July 18, 2008
Day 67: Rugby, ND to Makoti, ND
112.95 miles, 7:11:53 Ride Time, 15.69 Average Speed, 29.27 Maximum Speed
I finally got out of the Econolodge about 9:30 to find it warm, sunny and windy. Within minutes I was on US 2, dealing with the ten miles of construction that Dutch (or was it Dan? or Don?) had warned me about yesterday evening. There were only two narrow, shoulderless lanes, with orange posts in the middle preventing any passing. It was fortunate that traffic my direction wasn't too heavy, because whenever I saw a car or truck in my mirror I had to pull off onto the 18 inch, virtually undrideable gravel shoulder and let them pass (or the more exciting option, if there was no oncoming traffic: Swerve between the orange posts into the other lane briefly.) A half hour of that, and US 2 turned into a divided four lane with a wide shoulder.
It had quickly become obvious that I had a tailwind this morning, and, after berating myself for not getting out hours earlier to take full advantage of it, I decided to milk it for all it was worth the rest of the day.
I quickly rode past Towner, whose sign informed was "The Cattle Capital of North Dakota", with a "Prosperous Future." Sounded exciting, but it wasn't enough to entice me to stop on a day when the wind was out of the East.
It was slower for a few miles out of Towner as the route briefly turned South, but then it turned West again. Ah, sweet, sweet West: I was averaging 17 mph so far today. I quickly passed Denbigh, and the intriguing (well, on some other day, possibly) Denbigh Experimental Forest, and then, after forty miles for the day, made my first stop in Granville (pop. 286).
Granville was another little town that had more closed than open businesses. It was the kind of place where a brick building's faded "Your Friendly Store" sign now had a "Private Property KEEP OUT" sign ironically taped up next to it.
Still, there was an open cafe/store (which a sign informed was the "Home of the Granville Chess Players"), and I bought some snacks to take with me - I didn't want to linger there while the wind possibly died down, or, even worse, changed direction.
An hour later I exited US 2 at the small town of Surrey, and then rode into the much larger town of Minot (pop. 36,567) via the lightly travelled "Railway Avenue", which abruptly dumped me at the super-busy US 83, into a dusty road/bridge construction project. North Dakota continued to rack up Favorite-State points as the construction workers helpfully stopped traffic to get me across the bridge.
The scenery along US 83 through Minot was the typical big-town commercial ugliness, with nothing too interesting to see, although I did stop at a conveniently located computer store to pick up a new WiFi detector, and had a nice conversation with the employees there.
Eventually US 83 led me out of town, and then it was slowly South, into the wind for seventeen miles of rough-shouldered, heavy traffic tedium on the divided four lane highway - one of the most forgettable stretches of riding of the last two months, which made me appreciate the new batteries I installed in my Active Tunes speakers yesterday. I listened mostly to the Foo Fighters as my average speed for the day dropped 1.5 mph.
I finally turned West again onto the pleasantly desolate State Route 23, and an hour and a half later arrived in Makoti (pop. 145).
Ah, Makoti - another great tiny North Dakota town, with everything essential: Neat town park, bathroom with shower (down the street from the park at the "Threshing Demonstration Area"), and a bar (open until 1 AM!) which serves a limited, but adequate selection of food.
As usual, the first person I spoke to in town explained everything to me. I sort-of-sheepishly set up under the small gazebo in the park (the tent barely fit), cleaned up, then hit the K-Bar for a pizza. While I was eating, some local people came up to me and provided the combination to the lock of the volunteer fire department building, "in case the weather gets bad."
Later, after talking to some local people strolling through the park, I went to bed as thunder rumbled in the distance, feeling good about my choice to set up the tent under the gazebo.
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Today's ride: 113 miles (182 km)
Total: 4,905 miles (7,894 km)
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