August 5, 2023
Day 83 - still at Medora, ND
I slept for nearly 10 hours last night. It rained most of the night, but had stopped by the time I got around. Fellow camper Walter stopped by this morning, complimenting me on the journal.
At 8:15am I rode uptown for breakfast, ending up at Cowboy Cafe. I had to wait this time for a table, but not too long. After breakfast I planned to see some of the places Walter had recommended yesterday. Here's how I went: St. Mary's Catholic Church, Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library office, General Store, Billings County Court House Museum, and Harold Schafer Heritage Center. The presidential library office has displays and illustrations of the library they're building for Theodore Roosevelt up on top of a butte next to where the outdoor musical theater is. The general store is one of the buildings renovated by funding from Harold Schafer, who is credited with saving the town of Medora. Harold Schafer was a North Dakota businessman, known for marketing floor wax, glass cleaner, and Mr. Bubbles. Before I rode back to the campsite I stopped at Medora C-Store for some lunch bag items.
Back at the campsite at 11:23am, I started work at drying out items in the tent. Also got a few more days posted to the journal.
I checked the bike this afternoon, especially the hub. The crack is getting worse, so much so that I researched where bicycle shops are ahead along my route. I was surprised to see that there's a bike shop right here in Medora. There's not any on my route ahead until Williston, North Dakota, so I rode the bike over to Dakota Cyclery. Jennifer, the owner there, knows wheels and knows her stock. She checked for replacement wheels that might work. She had one - an Origin-8 SL18. After Jennifer made several checks and measurements, I decided to purchase this wheel as a spare to carry along, even though it's only 32-spoke. Jennifer put rim tape on it, and also sold me a Presta valve tube that I'd need for this wheel. I'm glad she thought of that! That's as much as I can do for now to be prepared.
Fudge and Ice Cream Depot was next door to the bike shop. I decided that a maple nut ice cream cone would work for supper.
Back at the tent site I put one of the spare tires on the new wheel. I'll wait till tomorrow morning to figure out how to pack it on the bike.
Corey was back under the porch by the office playing and singing again tonight. I went into the campground office for potato chips and flavored water, then sat down on the bench to listen to some more good music. Corey wrapped up at 9:00pm. I said goodbye to him and his wife Dora, and also to Chris, who had a break at the moment from guiding RVs into their sites.
After so many days off I'm wondering how tough tomorrow will be actually bicycling again. I hope it's not as bad as starting completely over.
Jeff
Spent: $42 (campsite) + $21.50 plus $6 (breakfast) + $5 (Theodore Roosevelt Library donation) + $2 (Billings County Museum admission fee) + $11.05 (Clif Bars, peanuts, Spam Single) + $191.17 (wheel, rim tape, tube) + $6.18 plus $1.24 (ice cream cone) + $2.29 (black cherry flavored water, potato chips) = $288.43
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8 months ago
Having the extra wheel was a comfort. Yes, the weather dictated some rest days, which was good thing.
Jeff
6 months ago