July 4, 1996
Williston, ND to Parshall, ND
A Tough Independence Day
Shall I describe a day in hell? Even worse winds than yesterday, hill after hill after hill, another ruined tire, and a 50 mile stretch with absolutely no services, not even a bush to go behind!
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However, since I've decided to focus only on the positive aspects of this journey, we were blessed with cloud cover the entire day, no bugs, and a very kindly farm lady who let us fill our water bottles from her well. The woman acted like it was an everyday occurrence. Even her "guard" dog rolled over for a belly scratch on the front porch. She seemed like an angel to us. I doubt that Dave could have gone much further without water. Also, we had a wonderful lunch at a marina...homemade vegetable soup and Saskatoon berry/rhubarb pie! Mmmm. Made me think of Mom. Very fatiguing day; now I know what Mom was referring to when she talked about the "prairie wind".
We saw lots of prairie roses today. Yesterday Dave reminded me of a well-known quote that I had to keep repeating today- "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". We saw another buffalo in a farmyard---buffalo burgers. Parshall is the prettiest prairie town we've seen so far-green trees! North Dakota is not as desolate as eastern Montana, many more farms along the route. Undulating hills of the Drift Prairie.
THE HEADWINDS WERE BRUTAL TODAY, 25-35 MPH. THE TANDEM WAS HARD TO HANDLE WHEN THE WINDS WOULD SHIFT AND CATCH THE PANNIERS. WE WERE FREQUENTLY FORCED TO PUSH THE BIKE AS WE BECAME MORE FATIGUED. ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES TO A TANDEM IS THAT WHEN ONE OF THE RIDERS IS HAVING A LOW ENERGY DAY, THE OTHER MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE MORE OF THE LOAD. TODAY I WAS THE EXHAUSTED ONE. I WAS SO TIRED THAT RHONA SOMETIMES PUSHED THE TANDEM BY HERSELF BUT WAS SOMETIMES UNABLE TO BECAUSE OF THE STRONG WINDS. AT ONE POINT WHILE FOLLOWING HER UP THE ROAD I NOTICED THE REAR TIRE (PERFORMANCE GT-K) TIRE HAD WORN A HOLE THROUGH AND THE KEVLAR FIBERS WERE PUSHING OUT OF THE TREAD. I WAS SHOCKED BY THE PREMATURE FAILURE SINCE THE TIRE HAD ONLY ABOUT 300 MILES ON IT. WE HAD TO CHANGE THE TIRE ALONG THE ROAD, NEAR THE TOP OF A HILL, WHILE A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHED. LIGHTNING BOLTS WERE CRASHING 1/2 MILE FROM US ON THE NEIGHBORING HILL. IT WAS A VERY DISCOURAGING DAY. OUR RESPONSE WAS TO JUST KEEP GOING, EVEN IF GOING MEANT WALKING AT 3 MPH.
Today's ride: 93 miles (150 km)
Total: 1,382 miles (2,224 km)
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