Happy 4th!

People have been asking how far I have traveled so far, so I added it up....  I crossed over the 1,000 mile mark several days ago, so as of this writing am at about 1,200.  In Bismarck yesterday, I had to have a new tire put on my rear wheel because the tire was actually worn out!--all the extra weight must cause extra wear on the tire.

North Dakota continues to be really much nicer than I was expecting.  I seem to love the desolate Western landscape:

Note: this is the actual road I took to get to my campsite!

 

Tonight I am staying at the rather secluded Storm Creek Game Management Area tonight because most of the "regular" campgrounds were full of holiday types so there were no sites available to reserve.  There is no water or electricity here, but it is beautiful and has relatively few mosquitoes and no partying, firecracker-exploding yahoos in sight!

North Dakota ... underrated!

Gackle, ND, home of the Honey Hub, the "respite for bicyclists" at the home of warmshowers.org hosts Jason Miller and his family, was fantastic.  Dinner at the local bar/grill with Mookie who was also camping at the Honey Hub was delicious, and it was fun and very informative/useful to hear his stories since he was riding in from the west exactly where I will be going.

 In addition, the landscape is not nearly so flat and monotonous as I was expecting (and as it in fact was for about the first 100 miles west of Fargo).  There's now some nice hills and lakes and such that are really pretty.

More on North Dakota

That last post was a little bit of a jokeat the expense of North Dakota, although it truly is quite flat and empty where I am now. But I did see a couple of interesting things in Fargo. At the Hjemkomst Museum, you can see a Viking ship built by a Moorhead, Minnesota schoolteacher and sailed by his children to Norway in 1982.



But the real highlight of the day was lunch at the Fryn' Pan featuring the Fargo specialty of Sour Cream Raisin Pie, which was absolutely delicious.

posted from Bloggeroid

North.Dakota

A picture is worth 1,000 words.



The landscape is certainly not over-stimulating.... it's very relaxing on the mind.

posted from Bloggeroid

MN to ND

Western Minnesota is more interesting and hilly than I expected. I'm now in Fargo at the Holiday Inn Express doing laundry and resting up for the push across the plains. Sending a shout out to all Lions Clubs--thank you for building these little picnic shelters and parks and such things in small towns!

posted from Bloggeroid