Throughout eastern Montana and North Dakota, we stayed in city parks (The "city" could be as small as 200 people) that were always immaculate and filled with fun toys, like this one.Tuesday, July 1, 2008
No Horse is Too Small
Throughout eastern Montana and North Dakota, we stayed in city parks (The "city" could be as small as 200 people) that were always immaculate and filled with fun toys, like this one.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Bemidji, Minnesota
As you can see, we made it to Minnesota! We really blasted through North Dakota, but I am a little sorry for it. Fargo was a really nice town, with a lot of cyclists and a cute downtown. We spent about 5 hours total at the bike store, talking the patrons into bike touring, hitting on the bike mechanics, and of course, buying lots of stuff. We have all now replaced our rear tires and Sarah and I have purchased matching tops, but I bought it first back in Minot and green is better.
Yesterday leaving Fargo was an exhausting day. We had headwinds, a climb, unpaved road, and hills. Suddenly 50 miles in, we were out of the prarie! We camped in the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge by a lake and were really exciting to go swimming.
Today we went through Itasca State Park, which is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi river. It is just a tiny little stream when it comes out of Lake Itasca. On the way to the headwaters, we got to go on the coolest bike path. It was like a narrow roller coaster through the woods. Actually, it was kind of like Super Mario Cart + jungle safari + roller coaster. We tried not to terrorize the amateurs we passed at 20 miles per hour. When we passed the woman pushing a stroller we slowed down to at least 14 mph, so don't worry. When we were at the headwaters, we saw a touring bike but never identified the owner. We hung out for a while looking for him, not least because he had these toys strapped to the back of his bike. You know the one where the 2 plastic robots punch each other? Those. Totally weird and mysterious. I left him a note with my phone number. If he calls I will definitely debate packing priorities for the trip with him. Round One: Robots versus Frying Pan.
Now I am alone at the library working on route planning while my sisters are at the campground. I hope there will be dinner left for me when I get back. I think they are making stir fry, yummy.
Tommorrow, 89 miles to Grand Rapids, a long day!
-Liz
Yesterday leaving Fargo was an exhausting day. We had headwinds, a climb, unpaved road, and hills. Suddenly 50 miles in, we were out of the prarie! We camped in the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge by a lake and were really exciting to go swimming.
Today we went through Itasca State Park, which is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi river. It is just a tiny little stream when it comes out of Lake Itasca. On the way to the headwaters, we got to go on the coolest bike path. It was like a narrow roller coaster through the woods. Actually, it was kind of like Super Mario Cart + jungle safari + roller coaster. We tried not to terrorize the amateurs we passed at 20 miles per hour. When we passed the woman pushing a stroller we slowed down to at least 14 mph, so don't worry. When we were at the headwaters, we saw a touring bike but never identified the owner. We hung out for a while looking for him, not least because he had these toys strapped to the back of his bike. You know the one where the 2 plastic robots punch each other? Those. Totally weird and mysterious. I left him a note with my phone number. If he calls I will definitely debate packing priorities for the trip with him. Round One: Robots versus Frying Pan.
Now I am alone at the library working on route planning while my sisters are at the campground. I hope there will be dinner left for me when I get back. I think they are making stir fry, yummy.
Tommorrow, 89 miles to Grand Rapids, a long day!
-Liz
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hitterdal, Minnesota
On the way out of Fargo we made a terrible mistake and took the unpaved road for 6 miles instead of a long detour. There was a lot of mud on everything. The bikes were very happy to get a bath and a chain cleaning at lunch that day.Friday, June 27, 2008
Arthur, North Dakota
Liz is super excited to be putting up Big A in lower winds than the night before, when the tent got blown away.June 26-27th in Binford, ND
David & Pam Adrian, who rescued us from the storm on the night of June 26th. You can see Big A, our tent, still trying to dry out in the background.
June 26th, Spirit Lake
Finally something new and different! A lake! Unfortunately this is a moment before the downpour began.
June 25 on our way to Minnewaukan
We really dig tailwinds! As you can see, North Dakota is like Montana but with hills.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Rugby, ND: the geographical center of North America
Here, we were in the middle of everything. Everything in North America, that is. Which really doesn't mean much at all....Day 1 of Week 5 from Rugby, North Dakota
We made a dramatic recovery at Lund's Landing on Sunday. Not moving for pretty much an entire day except to eat a ridiculous amount of food really works!
The next day, Monday, we decided to veer off the Northern Tier route for just 100 miles to avoid a headwind going south and some tough hills and an Indian reservation. Instead we ventured through plains that were covered in oil wells, with their distinctive structures. We also saw a lot of Haliburton insignia, which made us think about how much stuff is going on in this country that none of us ever know about, because it may happen in North Dakota. That makes me think of UFOs, which are also exciting. Then we went through the pathetic town of Stanley, North Dakota for lunch. We arrived 82 miles on at Berthold, just outside Minot, having barely broken a sweat, the tailwind was so strong. As we have for most of the past couple of weeks and will for the rest of North Dakota at least, we stayed over in a city park. These are just the designated greens where the playground is, and near the baseball field. There is usually a lot of action from the younger set, who come out to play after dinner and stay out really late because it doesn't get dark until after 10. It seems like life is really different up here in the summer, when it can be so hot and it is so light. In the winter it has gotten down to -60 F, and in the summer up to 121 F, a huge difference!
On Tuesday morning we rode 25 miles into Minot, where we spent 6 hours catching up on bike repair, laundry, library, and grocery shopping. We also met 2 other cyclists from Boston heading west who were very jealous of our winds! They were very nice, we love meeting other cyclists. We got back on the road at around 4, planning to go 35 miles to a campsite in the Denbigh Experimental Forest, which sounded exciting and potentially dangerous, especially since a lot of buildings in Minot had nuclear fallout shelter symbols on them, but it turned out to be nothing special. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the campsite, so we had to go 12 more miles on to Towner, where we did not arrive until 7:30 p.m. Fortunately, we had delicious dinner to make! Pizza with pineapple, ham, mushrooms and onions, Chef Chaos's specialty.
This morning we reached Rugby, North Dakota, the geographic center of North America. Who knew!? We are very excited to be in such an important place. Mom and Dad were nice enough to send us a new bike pump, Cate's watch, and Cate's bathing suit, which we just picked up at the post office. Our goal for the day is Minnewaukan on Devil's Lake, but our secondary goal is that Minnewaukan will have a cinema because we are desperate for that silky darkness and the salty popcorn. We would see anything, anything, even Kung Fu Panda, or Indiana Jones for the second time!
- The Pandas
The next day, Monday, we decided to veer off the Northern Tier route for just 100 miles to avoid a headwind going south and some tough hills and an Indian reservation. Instead we ventured through plains that were covered in oil wells, with their distinctive structures. We also saw a lot of Haliburton insignia, which made us think about how much stuff is going on in this country that none of us ever know about, because it may happen in North Dakota. That makes me think of UFOs, which are also exciting. Then we went through the pathetic town of Stanley, North Dakota for lunch. We arrived 82 miles on at Berthold, just outside Minot, having barely broken a sweat, the tailwind was so strong. As we have for most of the past couple of weeks and will for the rest of North Dakota at least, we stayed over in a city park. These are just the designated greens where the playground is, and near the baseball field. There is usually a lot of action from the younger set, who come out to play after dinner and stay out really late because it doesn't get dark until after 10. It seems like life is really different up here in the summer, when it can be so hot and it is so light. In the winter it has gotten down to -60 F, and in the summer up to 121 F, a huge difference!
On Tuesday morning we rode 25 miles into Minot, where we spent 6 hours catching up on bike repair, laundry, library, and grocery shopping. We also met 2 other cyclists from Boston heading west who were very jealous of our winds! They were very nice, we love meeting other cyclists. We got back on the road at around 4, planning to go 35 miles to a campsite in the Denbigh Experimental Forest, which sounded exciting and potentially dangerous, especially since a lot of buildings in Minot had nuclear fallout shelter symbols on them, but it turned out to be nothing special. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the campsite, so we had to go 12 more miles on to Towner, where we did not arrive until 7:30 p.m. Fortunately, we had delicious dinner to make! Pizza with pineapple, ham, mushrooms and onions, Chef Chaos's specialty.
This morning we reached Rugby, North Dakota, the geographic center of North America. Who knew!? We are very excited to be in such an important place. Mom and Dad were nice enough to send us a new bike pump, Cate's watch, and Cate's bathing suit, which we just picked up at the post office. Our goal for the day is Minnewaukan on Devil's Lake, but our secondary goal is that Minnewaukan will have a cinema because we are desperate for that silky darkness and the salty popcorn. We would see anything, anything, even Kung Fu Panda, or Indiana Jones for the second time!
- The Pandas
Lund's Landing, North Dakota
Sarah cooking pizzas below our lodging for the night, a teepee
The teepee, up close and personal
Century Day!
This picture was taken on our 100 mile day! If you look closely, the Missouri River is in the background.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
North Dakota... like Montana, but more hills
Since our last posting we made our first century ride and crossed the border (and another time zone) into North Dakota. The hundred mile day was inspired by residents of the small towns we've passed through warning us not to spend the night in the Indian Reservation. However, we are not sure how founded these warnings were. We stopped for lunch in Poplar (on the reservation). It was kids day, and Frostees (the sandwich and ice cream place that we stopped at) was giving away free cones. It was really exciting around town- we unfortunately missed the bike parade though. We were warned against an alternate route off of route 2 to get to Culbertson (because it was out of the way), but it turned out to be really pretty. It had a view of the Missouri River and about 10 miles of cool cement/rock hills that are hard to describe. We had a tailwind all day and were efficient about stopping, so it ended up being a really nice day!
We took a picture at the border when entering North Dakota, happy to leave eastern Montana. Despite warnings otherwise from other bikers, we chose to take the scenic alternate route. The headwind was against us and the hills were redoncadonk. We collapsed in Lund's Landing and could not leave. Lund's Landing had a marina but no water! Lake Sakakawea has receded so that the water was nowhere in sight. They didn't have tent camping, so we stayed in a teepee. We took over a nice table overlooking the hills (again, there was no lake in sight) and made delicious ham and portobello mushroom pizza. The next morning after a night of s'mores and card playing, we could simply not move. Not at all. The winds were also blowing strongly from the east. So we chose to stay another day at Lund's Landing, trying to find the lake, playing cards and sleeping. Without any cell phone coverage, internet or laundry we were able to have the ultimate rest day. In the middle of napping we were awoken by voices. Upon searching we discovered other touring cyclists. I call them touring cyclists, but they had road bikes and only one other outfit, so not much stuff with them at all. We ate juneberry pie with them.
Luckily the day before the impromptu rest day we bought lots of food, which we sought to reduce as much as possible. MMM food.
We took a picture at the border when entering North Dakota, happy to leave eastern Montana. Despite warnings otherwise from other bikers, we chose to take the scenic alternate route. The headwind was against us and the hills were redoncadonk. We collapsed in Lund's Landing and could not leave. Lund's Landing had a marina but no water! Lake Sakakawea has receded so that the water was nowhere in sight. They didn't have tent camping, so we stayed in a teepee. We took over a nice table overlooking the hills (again, there was no lake in sight) and made delicious ham and portobello mushroom pizza. The next morning after a night of s'mores and card playing, we could simply not move. Not at all. The winds were also blowing strongly from the east. So we chose to stay another day at Lund's Landing, trying to find the lake, playing cards and sleeping. Without any cell phone coverage, internet or laundry we were able to have the ultimate rest day. In the middle of napping we were awoken by voices. Upon searching we discovered other touring cyclists. I call them touring cyclists, but they had road bikes and only one other outfit, so not much stuff with them at all. We ate juneberry pie with them.
Luckily the day before the impromptu rest day we bought lots of food, which we sought to reduce as much as possible. MMM food.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Saco, Montana on Thursday, June 19
Sarah carried tuna in her pannier for over 1000 miles, through the Northern Cascades and the Rockies, just to bring sustenance and happiness to this one adorable friend. Lucky dog.
Some Words of Advice from Chaos Panda
After having received much advice over my nineteen years of life (some good, some bad), such as "you should put Neosporin on that" or "I think you should visit a Shaman," I realized that one of the best things about travelling across the country is the privilege of imparting some advice myself:
1) Don't pee your pants. I like to call this piece of advice, "Rule Number One." Peeing your pants can be uncomfortable and time-wasting, as generally this results in an extra trip to the laundromat. Peeing your pants, if done in public, can also result in fines of up to $250 in some parts of the country, such as Princeton, NJ. Rule Number One is followed by Rule Number Two, Don't ride off the road because you have fallen asleep on the long straight flats of eastern Montana, and Rule Number Three: don't run over any prairie dogs or into any cows, for different reasons.
2) Don't buy tuna. If you have bought tuna, on accident or even on purpose, immediately seek out the next stray dog you can find and feed it your tuna. This will avoid the unfortunate situation of buying tuna, carrying it around for three weeks, and then feeding the nearest stray dog your tuna.
3) Cows don't like you. Cows don't like you when you run after them, camera in hand, and they don't like you even when you are on your bike, mooing softly. Dogs don't like you either. Correction: dogs will like you for only exactly the duration of time between the point you give it tuna and the point you get back on your bike, at which time it will cease to like you again.
4) Hot springs. These babies, when encountered in Eastern Montana, should not be trusted. Generally, they end up closely resembling so as to be indistinguishable from third-world Communist pools. Note: a Communist pool is like a Community pool, but without the chlorine.
5) Flat tires closely resemble contagious diseases. Unlike childhood illnesses, where the sufferer suffers only once before gaining some treasured immunity, flat tires are actually contagious in the sense of once you have it once, you keep catching it again and again, possibly until you die. The first warning signs include:
1) increased effort when pedaling
2) decreased ability to steer effectively
3) a flat tire.
The disease then moves into the next stage. Symptoms include: increased irritability, a sense of loss of purpose, and excessive amount of arduous pumping, and finally, the tell-tale sign, bike grease on hands and the rest of your body. The really special part about the flat tire disease is that these symptoms can be exhibited by the person who got the flat tire or any of her cohorts/companions/sisters.
I hope these pieces of advice find you safe from most of the dangers listed above. The Pandas hope to be out of Montana soon, and hopefully without any tuna.
1) Don't pee your pants. I like to call this piece of advice, "Rule Number One." Peeing your pants can be uncomfortable and time-wasting, as generally this results in an extra trip to the laundromat. Peeing your pants, if done in public, can also result in fines of up to $250 in some parts of the country, such as Princeton, NJ. Rule Number One is followed by Rule Number Two, Don't ride off the road because you have fallen asleep on the long straight flats of eastern Montana, and Rule Number Three: don't run over any prairie dogs or into any cows, for different reasons.
2) Don't buy tuna. If you have bought tuna, on accident or even on purpose, immediately seek out the next stray dog you can find and feed it your tuna. This will avoid the unfortunate situation of buying tuna, carrying it around for three weeks, and then feeding the nearest stray dog your tuna.
3) Cows don't like you. Cows don't like you when you run after them, camera in hand, and they don't like you even when you are on your bike, mooing softly. Dogs don't like you either. Correction: dogs will like you for only exactly the duration of time between the point you give it tuna and the point you get back on your bike, at which time it will cease to like you again.
4) Hot springs. These babies, when encountered in Eastern Montana, should not be trusted. Generally, they end up closely resembling so as to be indistinguishable from third-world Communist pools. Note: a Communist pool is like a Community pool, but without the chlorine.
5) Flat tires closely resemble contagious diseases. Unlike childhood illnesses, where the sufferer suffers only once before gaining some treasured immunity, flat tires are actually contagious in the sense of once you have it once, you keep catching it again and again, possibly until you die. The first warning signs include:
1) increased effort when pedaling
2) decreased ability to steer effectively
3) a flat tire.
The disease then moves into the next stage. Symptoms include: increased irritability, a sense of loss of purpose, and excessive amount of arduous pumping, and finally, the tell-tale sign, bike grease on hands and the rest of your body. The really special part about the flat tire disease is that these symptoms can be exhibited by the person who got the flat tire or any of her cohorts/companions/sisters.
I hope these pieces of advice find you safe from most of the dangers listed above. The Pandas hope to be out of Montana soon, and hopefully without any tuna.
Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, MT on Wednesday, June 18
The outdoor pool had been closed down by the health department. Undetered by possible health hazards and swarms of mosquitos, we still used the indoor pool. We had come too far not to attempt to enjoy the hot springs! At the very least, it got some of the bike grease off our legs and dirt from under our finger nails. All in all, it was a totally creepy place.Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, Montana on Wednesday, June 18
Cattle and dirt roads delayed our arrival to the hot springs.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
RV Park, Cutbank, MT
Immediately upon arriving at this really awesome campsite, we decided to leave and watch The Incredible Hulk for two hours. It was a good decision.
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