Day Thirty-seven

This has been an amazing day. Nothing I can write in this blog can convey to you the awesomeness of this day, but I’ll try. We actually found a lemon poppyseed muffin at a restaurant in Rugby last night and snagged it for me for breakfast today. In case you didn’t know, one of my addictions is the glazed lemon poppyseed muffins at Price Chopper. This one didn’t have glaze, but I was OK with that. We took some coffee, illegally, from the continental breakfast at the campground and I enjoyed my muffin while Chuck choked down his mediocre cinnamon roll. I headed westward on Route 2.

This was actually quite a thrill for me, since it was my first time riding on Route 2 for the whole trip. The wind was coming from the west, but it wasn’t strong today and the temperature was cool. It was just a great day for biking. The shoulder was wide, but after riding for a few miles, I came to a sign that said “Road Closed” and there was no way I would have room to ride my bike on the lane they were diverting traffic to. Luckily, I had cell service, so I called Chuck. He came out to get me and drove me past the construction. He dropped me off and I continued on my way to Towner, our designated breakfast spot. We found a diner and ordered a couple of pancakes and eggs. They were good, but not Esmond good!

I headed back to Route 2 and Chuck tried to find some wifi, unsuccessfully. I passed quite a few bikers heading east, but it was not a friendly bunch, unfortunately. Most of them ignored me when I waved, and when I crossed the median to talk to a woman, she answered one of my questions and then rode away from me while I was still talking to her. It was a group of 8 riders, I was able to find out from her. I was going to warn her about the construction on Route 2, but she rode away before I could tell her. I tried not to take it personally.

Chuck passed me and pulled over and I was a little hungry, so I had a yogurt and some cheese and juice (good choices!). He headed on to Minot, with the intention of getting some new tires for the hybrid. I was against the whole thing, since money is tight and the tires still have a little life in them, but Chuck didn’t want to take the chance of them blowing on me. I can appreciate that. Luckily, he found a good bike shop.

I rode into Minot and I couldn’t believe what I saw. North Dakota, so far, has been one small town centered around a water tower after another. Each town usually has a post office, a store, a bar and maybe, if you’re lucky, a restaurant. And that’s it. Minot was like a city…a nice one! I’ve never heard of it before! Chuck had found an Irish pub and had a drink there, and then went to Roosevelt Park which has a zoo and a huge swimming pool with a big water slide. He only had to tell me about that once, but I wanted a beer first. I had a Shocktop at the Irish pub, and we shared a veggie wrap, and it was excellent. Chuck asked if there was a piano bar in town, since he’s been itching to play piano again. The bartender said she thought there was one at the International Inn. We made a mental note.

We headed over to Roosevelt Park. It was three dollars to use the pool and go on the slide as much as you wanted, so that was in my price range. I was dying for a swim after my 70 mile ride today!! The first thing I did was go down the slide, and I was halfway down, when a small child crashed into me from behind. Apparently the girl at the top was not doing a good job leaving people enough space between sliders. I brushed it off, went back up to the top and had another ride down, this time collision free. Swam around a bit, did a pathetic little dive off the diving board and got my three dollars’ worth.

We headed over to the International and asked if they had a piano, but they did not. We had been misinformed. It was a beautiful hotel and I wondered if they might give us a discount if I told them about my ride. Chuck was skeptical since the place was pretty ritzy, but I thought “What harm would it do to give it a try?” Chuck waited in the car while I talked to the girl at the front desk. I told her what I was doing and she quoted me a price that was much too high for us. She said, “Let me see if the manager is still around.” He was, and I went into his office and chatted with him for a while. He said, “Let me see what we have available.” I waited for a while and he came back with a key. I said, “How much can I give you for the room?” He said, “Nothing, that’s OK – it’s for a good cause.” Chuck was speechless when I told him. He had not been looking forward to setting up the tent again and taking it all apart in the morning.

Here we are in a nice hotel, after an excellent dinner of fettucine alfredo with shrimp and asparagus. We tried to use the hot tub in the hotel, but there were 16 teenagers in it (I’m not kidding). That’s OK, I ran myself a hot bath, so I’m going to climb in with Alec Guinness…I mean my book about Alec Guinness, of course.

I hope Chuck takes advantage of the room and sleeps for a bit after I head out on my ride tomorrow. Can’t wait to try my new tires!