July 19, 2008
Day 68: Makoti, ND to Williston, ND
109.64 miles, 5:15:09 7:01:31 Ride Time, 15.50 Average Speed, 38.27 Maximum Speed
I awoke to thunder; it looked like it had rained in the night, and was getting ready to rain again, so I hurried "across town" (a pretty short walk, in the case of tiny Makoti) to the bathroom/shower facility. While I was in there, it started raining - loud on the metal roof of the building - and I waited about ten minutes until it stopped. That was all of the rain for today, until many miles away, and much later in the afternoon.
The cafe in Makoti was closed this morning, so, after making a stop at the gas station outside of town, I continued riding West on State Route 23, where I had left off yesterday. The tailwind from yesterday was back, and I was quickly in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, where I saw nothing different except a billboard exhorting residents to "Choose Dignity". A couple of Eastbounders rode past, but they didn't slow down. Too bad... they wouldn't get to tap my vast reservoir of crucial information - like the fact that the Makoti Cafe is closed on Saturday, and that the Hostess cakes in the convenience store up the road are shockingly overpriced...
A bit later, I was stopped by the side of the road, studying the map (I do this assiduously, even when, as today, I'm only going to be on two different roads for over 100 miles), when two Eastbounders, a man and woman on recumbents, pulled up. They were Bob and Kathy Simonds, who were actually on the Lewis & Clark route, which intersects with the Northern Tier in this area. They seemed in good spirits despite their unexpected headwind. I tried not to gloat about my tailwind. It was fun meeting them.
New Town (pop. 1,367) was a busy town - probably the most prosperous-seeming reservation town I've seen yet. Because I was getting ready to begin a rougly 70-mile section with no services of any kind, I stocked up on the essentials - water, Grandma's Cookies, and Snickers bars.
I left New Town, turned onto State Route 1804, and began riding into what was probably the longest stretch of isolated countryside of the last two months. It was also, by far, the hilliest terrain I'd seen in North Dakota. Surprisingly, the Adventure Cycling maps don't make too big a deal of this - there is just a note in small print on the map, "Limited services from New Town westward to Williston." For people that can't ride (or just don't want to ride) more than fifty or sixty miles in a day, this section would be problematic.
Except for the hills, which I wasn't expecting for some reason, and, hence, were annoyed by, it was a pleasant ride. Not too much traffic - the occasional oil truck would pass, but they gave me plenty of room. (This part of North Dakota is experiencing an oil boom - I passed several new wells today).
I was about thirty miles from Williston when the sky grew dark; clearly something was going on West of me, and I was riding into it. As the lightning got closer and it started to rain, I headed for one of the few farm houses I'd seen for miles, knocked on the door, and got permission to get in their garage while it stormed.
I was there for 45 minutes while it mostly just rained; it slacked off eventually, and the lady of the house came out to inform me that the television was warning of "deadly" lightning (as opposed to the "non-deadly" kind?) and golf ball-sized hail. It looked to me like the storm had passed by, so I left. I probably should have waited another five minutes; I was briefly soaked, but then the sun came out, and that was the end of it.
I had a tailwind the rest of the way, but the last ten miles to Williston were pretty tough for two reasons: 1. It got extremely hilly, and 2. The tailwind allowed the mosquitoes to catch up to me while I climbed the hills. This was my worst experience with the mosquitoes, ever, and I used some of the most terrible language imaginable cursing them while they swarmed all over me. I was frantically rushing up some of these (fairly steep) hills at 11 mph, and I still couldn't get away from them. Those bastards.
I finally got to Williston (pop. 12,512), which would prove to be my least favorite town in North Dakota (lots of pickup truck engine-revving yahoos, and mosquitoes bothering you as you walked on the sidewalk) and checked into my room at the Super 8.
One positive thing did happen in Williston. Whenever I go to Subway and order one of my plain sandwiches (no vegetables, etc.), I always joke that "I should get a discount" because the sandwich was so easy to make. After trying this so many times, in so many cities, it finally worked. Thanks, nameless girl at the Williston Subway!
Today's ride: 110 miles (177 km)
Total: 5,015 miles (8,071 km)
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