you know that this area is called the Prairie Chicken
capital of America? We saw a 9000 pound 12 foot tall statue of a
"Booming Prairie Chicken", but didn't get to meet a real-life counterpart.
However, we did run across (not over!) a mother duck and about 9 ducklings
walking in a row across the road. As we approached, the ducklings broke
formation and scattered into the grass by the roadside, and the mother
duck half flew and half walked directly in front of us for about a quarter
of a mile. Feigning injury, no doubt, to attract us "predators" away from
her youngsters. This defensive behavior is common for at least one or two
other bird types that nest along the roads in this area. The red winged
blackbird is still in abundance, and it takes a more offensive approach to
keeping trespassers away, dive bombing us as we approach too near a
nest.
We made it into Fargo at around 3:30pm and are camping along the river
(Red River North?) that forms the boundary between ND and MN. In fact, we
could toss a pebble across the river, and these two towns are so
cooperative that the fireworks display for the combined towns will take
place tomorrow night on the MN side at Moorehead State University. Steve
and I are planning to take tomorrow off and camp here again, so that we
can enjoy the festivities. There is a dike along the river, accesible by
a bikepath, from which we will have a good vantage point for viewing the
display from the ND side of the river. Alternatively, Moorehead State is
only a couple of miles away if we want to cross the bridge back into MN to
see the fireworks "up close and personal". The campground is within the
Fargo city limits, so places to eat are handy... we may seek out a
laundromat for tomorrow, as well. Fargo/Moorehead seems to be a neat,
vibrant college town... but it is way too flat and windy for me! So it
goes..." --ez
July 4
"Another rest day, and so much to write about... I'll try to remember it
all. It's after 7pm and we plan on heading over to the field at Moorehead
State to set up for viewing the fireworks at 8. The schedule calls for
live entertainment on stage all day... with an orchestra taking it up at
8. This morning I got up leisurely at 7:15 and decided to ride the bike
trail along the river to check out the dikes. The trail itself is
beautiful and wanders alongside the Red River for about 3.5 miles from
where we are camped to the bridge that crosses over into Minnesota. From
there, I understand it is only 6 blocks to the campus... so Steve and I
will opt for being right there at the field for the festivities. One
problem with the day's schedule is that since dusk comes so late here, the
fireworks aren't scheduled to begin until 10:30. This means that we won't
get to sleep until about midnight. Tomorrow we plan to put our wind
avoidance strategy into effect and get on the road by 5am. This means we
will only get about 4.5 hours of sleep. Overall, a little sleep
deprivation is to be preferred to facing the gale force headwinds we
experienced yesterday! As usual, a day off is a work day of a different
sort. I found a laundry within a couple miles, and for lunch, Steve and I
walked our stuff to be cleaned out there, started a washer load, and went
to find some lunch. The work being done, we headed back to camp, and ran
into a guy who was part of a group of four riders doing the Northern Tier
route from west to east... and he was also riding a recumbent (Rans
Vivo), pulling a BOB trailer. He was making the trek with his
friend and friend's daughter (just graduated from HS) and HER friend. He
was able to fill us in on what to expect ahead of us, and we were able to
do the same for them. They seem to be even more time-constrained than we
are, since they want to be done by 8/1! After speaking to the person in
their group in charge of the route, I believe they are going to alter
their Northern Tier in much the same way as we altered ours... Namely
going across Wisconsin, ferry to Michigan, southern Ontario
Peninsula...etc, except they will continue to end at Bar Harbor, rather
than Cape Code. Tom, the instigator of that group is maintaining a web
side also... www.enlow.org/longride.... send them some email of
encouragement! We compared notes, and agreed that Fargo is the midpoint
of the ride. Fortunately for them, their ride is no longer going to be so
desolate, as ours is about to be! The word is that eastern Montana is
very hard, psychologically to get through, but the rewards of the rockies
will be worth it if we can just maintain our resolve!
Steve and I have mapped out five days of riding between Fargo and Minot,
with considerably shorter mileage days... My achilles tendon started to
act up while pushing against the wind yesterday! The weather today was
perfect for a 4th of July celebration... Sorry to hear it is not so in
the east :(
I had another flat today! Mysteriously, my trailer started hissing near
the valve. It was very difficult to pry those 12" tires off the rim to
look at the problem, and a repairable hole near the stem was found... no
clue how it got there, but I am worried about the trailer now!
Some local jargon: A traffic light is called a "stop 'n go"; A liquor
store is called a "bottle store"; There are "off sales", "on sales" and
"off and on sales", which near as we can figure descibe whether or not you
can drink the alcohol on or off the premises. And as we all know, the
word is "pop" not "soda" west of the Hudson! So it goes..." --ez
July 5
"I am lying here in the shade of a great tree on the lawn of the town park
in Cooperstown, North Dakota. This place is what my image of a small town
park should be... band shell, playground equipment, sounds of children
laughing, well cared-for grounds. If I were a tree, such as the one above
me, I don't think there could be a better use to which I could be put,
than to provide shade for the friendly folk of a small town in their park.
This town park also has something I've never seen, or even considered
possible before... a lighted, 12 lane(?) horseshoe field! As a
scoutmaster, I've played in many horseshoe tournaments during Summer camp
over the years, but never won it all. In fact we've usually bowed out of
the elimination tournament quite early, most years. I now know where all
the expert horseshoe pitchers that whupped us year after year came from...
small towns with facilities just like this.
We got to this town after a long ride of about 100 miles.... I know, we
were supposed to be taking it easy on my achilles tendon; we were supposed
to be slowing down because of scheduling anomalies; we were supposed to be
buffeted by the wind, so severely, that 100 mile per day headway in the
plains of North Dakota was unthinkable. Well today we got on the road
early, the winds cooperated (from the south) and we decided to "make hay
while the sun shines"... as a result, we went 26 miles beyond our planned
stopping point. Early in the day, we saw a vintage biplane enjoying the
wonderfully clear weather... it was practicing landings, and buzzed us
for fun... It reminded me of the scene from Hitchcock's "North by
Northwest" except that we had no cornfields around us, just miles of flat
green plantings as far as the eye could see. We've quickly become used to
scanning the horizon for water towers... a sure sign of a town. However,
in terrain like this, we can spot the tower and still have 10 miles to go
to reach it! There is no problem with dogs here. The farmhouses are set
off so far from the road, that any dog who spotted us would have to run a
quarter mile just to reach the road. The only departure from flat was
when we crossed the Sheyenne River. It's erosion over the millenia has
cut a deep rut in the landscape of this part of the state.
By the way, last night's fireworks were very entertaining. Thousands of
Fargo-Moorehead residents showed up at Nemzek field at the university in
Moorehead to sit in the bleachers, or out on the lawn (like us). It was
chilly, and I was glad to have brought my full rain suit for warmth.
Steve only had his jacket. The show ended around 11pm, and it took quite
a while in that crowd to get our bikes off the lawn and back onto the
street. Afterward we had an exciting ride down the 3 mile winding bike
trail in the woods back to camp... having only my fairly weak headlight
and a very bright full moon to light the way.
Well, we need to find a pay phone to check on our mail... some of the
small towns around here have had their pay phones removed by the phone
company because of cost ineffectiveness... one unexpected peril of a
small population! Hopefully we'll find one here and also a place to eat
before things shut down for the evening. So it goes..." --ez
July 6
"What services in a community do you take for granted? Do you take for
granted its very existence? What critical mass of people, shops,
conveniences, sense of hope for the future, etc. make a town thrive and
grow, versus the alternative? These and other similar thoughts go through
my mind as we ride and stop in the small communities of central North
Dakota. We stayed last night in a fairly sizeable town (pop. 1130),
which even had a motel! But no one knew where there might be a pay phone.
..they had all been disconnected by the pay phone company. The police
department had been closed down... Still, I felt a sense of hope and
optimism from conversations we had with the townfolk. The library (they
had one!) was even open, and had internet connections we could use. There
was a restaurant in town that was part of a regional chain... as opposed
to a locally run cafe. Not that a local cafe doesn't have quality and
charm, but it lacks a sense of permanence that you get from seeing a
restaurant, even a fast food joint, belonging to a chain... which in a
sense says that some outsider, even though motivated by profit, has faith,
or at least a willingness to invest in the viability of the community.
I've seen a jar on the counter of a brand new eatery in a small town with
a label on the jar saying "donations gladly accepted to help pay off the
debt on this shop". It brings into perspective how much on the fringe of
existence conveniences that we take for granted can be.
We stopped in a small town (pop. 223) to pick up some drinks and snacks.
They still had a pay phone, and a grocery store that was still open. A
local man stopped to talk about whether or not we thought that cyclists
would enjoy it if an old abandoned railroad spur near town was publicized.
I felt that he was looking for some outsider perspective on what it would
take to set his town apart, and make people want to come (or stay) there.
We are staying in a town about the same size (pop. 230). This town, at
first, gave me a sense that it is withering. The first clue was when we
were stopped by a gentleman in a pickup and he seemed to go out of his way
to suggest that we continue down the road, in spite of the stiff breeze,
another 30 miles to get to a better spot. As is becoming usual, pay
phones are out... (so I don't know when this journal will get posted)...
The one grocery market has closed... which in talking to the townspeople,
is a definite sore spot with them. The park where we are staying has an
old-style pressure-treated mini-playscape... but I hadn't seen any
children to use it. There is a Senior Center in town... as there is in
practically every small town we've come to... but where were the kids?...
as I said, this was my impression "at first", but first impressions can be
deceiving. I found this out in a long conversation I had with a woman
originally from San Francisco, who hates Winter, and yet had moved
here to stay almost 30 years ago. It turns out that there ARE a number of
children here, who all came out to play and practice basketball for the
town's annual festival ("Tolna Days") which starts tomorrow! There will be
3-on-3 competitions in several age groups for both boys and girls). The kids
were probably all off doing their chores... as all kids should! We
played and talked with the children, and found them to be as optimistic
and contented as any we've known! There will be a number of other events
including an annual demolition derby(!) which has become a great draw for
all the people in the nearby towns to come and enjoy. The bottom line is
that a naive tourist such as myself should not leap to conclusions without
some hard data, and talking with the people is the surest way to get
it.
We traveled only 45 miles today, since a lightning storm and heavy rain
that took place in the morning delayed our departure. Also, following the
passage of the front, the wind kicked up into a stiff 20-25 mph from the
west. It was a good thing that we went a little farther yesterday than we
had planned, because today we spent that "banked" distance and stopped
exactly where we had planned to be for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow the
weather will cooperate, and we will be able to get an early start and push
on to a reasonable stopping point. By the way, yesterday we passed the
2000 mile mark (and the halfway point) for the trek! So it goes..." --ez
This week's photos
Week 3 journal
Week 5 journal
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