Day Thirty-nine

Did you know there’s oil in North Dakota? I had no idea, but I’ve seen quite a few of these thingies around. Apparently, it was first discovered in 1951. Today was the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen so far on the trip. I’ve posted some better pictures on Facebook.

Got up early and Chuck offered to drive me to my starting point. We stopped at a diner for breakfast, but it wasn’t very good. We were both completely exhausted after listening to all the trains coming and going all night long. That was a miserable night. Chuck dropped me off and went back to the campsite. My ride started out very well. The temperature wasn’t bad and there wasn’t much wind. I was making pretty good time. We agreed to meet on Route 1804 for lunch, but we actually hooked up earlier than that, in Tioga. Found another café with incredibly slow service. We waited over ½ hour for a waffle and it wasn’t even very good.

This is where I should have taken the advice of some fellow bikers. They had warned me not to follow the ACA route to Route 21 and 1804, but I decided to take the chance. Dumb. The road had no shoulder and there were massive trucks going by me every few minutes. Every time I saw one in my mirror, I just got off the road completely because there was no room and they weren’t the most considerate drivers in the world. It made for slow going.

The day turned hotter and hotter and eventually reached 90 degrees. By the time I reached 1804, I was ready for Chuck, but there was no cell phone service. He had been worried about me, so pretty soon he showed up. We drove the rest of the way to Williston and found a place to have a cold drink. Williston’s a pretty big city, but I definitely prefer Minot. After the night we had in Stanley, we were both ready for a motel, so I went in to the Marquis to see if they’d give us a discount. They were sympathetic, but completely booked, but the girl at the desk called their sister hotel and they had a room for us. The price was higher than we would have liked, but we were desperate. It’s a nice place and they have an awesome hot tub which we both really enjoyed. Chuck’s not feeling well, so he’s in bed as I write this. There’s nothing on TV, so I’ll probably go to bed soon too. Just need to upload my photos to Facebook.

I’ll check the weather too. I really hope tomorrow will be cooler. Riding in 90 degree weather is pretty tough. Should make it to Montana tomorrow!!