Day 37: Towner to Leeds

July 7, 2021

Geographic Center of North America

“There’s almost no wind,” Patrick says. “I didn’t want to say anything since we have 8 miles to go,” Rachel says and continues, “I thought we were finally getting on the good side of the wind.” “It’s that good beer we had last night,” adds Patrick. Sure enough, we continue riding and we woke up the wind. Still not too bad and we make it to Leeds by noon. What a difference two less hours on the bike makes with only 6 miles less than yesterday.

We got to Rugby around 08:45am, saw the monument indicating the Geographic Center of North America and decide to continue to the Country Cottage Restaurant next door for second breakfast first. The shoulder between Towner and Rugby reduced again to the two foot wide with the rumble strips in the middle, forcing us to ride just to the left of the white line. Even though traffic is light and all move over, it’s not relaxing cycling.

The waitress said a large order had just been placed and it would be a 15 minute wait at least. This was fine as we could take care of some business. We heard from one of our neighbors that our house sitter may not be staying at the house. This wait gave us an opportunity to email/text with another neighbor and friends who know the house sitter to begin to sort out the situation. Our last tour we were gone 2 ½ years, we had 4 cats when we left and came back to only one. The garden is secondary to keeping the cats healthy, safe and socialized.

After breakfast, we go back to the monument, pull out our “Just married” honeymoon shirts with the additional dates for a picture. We had hoped to replicate the 1995 picture on Logan Pass that didn’t happen because the Going to the Sun road had not opened completely. This will have to do.

The cycling improves as the road with the return of the wide shoulder until we are almost to Leeds. The sky remains overcast and the temperature pleasant, and more opportunities to look around and take more pictures. We take a back road into Leeds and cycle past the city park. It looks decent with a shelter and restrooms, no shower. A man stops his truck and says “you’ll not find anything in this part of town, you have to go a couple of blocks and back to the highway and there is a Cenex.” The RV park we are considering is just across from the gas station….and there is a shower! Worth fifteen dollars! The park is up for sale though and “Jan” the owner is nowhere to be seen. We deposit our fee, find a sheltered spot with a picnic table behind some trailers, hook-up to the wifi and make ourselves at home. The gas station has a convenience store and a kitchen that sells sandwiches and burritos. We won’t go hungry tonight.

Tomorrow a short, “half restday” to a Warmshowers host in Devils Lake.