Craig's Big RIde

We stayed in the same AirBnB apartment in Bismarck last night. And just like the morning before, we woke up this morning to thick fog: I call this impressionism photo, "Street Light, Tree, and Grass." Lailla and I set off in the fog because we had to drive for 1:15 to my starting point, the town of Napolean. The fog cleared and I was able to start as soon as I was geared up. It was cloudy and cool and I thought I might get rained on...but I didn't. This was my ride today:  20 miles on one road, turn left, 8 miles on a second road, turn right, and 60 miles on a third road. (I ended up with 88.5 miles for the day.) This was my first interesting encounter of the day. John "Custer" Grenz has a collection of a couple dozen old threshing machines parked along a ridge at the side of the road that he calls "Dinosaurs on the Prairie." It was a quirky, interesting collection. Hats off to Mr. Grenz. Mid-ride today I went through an area with numerous ponds and sm...

I woke up this morning at 6:30ish and wondered why it was still dark. I opened up the shades and was greeted by dense fog. Uh-oh. I waited. And I waited some more. The fog didn't seem to be dissipating at all. Sometime after 8am, Lailla said that we should drive out to today's starting point to see if conditions were any better there. They weren't. Riding on the state highway with quarter mile visibility seemed like a bad idea. But a few miles into today's planned ride was quite a few miles of "No Motor Vehicles" rec path through the city. So we jumped ahead to the rec path and I started riding a little after 9am. By the time I had completed the rec path, there were patches of blue sky and the fog was gone. So I started cranking out the miles toward my planned finish point of Napolean, ND. I reached Napolean just before 4pm, having logged 77.5 miles. Lailla picked me up and we drove for over an hour to get back to the starting point, which was close to our lod...

Hmm. What to write about on this rest day in Bismarck, North Dakota? I'm going to start by thanking my wife, Lailla, again! She has been wonderfully supportive of what is primarily my adventure. She has booked lots of hotel rooms, driven almost 3X the miles I've ridden (just since I started riding, not to mention the miles driven from home to Anacortes, Washington), shuttled me to and fro, helped me out of a few jambs like flat tires and out-of-order soda machines, and more. I'm not sure I could have done this without her. Next, I'd like to thank our friends Carrie and Sherri! They volunteered to be part of the support crew and have been helping Lailla and I for quite a few hundred miles now. They have shuttled me to drop-off spots early in the morning and picked me up late in the afternoon. It's wonderful to have them along for the adventure. I'd also like to thank my friend Bill who has completed a similar journey across the United States in 2022. Bill and I r...

Phew! Today was a better day than yesterday. I made up my missed miles from yesterday, clocking in with 88.5 miles, which is today's 75-ish miles plus the 13 more I still had planned for yesterday when I threw in the towel. I didn't quite make it to Bismarck; I think I'm about 6 miles short of getting to the western edge of the city. But that's okay. I also met another cross-country cyclist today. Tim Reinoehl is westbound from Bar Harbor, Maine. Today was day 29 for him, so he's cruising along nicely. Since he lives in Oregon, he's going to deviate from the standard Northern Tier route through Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. We chatted roadside for 10 or 15 minutes today, comparing notes on our journeys. Tim had a super-positive outlook and he was very easy to chat with. We traded contact info and we're now following each other on Strava. I didn't take very many pictures today, but I still have a few to share with you. Through much of North Dakota, I've...

It was another beautiful weather day for riding. I started in the town of Beach at the very western edge of North Dakota and hoped to make it to Taylor. The riding was a mix of Old Highway 10 and I-94. Despite what I said yesterday, I preferred Old Highway 10 over the interstate today. Even though there wasn't much shoulder at times, it was very lightly traveled and I think the speed limit was 45 mph (or maybe 55 mph in places). But it was the very little vehicular traffic that tipped the scales in its favor. However, the day ended in a frustrating way. Just at the eastern edge of the city of Dickinson, I got a flat tire. I was only about a tenth of a mile past a gas station/convenience store, so I walked back there. I also texted Lailla who was very nearby in the Subaru. I patched that small leak in the shade and was soon on my way. About a mile later, I had a second flat on the same tire. Even though I had inspected the tire at the gas station, I missed a small piece of glass emb...

I finished Montana and made it about 3 miles into North Dakota to the town of Beach today! I don't know about you, but I didn't have a very favorable opinion of North Dakota. I came in to North Dakota on I-94--yes, I was riding my bike on the interstate highway...more on that in a minute--and I could tell as soon as I crossed the state line: the North Dakota road was fantastic! It's the best road I've ridden since I started this adventure. The vehicle lanes were very smooth concrete and the shoulder was very smooth asphalt. I hope the first few miles are representative of roads throughout the state. If so, I'm going to like North Dakota. I have a confession to make: I would prefer to ride on the interstate highways in Montana versus state highways or county roads. Most of what I've ridden in Montana is state highways, with a few county roads thrown in as well. The speed limit on all paved roads seems to be 70 mph for passenger vehicles and 65 mph for semi trucks...

Things were a little more interesting today. Because I only had 75 miles planned for today, I felt like I had a little more time to look for good photo opportunities. But I also felt like there were more natural photo opportunities along the way. Regardless, I have more interesting photos for today. But before I get to that, I have to confess: I now have a gap in my coast-to-coast adventure. (I have been very diligent in making sure there were no gaps, always starting each day's ride precisely where I had ended the evening before.) Anyway, there was an active highway construction zone between Jordan and Brockway. There was a pilot car leading traffic through the active part of the construction zone and I could not convince the pilot car driver to let me ride it. I tried and she just wasn't having it. She made me put my bike in the back of her Ford Ranger and she shuttled me through the one-mile stretch. I did have the option to go back after 6pm to ride that one mile, but it...

It was a very-few-pictures kind of day. I rode 99.1 miles from Grass Range to Jordan, making this both my longest day of this trip and the most one-day eastward progress. My first couple of pictures were from the Cat Creek Rest Area, which is about 48 miles into the day's ride (i.e. not quite halfway). There was an interesting valley with scrub juniper growing prolifically in some nearby areas. It's hard to tell much from these pictures...other than it's flat and the weather is good. I stopped for a nice cold Coca-Cola at Sand Springs. I pushed higher-than-usual mileage today because I really didn't want to have to be sagged backwards tomorrow morning and I wanted to get a little ahead of schedule.. So I cranked out almost 25 extra miles. Near the end of the ride, I took a couple more landscape photos. And other than the scrub juniper being missing, it's hard to tell much difference. I did see quite a few pronghorn antelope today. But I was never close enough to get...