Day 100 - ending at Arthur, ND - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

August 22, 2023

Day 100 - ending at Arthur, ND

Day 100 - Cooperstown, ND to Arthur, ND

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I had coffee, cookies, and chocolate milk after I got up this morning. Posted yesterday's report and packed up. I left the motel at 8:27am, stopping at Town & Country Co-op here in Cooperstown for breakfast.

My destination for today was Arthur, North Dakota. My routing was east on ND-200, south on ND-32, southeast on ND-38, then east at Page on a secondary road. I actually got started on this at 9:05am. It was foggy this morning, cool, and the east wind was still blowing. Not a pleasant morning to be riding east. The fog was misty, to the point that eventually I couldn't see out of my glasses or use my rearview mirror due to the condensation.

At 9:32am I passed the site of 'November 33', a decommissioned Minuteman missile site. I rode down its gravel road to check it out. The door that covered the missile is still here. There hadn't been much need to use my Garmin Rearview Radar lately, but I turned it on this morning - and my flashers - before I got back to the highway. I had to ride on the highway pavement because the shoulder was torn up. I eventually came to a highway department truck that was being followed by a Bobcat. I don't know what the point is for what they were doing to the shoulder, but I was blaming them for making it unrideable. When I got past them I saw that the shoulder was just loose gravel that I couldn't have rode on anyway.

I made it to ND-32 for my turn south at 11:36am. The fog was supposed to lift by noon, but it seemed even thicker now.

Noon arrived soon enough. I'd made 17.9 miles of progress so far.

At 12:39pm I turned east onto ND-38, and was happy to see it has a rideable shoulder. Checking Google Maps I found that the town of Hope ahead has a cafe, which is open until 2:00pm. I decided to eat lunch there. When I arrived in town I had a hard time finding the cafe. It's actually on one side of a grocery store. I ordered a BLT and a hot cocoa to warm up.

When I left the cafe I noticed a museum next door. I went in and was greeted by the curator. The building was constructed in 1892 and first served as a general store. Now it's a museum full of stuff. I wandered around upstairs and downstairs. What interested me the most was their collection of old radios. Before I left, the curator let me inside the log cabin and the church they have on site. Both those buildings had been moved here.

After I left Hope, I was able to tune in some radio stations from Fargo. That helped the time pass. I took a back gravel road into the town of Page when I got close. As I made my way along in town, I noticed a lemonade stand set up in front of the town's movie theater. A mom was overseeing three energetic girls. They were about ready to close down, but stayed open long enough for me to get some lemonade and a couple of cookies. Collections from their stand are for getting gift cards for neonatal care nurses. The mom offered that I could fill up a container, if I had one, with more lemonade. I had my thermos full of ice, but hadn't put water in it yet, so that worked out very well. When I shared why I was taking pictures of movie theaters, she said I could see inside. This was a treat for me. The theater is run by folks in the city, as is their cafe.

The fog was finally starting to lift, though it was still quite overcast. On the south side of Page was the secondary road heading east. This riding was more enjoyable, since it wasn't so humid. The town of Arthur is on ND-18, 3 miles south of the secondary road I was on. At 6:25pm, just before I reached ND-18, I turned south onto a bicycle trail that parallels ND-18.

I arrived at Kelly's Cafe in Arthur at 6:57am. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted, but settled on their Farmers Melt and cottage cheese. I asked my waitress about camping in the park in town. She checked with her boss, came back, and said that was OK.

I was at the park on the southeast side of town at 8:15pm. It's nice and quiet. I set up the tent close enough to the pavilion so that my power cord reaches the tent. The wind has calmed down and the temperature has warmed some, making it a very pleasant evening.

Before I left on this trip I figured out every place I would stay. I chose to stop here in Arthur after reading how much CycleBlaze member Jeff Lee enjoyed his stay here (see his journal Travels with Little Debbie). My assessment so far is the same as his - this is a nice place.

Jeff

Spent: $17.97 (breakfast items, Gatorade) + $11.18 plus $3 (lunch) + $5 (Steele County Museum tour fee) + $5 (lemonade stand donation) + $14.77 plus $5 (supper) = $61.92

A fellow was playing this player piano when I arrived at the museum.

A stained glass window from a different church.

Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 3,669 miles (5,905 km)

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Nancy GrahamI love those little towns you pass through, spend time in and find cafes for your meals. Small town America lives! The museum looks quite interesting in Page. And what a good lemonade fund raiser for the neonatal nurses in Hope. (Hope I got the towns right!). I may have missed back in the early pages, but you apparently have a reason for interest in old theaters? What is that interest?
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1 year ago

Jeff TeelTo Nancy GrahamNancy,
Actually, Hope has the museum and Page the movie theater. My interest in movie theaters is that CycleBlaze member Kelly Iniguez likes to see pictures of them. She owned/ran several, including the one in Lamar, Colorado, I found out after taking a picture of that one. I'd never been inside the projection booth of a movie theater, so that was a treat for me.
Jeff
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1 year ago