June 21, 2021
Day 47: Fergus Falls, MN to Fargo, ND
Hello North Dakota, Hello Windy Plains
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Climbing Today; 382 ft Climbing to Date; 71,144 ft
So there are folks who believe the Vikings made it to Minnesota, and there is a runestone which was discovered in 1898 that is probably fake, but there has been some debate about it and it was briefly displayed at the Smithsonian. And so, Alexandria is home to the runestone, and we have been following the Viking Trail.
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I wonder how they knew which highways the Vikings followed? Doc routed us out of Fergus Falls this morning, and we ended up having to traverse a mile or 2 of dirt/gravel road. But in so doing we came upon this Waterfowl Mating Area.
There's a lot of corn being grown around here. The local corn provides the fodder for this ethanol plant near Fergus Falls. We have been swimming in a veritable ocean of corn throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Seriously, an ocean of it - sometimes all you can see from one horizon to the other is corn.
We'd gotten away from the hotel at 05:30, had a quick bite at the nearby Cenex station, then biked 20 miles to Rothsay and found the only cafe in town for breakfast. While we were eating, in walked 2 other bikers and we met Skip and Gunda!
Skip is a retired DOD civilian, as am I, and Gunda is from Germany. They are loosely following the Northern Tier route, but using Open Streets routing and taking trails as much as possible. They were also headed to Fargo tonight, but the next 3 nights they will be off of the ACA routing, so we may or may not meet up with them again. As we left Rothsay, I had to get a picture of the giant prairie chicken, because, uh, you know.
Perhaps it was due to my zeal in photographing the big bird, or perhaps it was just my uncanny sense of direction, but for whatever reason I left town headed the wrong way. We went about a mile before Doc discovered my mistake, so we turned back. We had been battling a headwind/sidewind all morning, and now we got to feel how great it would have been if we were going the other direction! Unfortunately that only lasted for the errant mile back into town, and then we had to struggle against the wind again. It wasn't horribly bad, but for the same effort that would have normally propelled me forward at 11-12 mph I was only moving at 7-8 mph. So it was just sort of a slow grind day.
Finally heading the right way, a short time later we met another cycle tourist! Dale was headed east following the Northern Tier, and we exchanged information about places to stay. There is at least a small snippet of him in today's video. He had some days with good tailwind across Montana and North Dakota - if that continues it will be hard for us going the other way. But the winds out here are variable, so you never know.
It was cold this morning, especially with the wind against us. The labor of cycling warmed us up, but when we stopped for breakfast and then later for lunch, it was cold getting moving again. There was wildlife this morning; a deer in a farmfield, and a bald eagle that flew away from a tree near us. Unfortunately, I didn't have the telephoto on the camera at those times.
We had a light lunch in Barnesville at the Eagle Cafe - neither of us was very hungry cause we had a late breakfast, but it was going to be a couple more hours of labor before we reached the next potential food stop, so it's hard to pass up a sure thing.
Leaving Barnesville, we caught up with Skip and Gunda and stopped to chat a bit. Gunda says that the plains in north Minnesota remind her of her home near Hanover, Germany in the North Sea region. I've been there once, and I agree. It is flat, windy farmland, and probably about the same latitude as well.
The Highway 75 roundabout gave me room for pause; perhaps I should just continue another 1/4 turn around the roundabout and head for home?
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It's always a big deal when we reach another state. Today we rolled out of Minnesota and into North Dakota. Since we were on a low traffic county road, there was no "Welcome to North Dakota" sign.
In all my business travels, I had never been to Fargo. We won't be here long enough to evaluate it, but it certainly looks fine.
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Well, truth be told, we are apprehensive about the upcoming days as we travel across North Dakota and Montana. The High Plains can be brutal when the wind is against you, and the crazy hot temperatures are due to return. So then, that's what makes it an adventure; if there was no risk, it would be a journey but not an adventure. OK folks, we have to plot and plan how we are going to handle tomorrow, and especially the day after tomorrow when we have our first long "no services" stretch. All is well here in Fargo, and yet we still have far to go. Night all...
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 2,426 miles (3,904 km)
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