DAYS 25 AND 26

Day 25
July 14, 2010
Culbertson to Williston
44 miles

Great tailwind. Left at 7:55am, and arrived in Williston, ND at 10:40am (or at 11:40 am, with new time change upon entering North Dakota).

Several of us had lunch at Gramma Sharon’s Restaurant, adjoining the motel. Afterward, Juani and I took a long walk around this suburban-sprawl town, spending some time in a local bookstore. It was too windy for cooking at the trailer, so we ate at the same restaurant again for supper. We had a tough young waitress, about 22, I'd guess, (probably in training to work at Durgin Park in Boston) who thought it was some “rude joke” that all 28 of us said to put our tab on Linda’s bill. They ran out of baked potatoes, and she told Rebecca,”I brought you mashed potatoes ‘cause that's what we have." She brought plates with carrots and toast to our table, though the vegetable was of the day was supposed to be peas, and said, “we don’t have peas; just deal with the carrots, okay?” She'll be one tough cookie when she's older!

Here's my roommate Peggy, a nurse, who along with Penny, decided I needed to get in the van when I wasn't biking well after my bike crash:













And these are two pictures of entering North Dakota: one of me, and the other of Cheryl, my roommate on July 15th:

And here's my still fat thumb!


Day 26
July 15, 2010
Williston to New Town, via Stanley
71.14 miles in 4 hours, 25 minutes! Includes three sag breaks, too!
Another great tailwind day, except for the first 14 miles going northbound, in which we had rough crosswinds.

Interesting day today, with a major deviation from the plan. I can only imagine the logistics that go into planning for biking, meals, lodging, days off, and safe roads for 28 people, for 33 days. Also, our group is called Northern Tier #2, and Northern Tier #1 left Anacortes just one day before we did. This has proven to be really advantageous to our group, since #1 has scouted out the best detours for cinnamon rolls, alerted us to grouchy innkeepers, etc. Well, yesterday, #1 encountered narrow roads through bucolic scenery, which was fine at the time the route and trip were planned. But since that time, oil companies have conducted exploration for new sites and have dug new oil wells, all of which have brought in a lot of trucks and rigs and other heavy equipment on the planned route.

Yesterday the North Dakota Highway Patrol intercepted group #1 and told them they couldn’t ride on those roads due to heavy truck traffic. They had to load bikes on top of their van and ferry the group in multiple trips to the hotel. Michelle scouted out the roads last night for our group, and confirmed that there were about 20 trucks passing in any five-minute period on the previously planned route. Forget that! So she came up with a new cue sheet this morning that had us on route 2 most of the day today. It’s a four-lane road with a divided median, but it had terrific new paving and a WIDE shoulder for most of the day. The only problem is that it didn’t go to New Town, which is where our lodging is tonight. So we biked on it to Stanley, and then waited at the Painted Pony Café/Motel/Drive-Thru Liquor Store. As we trickled in, Michelle loaded bikes atop the van for our fastest group, and then drove them from Stanley to New Town, 32 miles away. Then she drove back to Stanley to repeat the process and get the rest of us.

Had a nice leisurely grilled cheese sandwich and iced coffee with half of the group as we waited. At one of the sag stops for snacks and water, I had told everybody to stand together for a picture, since by now we have bonded as the non-competitive, slower, but "more appreciative of our surroundings" group. Everybody got into it, and once again piped up, "Oooh! Oooh! Wait til I get my camera, too!" So the sag stop probably took twice as long as usual, but we laughed a lot. Here's a picture of my buddies and me, all of whom plus a few others, were in the second van leaving Stanley to go to New Town:


Earlier in the day, I stopped to take a picture of my bike with this hay bale to show you how big the hay bales are out here. They line them up on trucks, like strings of beads about 50 feet long, two "strings" wide, and a third row on top. Wish I had a picture of a loaded truck to show you, but you'll have to use your imagination. These truck loads are enormous!



At the Painted Pony Cafe, this sign was on the side of the building, and evidently, this is pretty common out west:

And lastly, here's Michelle, loading all of our bikes on top of the van for the trip to New Town, from Stanley.

I'm always bemused to discover where they're putting us up. Tonight we're at a resort/casino! It's actually really nice, and due to the windy conditions, we ate dinner in the resort at the buffet, so once again, no cooking at the trailer with our white plastic chairs in a circle. People are starting to talk about going home soon, and speculating about what that will be like. One recalled that on a previous ride a woman said she thought the hardest part would be not putting out her white plastic chair in her driveway and waiting to be served her dinner. :)

Good night for now!
Lynn