Day 97 - ending at Carrington, ND - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

August 19, 2023

Day 97 - ending at Carrington, ND

Day 97 - Harvey, ND to Carrington, ND

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It cooled down last night until it was very pleasant for sleeping. I worked on yesterday's report for about 2 hours this morning. Packed up and ready to leave at 9:35am. I started out heading back toward Pizza Ranch. They don't open until 10:00am, but I just wanted to use their wifi to get the journal page posted. That worked very well and took less than 5 minutes standing across the street from them. Pizza Ranch doesn't serve breakfast but B52 Roadhouse and Lanes in town does. On my way there I passed a radio station studio: KHND, 1470 kHz AM. I've been searching the FM radio band the last couple days for stations, and haven't had much luck. I never thought about trying the AM band.

I arrived at B52 between their busy times, according to one of the workers there. I ordered the 'Roadhouse XL' for breakfast. It was more food than I realized, but very good. I had fun conversations with my waitress and the workers there talking about my trip. With ice in my thermos and wishes for safe travels, I headed out at 11:12am.

My destination for today was Archie and Jessie Campbell Memorial Park in New Rockford, North Dakota. So I'd be going east and a little bit south. There was a pretty good northwest wind today, so I'd get help in both directions I was heading.

I left Harvey going south on US-52. After a couple of miles I looked at the map, and decided I'd rather have left town on a secondary road going straight east. It wasn't too late to correct my course, but I'd have to ride a mile north on a gravel road. That wasn't a problem, and at 11:48am I was on the road heading east that I wanted to be on.

Today's noon report: 6.5 miles.

The wind was really pushing me along. It wasn't as strong as the other day, where I had to worry about the bike blowing over, but it sure was making the ride easy. I got to thinking that maybe I should try for a destination farther away than New Rockford. There's a campground in Carrington. Being there this evening would make the following day's ride shorter. So, at 12:35pm, I changed my destination to the campground in Carrington. Using US-52 to get to Carrington would be the best way to take advantage of this northwest wind. So I headed back south for 3 miles to get to that highway. I was back on US-52 west of Manfred at 1:01pm. The shoulder wasn't the best along this section - it has too much taper toward the ditch, so I rode on the lane when it was open.

I passed Fessenden at 1:33pm. The shoulder here and for the rest of the afternoon was wide and level, which made for carefree riding. However, there wasn't a lot of interesting scenery to take pictures of. What was fun was seeing the miles to my destination countdown a lot faster than they normally do.

I arrived in Carrington at 5:12pm. Before I got there I'd checked Google Maps for restaurants, and saw that this town has a Pizza Ranch also. I'd been too late yesterday for the buffet at the one in Harvey, but here was another chance. I arrived at Carrington's Pizza Ranch at 5:37pm. That was a fun meal. I don't have a picture of it, but I did limit myself to just two pieces of Cactus Bread for dessert this evening.

The campground in Carrington's Park was close by. Only one RV is here at the moment. Google Maps had indicated the camping fee would be $25, but it's now posted as $35. Oh well, it's still cheaper than a motel. I got the tent set up and loaded with gear by 8:00pm.

Next I checked the bike. Found a wire in the front tire, so pulled that out. I should know in the morning if that wire had put a hole in the tube or not. What was a little more worrisome is I found a broken spoke on the rear wheel. It was on the non-drive side, and it was broke at its threaded end. I replaced that spoke and nipple, then tighten some other loose spokes, getting the alignment the best I could. I'm still using the original wheel with the cracked hub. I'm wanting to see if I can get all the way home on it. Of course if I can't, I do have that spare wheel that I bought in Medora.

At 9:15 I was done working on the bike and moved on to picture selection and evening report writing. It's feeling just a little bit chilly. What I don't like about the weather is the prediction of rain for tomorrow, followed by several days of winds from the east. Well, every day can't be as easy as today was.

Jeff

Spent: $18.38 plus $5 (breakfast) + $15.23 plus $3 (supper) + $35 (campsite) = $76.61