Day Thirty-eight

Seems like every other day is a good day of riding. This was not one of those days. I got a late start and was on the road around 9:30. Chuck took me to the start of my route and we stopped at a Perkins for breakfast. You know I don’t like chains, but it was the only place in town serving breakfast and I’ve had some good meals there. Chuck just ordered an English muffin and I had eggs, a biscuit and home fries. Everyone was very nice there, and we had a good time.

Riding was hard, since I got a late start. It was very hot and the wind was strong. Chuck almost drove by me because he expected me to be further along. We stopped at Berthold for a tuna sandwich, cole slaw and a malt, and had very bad service so we were there for a LONG time. I wasn’t happy about losing so much time there, but the malt was really good. I met two bikers on their way to Madison, Wisconsin, and I told them about Himal Chulee.

Got back on the road and it was even harder to ride. I met a really nice guy named Bob who was riding west to east. He approached me as I was taking pictures of cows and thought it was funny that I was trying to get them to smile. We chatted for a while. I asked him about dogs and he showed me his “dog stick”. I asked him if he actually hit them with it, and he said, “If a dog is going to bite me, that’s what I’ll have to do.” I agreed. He warned me about Poplar, which a few people have done, and I think I’m just going to avoid that town. No sense putting myself in harm’s way.

As I approached Stanley, our stopping point for the night, Chuck pulled over and I was ready to stop so I threw my bike on the car. We found the city campground, but it wasn’t easy since they’re completely replacing the main street in the town. There was a sign that said we needed to check in at City Hall, so we walked over there. They told us not to worry about it. No charge.

We stopped at a very smoky bar on the way back and had a drink and played some pool. The music was kind of obnoxious and the smoke was getting to me, so we didn’t stay long. We went back to the campground and set up camp. It looked like rain, but we held off on the rain fly. We took a short drive to the gas station to get some ice so I could have a cold drink with dinner. Today was the first day we were going to use the Jet Boil to cook some mac and cheese and I was very excited. It was raining when we got back, so we put the rain fly on the tent. We were lucky enough to have a sheltered picnic table by our tent, so we prepared dinner there, and it came out well! Very tasty.

I went to bed kind of early. It wasn’t easy since trains were going non-stop only a few feet from our tent, it seemed. I was grateful for my earplugs, but Chuck refuses to wear them.