Down through the Upper Midwest

Three songs this post…one for each state!

Girl From the North Country by Bob Dylan with Johnny Cash

That 70’s Show Theme (In the Street as sung by Cheap Trick)

Redford by Sufjan Stevens (from his Greetings from Michigan album)

We had a few weeks of great cycling through the Upper Midwest for a number of reasons. First of all, there are SO MANY rail-to-trails in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as a lot of bike lanes in towns and cities. In fact, many of the MN rail-to-trails have bike pumps and bike tools along the way for cyclists to use. The drivers were also very generous when passing us, whether in small towns or larger cities.

As for our route, we headed southeast out of Moorhead on Old 52 and began our journey towards the Twin Cities. The road was very lightly traveled due to it paralleling I-94. But one driver did turn around and come back to tell us how much she appreciated our neon clothes and bright lights! She said too many bikers wear gray and are hard to see. Then she turned back around and continued on her way. We are thankful that our neon colors and lights are working. After meeting that woman, we saw that there was construction on Old 52. However, the MS cyclists had told us they took the road and were fine. Despite the Northern Tier turning east, we decided to take the a short cut and continue on Old 52. This was a great decision as the roads had been paved and were just waiting lines. In essence, we had a massive “bike lane” all to ourselves with only 10+ vehicles on the road for over an hour. We stopped outside a diner/truck stop for a break and an employee brought us out ice water! We just meet nice people nearly every day.

A freshly paved Old 52 without any vehicles. Even better than a rail-to-trail!

Old 52 led us to Fergus Falls and the beginning of the Central Lakes Bike Trail. Thus began our riding on wonderfully flat and paved rail-to-trails for just over 100 miles over a day and a half. It was encouraging to see how many people were out walking or on their bikes using the trails and enjoying the multitude of lakes we passed along the way. It is bittersweet to have such trails as they mark the decline of the railroads and industries which supported so many of the small communities. It appeared that many of the Minnesota towns have fared better than some Montana towns, most likely due to their being a vacation destination for fishing and boating for many folks from the Twin Cities.

Watch out for the giant Viking.

Moonrise at Chippewa Park near Brandon, MN.

The Central Lakes Trail connected with the Lake Wobegon Trail, leading us into Saint Cloud. We had camped a day early in Brandon, MN and confirmed we were in the Midwest by waking up to our stuff covered with dew. Therefore, we were thankful to have a WarmShowers host lined up for Saint Cloud. We stayed with Scott and Jennifer, who treated us to a wonderful dinner and an egg bake for breakfast!

Scott and Jennifer.  Also pictured is the amazing breakfast casserole.

Their beautiful 1920s home provided us with full stomachs and a great nights sleep before heading onward.

While the official Northern Tier swings north of the Twin Cities, we deviated and went directly southeast to make use of the great bike paths as we approached Nick’s sisters home north of the Cities. This deviation led us to take the MTR (Mississippi River Trail). While not bike path, it is a well marked and well traveled bike route on roads that track with the river. This trail also led us to a great restaurant in Monticello, Cornerstone, where we had wild rice in our omelettes! Confirmation we were in Minnesota. Despite not being on the official Northern Tier, we began to see a number of other westbound bicycle tourers. We waved to about 10 before stopping to talk with two of them. Turns out their are a group calling themselves the green riders, riding from NY to Seattle and volunteering at farms along the way! Hence why we saw so many of them in the course of a few hours.

One of the many Mississippi River Trail (MRT) signs which helped us navigate our route.

The MTR led us to Anoka, MN where we crossed the mighty Mississippi. As we crossed, we both mentioned how crossing the river felt, good, as though we were back on the side of the river we are used to! It is funny how crossing a boundary marked by a river can make you feel more at home. We finally made it to Blaine, MN where we were blessed to stay with Kristen, Nick’s sister, for a few days of zero miles. She had the fridge stocked full of food, the AC turned up, and fresh sheets and towels for our stay.

The Mighty Mississippi with Anoka in the background!

We spent our time in the Twin Cities relaxing and exploring the cities. This included trips to Minnehaha Falls, the locks near downtown, and the capital in St. Paul. Better yet, we were able to get dinner with our cycling friends Ron and Mary as they had finished up their trip just a few days before us! We were also able to meet with Nick’s good friend Brendan at an great Nepalese lunch buffet. Yes, buffets are always good when you are on a bike trip. The two days also allowed us to have our bikes tuned up and a new chain put on Spencer’s bike at Penn Cycles.

Nick and Kristen at Minnehaha Falls…just hiking, no kayaking for us.

The capitol building in St. Paul! Not Minneapolis…

Inside the dome.

We were fortunate to spend two nights with Kristen as the last night we had a famous Midwestern summer storm. It was nice to be in a dry bed and not worry about packing up wet tents.

This might not have been the most fun to experience in a tent. Glad we didn’t have to find out!

Feeling refreshed from the relaxing time at Kristen’s we left on a Wednesday morning and made for our sixth state of Wisconsin. We left Minnesota by crossing over the St. Croix and Wisconsin definitely had a huge welcome for us; by that we mean a ridiculously steep hill climb out of the river valley. We both were in our lowest gear and out of our saddles to make it to the top. While the rest of the ride wasn’t that steep, we had our fair share of rollers as we made our way across the country roads of Wisconsin using the “alphabet way.” The county roads in WI are lettered and are usually a safe route for bicyclists. We could confirm this on the amazing WI county maps! Locals warned us to stick to the alphabet roads; roads that were last names usually turned to gravel sooner or later, as we found out once or twice on our own.

Crossing the Saint Croix with Stillwater, MN behind us…and a big climb in front of us.

After a night of camping and biking through rolling farmland (with lots of dairies), we made our way to Stevens Point. We had met another cyclist named Wes in the Cascades (see earlier post) who told us to look him up if we passed through Wisconsin. Turns out he was out of state for work, but he promised us his roommate would take good care of us. We biked into town and met his roommate Justin, who had also just graduated from UWSP and was working in the paper industry. We grabbed dinner with him and really enjoyed hearing about the paper industry that is still so central to this part of Wisconsin. We woke up early and hit another great bike trail named the Tomorrow River Trail. The crushed limestone rail-to-trail was great as it was relatively flat! While we did lose a little speed on our bikes as the trail wasn’t paved, we appeared the canopy of trees and not having to watch out for traffic.

Our awesome host Justin and with only the really early birds singing in the background.

We were fortunate to have another host lined up in Wisconsin in Neenah, WI, via Nick’s friend Sara. Sara’s parents, Pat and Cathy, live in Neenah and were more than happy to host us on our journey. In addition to an amazing dinner, the visit was very Wisconsinite including cheese curds for appetizers and played cribbage after dinner! It was wonderful spending time with them and their neighbors who stopped by.

Cathy and Pat explaining the various ways to score in cribbage…we didn’t quite finish the game, but Cathy was in the lead!

After changing a flat tire, off to catch the ferry.

The next morning we had a short ride of 50 miles but needed to wake up early as we were hoping to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan, the SS Badger. We also awoke to find Spencer had a flat tire. After a recording setting 22 minute change, we were on our way. Despite a few rollers along the way, we were able to make it to Manitowoc with time to spare. Before boarding the ferry, we grabbed sandwiches at a local place and tried out their Habanero Chicken sandwich. We both like spicy food and thought we’d give it a try. Two bites in we both had the same reaction…this was SPICY. Like tears and snot spicy. Needing the calories and short on time, we pressed on eating hoping we wouldn’t regret the decision half way across the lake! Thankfully we didn’t feel any adverse side effects the rest of the day.

The trip across the lake was beautiful. It was sunny but windy enough we needed jackets. Our bikes were safely stowed below and we enjoyed the 4 ½ hour trip checking out the ship’s amenities (gift shop, bingo, snack area, etc) but mostly sitting on the deck watching the waves speed by. The ship was traveling around 15 mph, about the same as we would on our bikes on a good day! After arriving in Luddington, MI, we had a short bike ride south to our campground, Mason County Park and Campground. After we had already arrived, we found out we were camping by a hydroelectric energy storage facility…pretty cool to read about!

Gilligan enjoying the breeze!

It never gets old watching the waves crash against the bow of the ship.

Leaving Manitowoc and all of the deck chairs full despite the cool temperatures.

We had considered biking all the way to Holland, MI, but decided to slow up a bit and enjoy the coastal ride. We had great rail-to-trails through fruit orchards, asparagus fields, and even blueberries on the verge of being ripe. We ended the day camping at Hoffmaster State Park, one of many great parks on the lake. Nick was also able to check off an item for the trip by swimming in Lake Michigan.

Another great bike route on rail-to-trails and designated roads.

Flat routes and shaded paths make for happy riders.

Nick before the plunge.

Sunbeams leading the way as we left the park.

The next day we arrived in Holland, MI and took a zero day in this great lake shore town. We stayed on Hope College’s campus and were able to eat at a number of great restaurants and of course have some Michigan fudge. Spencer was also able to meet up with one of his former students from Miami, Ryan, who had been living and working in the area. The community seemed vibrant and we asked a number of people what were the drawbacks of living in Holland year round. The responses were mostly blank stares. Yes, there was a lot of snow, but the downtown streets were heated with hot water from the energy plant which needed to be cooled anyway. So we both can recommend Holland for vacation and/or living!

 

 

Will it float?

If only there were socks to match.

Hope College’s campus.

Spencer and Ryan, a former student.

Of course, Michigan had one more surprise for us, another flat tire for Spencer, bringing our collective grand total to 10 flats for the trip. Our journey continued south along the lake communities and we camped at another amazing state park, Warren Dunes. We awoke and headed south before crossing the Indiana border later that day. The Upper Midwest had brought us landscapes that were new but also familiar to us. We could sense a closer bond with the strangers we met, all from this so called flyover part of America. While we greatly appreciated the Upper Midwest, we were both excited to be entering our home states.

Expert tire/tube changers.

 

The People We Meet – Part II

Walls – Tom Petty

In My Time – Chris and Thomas

We continue to meet amazing people as we travel across the country.  The relationships we form, even as briefly as they may be, have truly made this trip what is has been thus far.  Although we would love to mention all we meet, we will highlight a few that have made an impact on the trip.

Dan and Charlotte (Wauconda, WA)

After our stay in Tonasket at Shannon’s Place, we had quite a climb up to Wauconda Pass.  A few miles before the pass, we biked through the Okanogan Highlands where the community of Wauconda is found.  There are a few houses among the rolling hills and a post office.  We decided to take a break at the post office where we met Dan and Charlotte.  Dan is a retired engineer and Charlotte taught sewing for multiple different homeschool co-ops.  What struck us both about the couple was their openness to two cycling strangers and their genuine interest in not only our trip, but who we were as people.  When Dan found out I was an engineer, he told me his career story and gave me advice on contract engineering and what had helped him out most in his own career.  For me (Spencer), this was welcome advice being between jobs.  They invited us to the barrel races in Curlew, WA and gave us a ticket to participate in the festivities. 

Ticket for the Barrel Derby in Curlew, WA

 Unfortunately our timing did not line up with the race and we did not attend.  Meeting with Dan and Charlotte was a continuation of the hospitality we had been shown in Eastern Washington.

Kay (Republic, WA)

 

Where to begin with Kay.  We could probably write an entire post alone about the hospitality and conversations we had with Kay.  We met Kay through a nonprofit collective known as Warm Showers.  The collective connects touring cyclists with people who open up their homes and allow them to stay on their property for free.  Each host can offer different amenities, from camping on their land to use of a full finished basement.  Our first experience with this was in Republic, WA.  Boyd and DiAnne open up their walkout basement to cyclists, fully furnished with a bed, bathroom and shower, and use of their washer and dryer.  When we arrived in Republic, Boyd and DiAnne were gone, but Kay was house sitting their dogs and graciously agreed to take us in.  We immediately knew we were in for a treat when Kay greeted us with a warm, Eastern Washington mountain welcome.  They had set out extra sheets and a blow-up matress for us, and the fact we didn’t have to set up and break down camp was an incredible blessing.  Kay gave us some recommendations on places to eat in Republic and told us she would make us breakfast in the morning.  And did she ever make us breakfast.  The next morning, after a wonderful nights sleep, we awoke to coffee, poached eggs, and toast with homemade Huckleberry jam.  Now this was our first experience with the Huckleberry, and as we have come to find out, people in eastern Washington and Weatern Montana are quite creative with this little berry, putting it in anything from tea, to jam, to cheesecake.  Kay’s homemade Huckleberry jam was probably some of the best, if not the best, we have had on the trip.  We sat and talked with Kay for two hours listening and sharing stories.  She had cancer when she was 27 and has been cancer free for 40 years now and still going strong.  She gave us a lot of advice on growing up in the mountains, dealing with town bullies, and how to make some of the best Huckleberry jam.  We are not sure what it was, but something about Kay made us feel at home, like we belonged in that place at that time.  That gift of hospitality is one that we were incredible blessed with by Kay, and as we parted ways, Kay took down our address to send us Huckleberry jam when the berries came on for the season.

David, Lisa, Jackson (Sandpoint, ID)

 

We have met many different cyclists along the way and we cannot mention all of them, but we did want to mention this family we met while riding into Sandpoint, ID.  David and his son Jackson were on a tandem together, and David’s wife/Jackson’s mother Lisa came riding up from behind as we crossed the bridge over Lake Pend Oreille.  David went to school in Earlham College in Richmond, IN and Lisa attend college at the Univeristy of Michigan, so our Midwest connection was immediately made.  They told us all about Sandpoint and how they had fallen in love with the area, mountains surrounding a beautiful lake.  They were very passionate about raising awareness for autism, as they had helped plan/organize weekend cycling events for the cause.  As we came closer to Sandpoint, we both needed to visit the local bike shop.  They began giving us directions, but instead went out of their way to ride with us all the way to the shop before parting ways.  A small but generous gesture to go out of their way and ride with us to our desitination that made a lasting impression on us both.

Irene with Duane (Dunn Creek, MT)

So truth be told, we had to snag this photo from another cyclists who you can follow on Instagram @nomad_duane (thanks Duane!).  Duane is touring across the Northern Tier and is WAY far ahead of us at this point, but also met two people with whom we wanted to mention, Irene and Gaylon. We met Irene while we were refilling our water at Dunn Creek Campground outside of Libby, MT.  Irene was sitting on the dock of the Kootenay River watching an eagle across the river.  As we filtered water from the river for that night and the next day, we struck up conversation and Irene told us all about her travels with her husband across the US.  She and her husband were traveling with a nice pull behind camper.  As we went on our way the next day, we ran into Irene and her husband Gaylon as they were out in their truck scouting out their next campsite.  They stopped and Gaylon got out of his truck to chat.  He is 83, and in the words of Irene, he is a talker.  We gladly listened to him tell us stories about their travels, he showed us his solar charging setup he installed on his pickup, and his time in Alaska as a defense contractor.  As they parted ways, we once again felt as though we had been invited into someone’s life, and if we ever saw them again, we would be greeted as old friends.  Just another example of the bonds formed while on the road.

Carl (Dunn Creek, MT)

We also met Carl while at Dunn Creek.  He came up to our campsite inquiring about our bikes.  Carl moved up from Texas and worked as an on-site welder primarily servicing the loggers in the area, but was now retired.  He told us all about the logging industry, how they can log steep mountain sides, as well as helicopter logs off of slopes.  Being retired, Carl was a fisherman and before heading out on the river the next day, he made it a point to stop by and tell us about another road to take that would cut miles off our trip.  Although we did not take that particular route, it was him going out of the way to make sure we knew about the route that made the lasting impression, along with some of his Texas mannerisms.  

Ted and Carol (Vida, MT)

Traveling across eastern Montana to the North Dakota border was a logistical challenge.  From Glasgow, MT to Medora, ND was around 240 miles.  This mileage was best split up into three 80 mile days; however, the ACA has no place to stay between Glasgow and Glendive that allowed us to stay around this mileage.  Our options seemed to be either split the 240 miles into 4 days or continue with 3 days, one of which would have to be over 100 miles.  Neither of these options seemed too appealing to us, which is where Carol and Ted enter the equation.  There is a town between Glasgow, MT and Glendive, MT called Vida.  This town was at the perfect mileage to allow us to get to Medora in three days without pulling our first century day, which would have been near impossible for us with the winds and rolling hills of the area.  The official ACA route had no lodging options listed in Vida, but there was a post office.   Vida also had two churches and we had heard that many churches allow you to camp on their property if you call and ask.  So Nick called the post office in town to inquire about who we could contact to ask if we could camp on the lawn of one of the churches.  The worker at the post office told Nick to call Carol and gave him her number with no hesitation.  Nick called Carol and when he asked if we could camp on the Church lawn, she replied with a question of her own, asking if we were good guys.  Nick told her when we were not on this bike trip, we both attended church, not knowing any other way to be qualified as “good”.  She said she had plenty of lawn space between her lawn and the church in which we could camp and told us to stop by when we arrived in town.  Nick told her we would arrive in the evening of the next day and we both were thankful to have a piece of land on which we could make camp.  On our ride from Glasgow to Vida, we caught a tailwind for the first 50 miles and ended up arriving in the early afternoon.  As we pulled into Vida, we did not realize how small of a town this actually was, consisting of a collection of less than a dozen houses, a post office, a service station, a K-6 school, and a bar/restaurant that was closed.  We rode on the dirt/gravel road a quarter mile to arrive at the green, well-manicured lawn of Carol and Ted.  Carol came out to greet us and immediately made us feel welcome.  She gave us water and showed us where we could put our bikes.  Before we even began to unpack, Carol took us around her house and started telling us about her family, most of which lived in the surrounding houses.  She took us across the street and introduced us to her grandson, daughter, and son-in-law.  Her daughter was the local school teacher for grades 2nd-5th.  Her son-in-law farmed in the surrounding area.  Her daughter told us they had hosted a group of cyclists earlier in the year and let them stay in the school.  She offered to unlock the school and let us do the same, which sounded great to us as we would not have to set up and tear down camp.  But Carol insisted we just stay in her basement, as there was construction in the school during the summer months.  We went back to Carol’s house and began disassembling our gear from the bikes.  Carol popped out and invited us in, showed us where we could shower, offered us towels, and showed us the finished basement where would would sleep that night.  She then asked if meatloaf was OK for dinner, as she had prepared it ahead when she knew we were coming to stay.  About this time is when her husband Ted came home.  We immediately hit it off with Ted, as he had a great sense of humor and a welcoming personality that complimented Carol perfectly.  That night, we ate dinner together and had wonderful conversation, us learning their story and they learning ours.  Ted and Carol both had been widowed.  They remarried 5 years ago and in their words were still getting to know one another.  To us it seemed like they had been married for 50 years.  Carol was a stay at home mom and farm wife in her previous marriage and Ted was retired from the post office, a job that in his words had helped support his farming habit over the years.  He recently sold his farm north of Wolf Point, MT and was now happily retired with Carol.  They both were incredibly proud grandparents, showing us pictures of all of their grandchildren and telling a bit of each of their stories.  By the time we went to bed, they had opened up their home and their lives and made us a part of it.  The next morning, Carol made us farm-fresh eggs, sausage, and toast.  While at breakfast, Ted showed us a picture of a paddlefish fish he had caught that was 74 lbs.   He explained you can eat them, and to that Carol said she preferred not to.  As we packed up our things and left, we once again had been welcomed in as complete strangers and made to feel not like guests, but as friends.  As we have traveled across Washington and Montana, we feel like we have experienced hospitality in a new way. Being on the receiving end of this type of generosity is both humbling and truly a blessing when away from home.  We both hope to carry these experiences forward and serve the sojourner in our own lives both on this trip and beyond.  

Into the Rolling Plains

Suggested listening for today’s detour reading:

Rise by Eddie Vedder

The Valley by The Oh Hellos

A short visit to Teddy R’s stomping grounds as a young man, formative years which led to his support of the National Parks system. Thanks Pres. Roosevelt!

Well, our effort to post more often has already taken a backseat, or a detour so to speak. When we took our respective breaks to go back to the Midwest, we followed some of our fellow cyclists online who were still on the road. Many of them were having amazing tailwinds pushing them along such as our friend Duane who had one day of 115 miles in just 5 1/2 hours! But our visions of wonderfully windy days were premature. Since being back we have only had 1/2 day of tailwinds. The rest have been either side or headwinds. Therefore, when we finally make it into camp, we put together our tents, make dinner, eat it, do light bike maintenance, update the “where are we” section of the blog, and then turn in for bed. So we place blame for not having more informative blog posts on the wind!

Enough excuses, let’s get back to the stories of the road.

Once we arrived back to the Westside of glacier, we we’re hoping we could ride clear through the park on Going to the Sun Road. However they were still a few days from completing the snowplowing. We adjusted our plan and went over Marias Pass (5216 ft) which was still beautiful. This pass was relatively unknown to anyone but the native Americans for many years. It wasn’t until 1889 that the railroad companies finally found the rumored pass and completed the Great Northern through the area. This led to many of the beautiful lodges in the glacier area being built to attract people to take the railroad.

This way to the gun show…and to the Continental Divide. 

Notice the sign for the truck. It is steep going down, which means it is even steeper going up.

After Glacier the landscape changed rather quickly. It looked flat by comparison to the mountains, but is primarily made up of “rollers,” that is roads that are like roller coasters, cresting a hilltop and then back down into a valley, over and over again. This is also the area that Lewis and Clark explored on their famous expedition. We passed through and by many Indian reservations during this time. Some reservations seem to be doing better economically than others. In speaking with locals, this often had to do with proximity to tourism as well as the impacts of treaties with each other and the federal government.

Most of the towns that we passed through were founded to support the Great Northern railroad. More than one town was supposedly named by the railroad executives or employees, such as Malta, MT which was supposedly named after spinning a globe! This began our international adventure traveling through places like Malta, Glasgow, and even the Kremlin (all in Montana of course). Today this railroad is known as BNSF, which stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. On more than one occasion we stayed in the city park that was close to the railroad and confirm that this is still a very busy route even throughout the evening. The railroads always intersect with grain elevators in these towns, which also serve as a visual point letting us know we are approaching a place with a gas station (Gatorade stops) or our campground for the evening. But as with many small towns in America, most of these places have seen better days economically and many have shrunk in size. Despite this the people we meet were proud of their communities, their history, and hopeful that their children and grandchildren will be able to make a good living. They are even banding together to save their community hubs, whether the post office or grocery store, to make sure their towns still remain on the map for future generations.

A North Dakota paper discussing how small towns are working to keep their grocery stores open.

If we were traveling by car, we would be passing by, and not through, many of these small towns. We get to see and experience some great slices of American (and slices of pie) that other people miss. This is in large part due to the informative maps of the Northern Tier provided by the Adventure Cycling Association. The ACA has even asked these small towns to provide camping of some sort, usually just in a city park. Some towns have jumped in feet first, such as Chester, MT, which has information posted for cyclists about camping, including where to pitch your tent to avoid sprinklers. Some even have showers, such as camping at the water treatment plant in Chinook, MT, even though it isn’t really a campground. However, Chinook doesn’t post info about sprinklers, as we found out the hard way at 1:00 AM!

An awesome free campground in Chester, MT!

 

The sun setting over silos in Vida, MT.

One of the many examples of silos along the BNSF route, this one in Glasgow, MT.

Montana eventually led us to our fourth state of North Dakota. As we progressed through the state, we began to feel much more at home for a few reasons. First, the state began to flatten out around Bismarck. We mean truly flat, like Indiana and Ohio north of I-70 flat! This also led to a lot more farms growing corn and soybeans.

Someone is pretty excited to enter his third state.

Also home of some legendary rolling hills in the west.

There was a lot more crop diversity than back home, including canola, sunflowers, barley, and different varieties of wheat. This diversity and climate also makes ND one of the top states for commercial bee keeping. One such bee family, the Millers, live in Gackle, ND in the summer and then in California the rest of the year, moving their family and their bees with the pollen and crop needs. Jason & Ginny Miller decided to open the Honey Hub, a free place for bikers to stay as they passed through the Northern Tier. Their Hub came about recently as the Norther Tier used to run through northern ND, but was rerouted through the southern part of the state due to heavy truck/semi traffic in the newly developed oil fields. We were fortunate to be able to rest up at the Hub as we passed through the state.

Sign at the Honey Hub!

RANDOM FACT: In the past, a hive would produce 120 lbs of honey for harvest a year. However, it is now down to about 60 lbs due to the decrease in crop diversity and native plants, as well as the issues with colony collapse.

We really felt like we were back “home” due to the friendly nature of the Midwesterners, such as the Millers and so many others. We can hardly stop at a place without people coming up to talk with us about our trip. Even the drivers are more generous and cautious in their passing on the road! We appreciated the northwest, but definitely appreciate being back in the Midwest. RANDOM DETOUR…we asked a waitress in Fargo/Moorhead if Ohio was in the Midwest. She said no. Indiana was a maybe. Turns out the test of Midwestern-ness was had we heard of deep fried cheese curds. Spencer failed, Nick passed, and the cheese curds were great!

Stopping for a break along the way.

North Dakota is also home of the legendary Lawrence Welk…who knew!

Just one of many rollers…and great views.

Notice the blue field in the back…most likely a type of flax!

Okay, now for some memorable moments of our last few weeks.

MOSQUITOES: As we biked through eastern Montana, we began to notice more mosquitoes. A LOT more. In fact, around Saco, MT we encountered the worst mosquitoes of both of our lives. Even worse than the boundary waters of Minnesota! There were swarms of about 30-50 of these little biters that would keep up with us on our bikes, even at 15 mph. This was even after we had saturated ourselves and bike bags with Off Deep Woods bug spray. After losing what seemed to be pints of blood, we arrived in Glasgow, MT, where multiple people confirmed that the area we biked through was the mosquito capitol of the state. This is apparently due to their use of flood irrigation which results in lots of standing water in which the bugs can frolic and wait for unsuspecting cyclists.

HEADWINDS: The wind is such a fickle thing. It is either your saving grace or your mortal enemy. Mostly it was the latter for us. In the past two weeks, we have probably had a total of about 2-3 hours of tailwinds. This can be great as it literally pushes us along. However, most days we have sidewinds or headwinds. The most epic headwind day was biking from Vida, MT to Glendive, MT. The day was filled with BIG rollers as well. We headed south with winds from the south, before stopping for lunch in Circle, MT. As we left Circle we turned southeast and the winds moved that direction to impede our progress. Not only that, but unforcasted storms began to pop up and turned into full out thunderstorms. We took refuge on the porch of an abandoned home for 1.5 hours before heading on to Glendive. Our cyclist friends had said from Lindsey, MT to Glendive was downhill and such a nice ride! But the storm had only intensified the headwinds for us. We had to pedal DOWNHILL and only kept a pace of about 7 mph. A day that should have been 6 hours turned into nearly 9 hours of riding. But we finally made it safely to our destination. For an even more colorful read on the weather, check out our friend David Freeze’s newspaper article, “Possibly the Most Challenging Day Yet“…he is on his fifth summer of bike touring and writing about it in the Salisbury Post…we even made the article!

Our refuge from the storm…and home for a number of birds.

Seriously…wish this photo could capture the winds. 

THE PEOPLE: The people have been ABSOLUTELY amazing! It is great meeting other cyclists on the Northern Tier. It is almost like an informal club that you belong to…you share advice, share war stories of the road, and take solace in each other’s dealings with the wind. A special shout out to Paramount Sports in Fargo, ND, the best bike shop we have come across. Very helpful and great people all around! And of course the people off the road are spectacular as well. In the last 7 days alone, we have had four different people either invite us over for a meal, or pay for our meal at a restaurant! Just this morning, a couple payed for our meal in Fargo, ND…it turns out they were from Frankfort, IN (close to Nick’s hometown), and had attended IU and Purdue! We will share more stories of the people we meet in the upcoming weeks (look for the People We Meet II).

The trip is a good reminder about what makes the US of A a great place to live and travel. Sure, there are beautiful parks and sunsets, but it is the generosity of people, whether advice, meals, or just a friendly wave as they pass by, that unites us all together.

Michelle (IU), Gary, Chuck (Purdue), and Anne (Purdue).

The Gross family who invited over the their cookout in Napoleon, ND!

Ted and Carol who hosted us in their lovely home in Vida, MT (Vie-dah, not Vee-dah).

North Dakota’s rolling hills gave way to flat plains and eventually to Fargo/Moorhead, cities that sit in different states but both along the Red River. Up next, Minnesota!

A billboard as we entered into North Dakota…a request or a warning? Either way, we approve.

For specifics on our route the past few weeks, make sure to visit the Where Are We section of the blog.