The wind and a wagon load of manure (more later) kept today's ride from being great. Other than that, I had clear skies, good roads and interesting scenery for the entire ride.
I started out by looping through downtown Hallock. That took about a nano-second, but it is a nice-looking town that appears to be prosperous.
After lunch, I had the toughest part if the ride. Once I turned left onto MB-421, I was riding directly into a very stiff headwind, and I could only manage about 8-9 MPH. The historical marker shown below provided an excuse to stop and take a break.
These guys were on property just behind the housebarn. There was a sign that said "No Trespassing", but I ignored it and went back to talk to them. We had a nice conversation, and I found out that they are prepping the site for a concrete slab that will hold propane tanks for the new grain dryer they installed on the elevators in the background.
The most unpleasant part of the ride occurred after leaving the Friesen Housebarn when a tractor pulling a trailer full of fresh poultry manure passed me. Unfortunately, I was downwind and it was not moving much faster than I was. Luckily, it turned off the road within a mile, but it was a very long mile as the ammonia smell was horrible and caused my eyes to water.
I was pretty wiped out when I got to our hotel. However, hunger overpowered my weariness, so we went to the local grocery store (which was very nice) to get something for dinner. When we got back to our room, I laid down and promptly fell asleep. After a 3-hour nap, I awoke and had a good dinner and an enjoyable evening, so it turned out to be another great day after all!
Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km) Total: 3,758 miles (6,048 km)
