The Land of 10,000 Lakes

8/18 - Detroit Lakes (53 miles)
8/19 - Dorset (53 miles)
8/20 - Cass Lake (46 miles)
8/21,22 - Rapid City (56 miles)
8/23 - outside Rapid City (10 miles)
8/24 - Tower (50 miles)
8/25 - Aurora (40 miles)
8/26 - St Paul/Como Park ;) (5 miles)



















This section of the trip was probably the most difficult portion. Not so much physically, but more psychologically. We were ahead of schedule and could reach Minneapolis (site of a friend's wedding on Labor Day) in a couple of days if we wanted to. But, we decided to ride up toward the Boundary Waters just for fun... but riding "just for fun" at this point wasn't super appealing. Throw in some serious saddle sores and the result is full-fledged drudgery... That's why we were elated when Karen and Ed offered to put us up for the night then drive us from (near) the Boundary Waters to the St.Paul-Minneapolis State Fair!















Highlites:
*MN should be recognized as the bike trail state. There are trails which parallel roads almost everywhere.
*Camping/showering free was abundant and easy cuz around every corner there was an inviting lake.
*The MN state fair was a ginormous celebration of local MN products, animals, and entertainment. It was also a celebration in spending!! Everything was way overpriced and it was easy to get swept away because everyone was spending (and we had become soft!). Our favorite attractions were: all-u-can-drink milk station, Bonnie Raitt concert (and tailgetting w/ the drunken comrades who sold us the tickets), soybean info both were we took naps, and Everything-on-a-Stick!

North Dakota: yah, you betcha!

8/16 - Ellendale, North Dakota! (84 miles)
8/17 - Fargo (27 miles)

Well, we weren't actually planning on visiting ND. We just assumed it was a bunch more of SD just a little further north. But we adopted a new bicycle strategy... each morning we would ride in the direction of the wind (as long as it was going north or east). The wind was blowing north very, very hard and so we traveled 180 miles in 2 days w/ little effort. All this wind meant a huge storm was on its way and luckily we met some friendly ND'ers outside a gas station who offered us their living room floor. Thank YOU Keith and Hope (and Keith and Kris). Not only did these nice folks let us sleep in their house and take a bath, but they left us departing gifts: Rachel got a hat from Germany, while Scott now has a sweet canary yellow Fargo, ND t-shirt.















This story sounds familiar ehhh... it is truly amazing how many random nice people invited us into their home. This was truly the unexpected high-lite of the entire trip. You really can't contact a travel agent and say... "I want to travel America, living room to living room". And really, all the living rooms and guest rooms were making us soft. There were many a day, sitting in front of Wal-Mart, we put on our best "please-take-us-home-w/-you" face, but there weren't any takers. And so we would mope back to our bikes and go camp in the bushes behind Wal-Mart (as in the pic below):















...back to ND. While we are thanking people, we owe another big Thank YOU to Kristin & Sirus who drove us from Ellendale to Fargo. We were having tire issues when Kristin stopped and offered to help. We were so tired of the windy ND plains that we really weren't that bummed to skip 100+ miles.















In Fargo we chowed at our first Mongolian BBQ... you can see the aftermath below as Scott collapsed in front of the restaurant. Riding while gorged is not fun, but we somehow made it to a nearby soy bean field where we slept for 17 straight hrs (waiting out the rain). Fargonians didn't really like the fact that most people associated them w/ the movie and humans getting shredded in mulchers. In fact, Fargo was actually filmed in Brainerd, Minnesota. Regardless, we just loved to hear them talk... cuz they really do talk different.

YOU'RE DARN TOOTIN'!

Ahh, South Dakota Warm Showers

8/11 - Wall (54 miles)
8/12 - Hayes (84 miles)
8/13 - Pierre (34 miles)
8/14 - Blunt (24 miles)
8/15 - Redfield (102 mi)

After our energizing 2 day rest at Rapid City's beautiful public library, we were on the road again heading east toward the Badlands. Unfortunately, the loud motorcycles were migrating back home too and so we had a few more days of racing hogs and choppers. One of the last true temporary biker towns was Wall, home of "Wall Drug". Apparently, Wall Drug was supposed to be the largest drugstore in the world and so, being good tourists... and remembering some pretty big Walgreens out there, they reeled us in. "Drugstore" isn't the world I'd use to describe Wall Drug, but rather "sprawling junk-hawking tourist trap". I was expecting a huge pharmacy... rows and rows of over the counter cough syrup, but no -- just T-shirts and ice cream. Unfortunately, it was so hot outside that we were trapped there most of the day.

We camped that night just outside of town under State hwy. 21 (our new favorite FREE camping sites are the huge drainage pipes which pass under the highway). The next few days were very windy and hot. We basically gave up riding during the day and would pull over into the cow pastures, climb the fence and pitch our tent under a tree for the afternoon. Our tent required constant rotation to stay in the shade of the very scant & meager trees. In fact there really weren't any trees... just miles and miles of grazing land and cracked plains.

Pierre, SD (pronounced "pier" by the locals despite what your 5th grade teacher told you) was home of the best "warm shower" of our entire trip. warmshowers.com is a website that we found out about in which bicycle tourers can contact and potentially rest & shower in the homes of fellow bicycle enthusiasts. The options range from camping in the back yard or staying in the guest bedroom. There were actually several households to conact in Pierre and so of course we choose the one which sounded the most homey... and we TOTALLY scored w/the Lee's.

Scott showering at the Chamber of Commerce in Pierre:














Tom and Ellen had kids which had grown up and left the nest and so it was as if we were their adopted children for a night. We had a gourmet meal and then toured the Missouri river on their Pontoon boat. Unfortunately, Scott enjoyed too many coca-colas on the boat and therefore had to endure the embarressing but relieving act of peeing off the side of their boat. The river up there is much different than down in MO. It's actually a dammed lake. 2 minutes from the dock in Pierre we were in some remote wilderness. We were expecting a schlog through over-developed riversides, but the majority of riverbanks were undeveloped. We weren't quite convinced that this was on purpose, but rather testimony to how many folks live in SD. We polished the night off with a big pork-out-fest at the local ice cream shop (Zesto's!) which our hosts insisted on treating us. This is getting a little detail oriented... We just wanted everyone out there who has never visited SD to get a glimpse of the land and locals. The land is a little boring, but the people are AWESOME.

The Black Hills: 66th annual Sturgis Bicycle Rally

8/5 - Spearfish, South Dakota (65 miles)
8/6 - Mystic (45 miles)
8/7 - Keystone (60 miles)
8/8,9,10 - Rapid City (29 miles)

Holy Cow there were a lot of motorcycles... All Harleys, LOUD Harleys. The people were a riot and all seemed to enjoy making bicycle wise-cracks... "what kinda mileage do those babies get?" or upon making some cable adjustments on my bike "that must be a Harley bicycle... breakin' down and all". We didn't realize that the town of Sturgis was really just the partying hub and that during the day, all the bikers venture out naked and helmetless into the hills. Every stop seemed to be a beer stop, every grandma seemed to be wearing a string bikini and chaps, and every bike really was a Harley. While in the Black Hills, we also saw Mount Rushmore and rode on the 114-mile George Mickelson bike trail through the heart of the Hills. Although a nice respite from all the Harley's, the loose crushed limestone worked the quads.

































After tooling around the Black Hills for a few days, we met Melvin and Roy at the library in Rapid City who took in 2 grubby bike riders badly in need of a shower. We jammed on guitar and watched loads of Stargate while Scott played Mystery Science Theater 3000 (at the annoyance of Rachel). That's Roy and momma Paulina below:)

Fryin' in Wyoming

7/28 - Cody (77 miles)
7/29 - Shoshone (31 miles)
7/30-8/1 - Casper (80 miles)
8/2 - Wright (65 miles)
8/3 - Gilette (74 miles)
8/4 - Devil's Tower Nat'l Mon (60 miles)

The trip down to Cody was a breeze as we dropped several thousand feet w/ a whopping tail-wind. Upon arrival in Cody, we were greeted by the International Hell's Angels and several hundred cops to keep this rowdy bunch contained. The hellions pretty much had booked all the campsites in town, so we resorted to asking strangers. Sure enough, the first family we asked not only took us in for the night but drove us 100 miles down the road the next morning. Leona, Brad, and Michelle gave us first-hand stories of life as a WY cowgirl and family life on the plains. The next few days were all about survival in the 100 degree heat of eastern Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park

7/24 - YNP/Mammoth Hot Springs (20 miles)
7/25 - YNP/Norris Geyser Basin (20 miles)
7/26 - YNP/Canyon Village (16 miles)
7/27 - YNP/Bay Bridge (25 miles)

Ahhh Yellowstone, the best N.P. in the country! We had been dreaming of this part of the trip for a long, long time. Yellowstone has it all: hot springs, geysers, boiling mud pots, the "Little Grand Canyon", peaceful meadows, and wildlife galore. The park is actually one big active volcano that last errupted 640,000 years ago spewing debry as far as Canada/Texas/Ohio. It's due again, anytime... We took our time traveling through the park soaking in the wildlife, ranger talks, and RVs. One night a family of fellow bicycle enthusiasts invited us over for dinner and story sharing ("hi" Joe, Sue, Theresa & Becky!). This was great fun and a much needed release from each other. The intimacy of traveling with each other is probably one of the biggest challenges of the trip. But... we're hanging in there and have surprisingly few blowouts.

Rolling plains of Montana

7/18 - Dupuyer (78 miles)
7/19,20 - Great Falls (89 miles)
7/21 - Niehart (63 miles)
7/22 - Willsall (84 miles)
7/23 - Gardiner (74 miles)

This chunk of the trip was during the national heat wave and so cycling south on hwy 89 was hot! The route took us across dry, rolling plains, the Missouri River (Great Falls), and huge mountain passes. Highlights include an afternoon in Ringling (pop. 14) where the famous circus started and a fellow bicycle tourer traveling w/ his dog (dog would run up the hills and then hop on a trailer for descents). We also were entertained by a true, live country western band, full with line dancin' and can beer. We felt out of our element without cowboy hats & boots but had a blast consorting with the locals of Willsall.