July 20, 2016
I have become the kind of cranky, picky old man who actually travels with his own supply of oatmeal.
Day Fifty: Ten Miles Southeast of Milnor, North Dakota to Wahpeton, North Dakota
We had a good breakfast at the B&B. It was a bit fancy for a “plain eater” like me — it included quiche and fresh fruit — so I also ate some of the oatmeal that I’ve been carrying around on the bike. That’s right: I have become the kind of cranky, picky old man who actually travels with his own supply of oatmeal.
We walked outside to find that it was the most humid morning of the entire trip, another reminder that we’d ridden our bikes a long, long way from the desert in New Mexico.
The two dogs from yesterday ran with us as we left on the gravel road, although the fatter one gave up pretty quickly. The other dog (“Waggy-Butt”), kept up with us for a long time. After about three miles, I became worried that he might get too far from home and be unable to find his way back, so I called the owner of the B&B, who seemed unconcerned, describing him as a “wanderer.” After another mile or two he disappeared, sniffing, into a field, and we didn’t see him again.
Goodbye, Waggy-Butt.
Joy had worked out a tentative route on gravel roads for much of today, but we had to abandon that almost immediately, when one of the roads ended at a cornfield. Instead we rode on ND-13, a busy state highway with a good shoulder. Not ideal, but this part of North Dakota does not seem to have many other options. Later, we agreed that we probably should have stayed in South Dakota, and crossed into Minnesota from there.
The ride for most of the morning was uneventful. It remained overcast for a while, which was nice, especially for Joy, who doesn’t like being out in the sun all day. We arrived at a construction zone, where the nice flaggers gave us plenty of time to get through the one-way section. For most of the morning I rode ahead of Joy, but stayed close enough that I could still see her when I looked over my shoulder. The heavy truck traffic on the highway made me nervous, although the shoulder was wide, and was (usually) separated from the road itself with a rumble strip.
Now that the trip was winding down, with only a week or so remaining, my regular life was starting to encroach. An unfortunate manifestation of this was a text we received this morning from our house sitter, informing us of a plumbing problem in our basement. There wasn’t much we could do from the side of the road in North Dakota except give her the name of a plumber we’d used in the past, and hope for the best.
Late in the morning we stopped at a Cenex convenience store on the outskirts of Wyndmere (population 429) for snacks. I didn’t feel like eating anything substantial, and instead quickly drank a quart of chocolate milk, while Joy ate some actual food. The air conditioning in the store was turned up to the max, and it was absolutely freezing in there, so it was a shock to walk outside into the heat and humidity after the 45 minutes in the store. As we got back on the road, Joy said thought she felt raindrops, but then realized it was two drops of sweat falling on her leg.
There were a couple of small towns just off the highway after Wyndmere, and I stopped at both them (As usual lately, Joy wasn’t interested, and kept riding.) Barney (population 52) had a bar which wasn’t open, and that was about it. Mooreton, with nearly four times the population of Barney, was relatively thriving, and even had a combination auto parts/convenience store, where I bought a Diet Pepsi as a surprise for when I caught up with Joy. I also discarded a water bottle there; Joy had attempted to clean it recently, but had given up in disgust, describing the “chunks” of something-or-other that adhered to the inside of the bottle. My fastidiousness in regular life somehow doesn’t translate to life while bike touring, and in fact I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned a water bottle during a tour. Seems pointless, somehow.
I rode fast to catch up with Joy, only to find that the Diet Pepsi had already gotten slightly warm after five minutes or so. Still, we both drank some of it, and it wasn’t bad. (I’m back on caffeinated soda pop for this tour, but I’m giving it up again as soon as I get home.)
The clouds had disappeared, and the sun had been beating down on us for a few hours by the time we reached the outskirts of Wahpeton (population 7,799). Even though it was a short day, we didn’t feel like riding any more, and there wasn’t an obvious place to stay until too many miles past Wahpeton, which is right on the Minnesota border, in any case.
The first lodging we encountered was the Starlite Motel, which was clearly past its prime, but didn’t look dangerous or anything, at least in the light of day, so we walked into the office, which was adorned with Bernie Sanders posters, and talked with the young woman who had recently bought the place. I thought for a few minutes that I was going to be a hard-ass and try to negotiate the price, especially once I noticed the prominently displayed “NO REFUNDS” sign, but I quickly folded and purchased a room for $38 plus tax.
This was a decision that I initially regretted when I discovered that there was no hot water in the shower. Joy and I, and the woman who owned the place, attempted to get it working, but eventually I gave up and took a shower in the room next door, where the water was slightly warm, but emerged as a trickle. (The motel owner suggested I take the shower in the other room, even though it was reserved for the night, since “The guy is a truck driver, and all he cares about is sleeping there, anyway.” The truck driver hadn’t checked in yet, so I was OK with this — actually, even though I’m not in the habit of showering in the motel rooms of strangers, I don’t rule out anything on bike tours, and probably would have taken a shower there even if he was already in the room.)
Joy went to Pizza Ranch for dinner, where she was sorely disappointed by the lack of ice cream, while I, not wanting to deal with a large, noisy crowd at the family-friendly Pizza Ranch, walked to Burger King.
Later, at our usual still-light-outside bedtime of 8:30, we realized that the window blinds in our motel room were not functioning properly, so Joy rigged up a contraption to block the light so that I could sleep, and we went to bed.
Tomorrow: Minnesota!
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 2,165 miles (3,484 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |