June 22, 2021
Day 48: Fargo, ND to Enderlin, ND
Roadside Meetup & The Never-Ending Road
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Climbing Today; 403 ft Climbing to Date; 71,547 ft
There was nothing really open in Fargo at 05:30, so we rolled out hoping to find breakfast later. We found it in Kindred and enjoyed a nice sit-down breakfast, then leisurely sipped coffee for a while before we left. There would be no other stops before we reached Enderlin 29 miles later. Leaving Kindred I found a dime on the road to add to the "found money" coffee fund which is now over $2, so that makes today a good day!
We have barely gotten started on our trek across the plains, and already the sheer vastness is a bit overwhelming. We have hundreds of miles of plains to cross, at a speed that will vary from about 5 to 10 mph depending on the wind!
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A deer ran across the road in front of me and then seemed to be enjoying the corn field before it got frightened and bounded away.
What crop is this? The yellow and green make for a beautiful contrast that would look better if I had a polarizing filter on the lens.
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3 years ago
Buddy Hall
3 years ago
Between Kindred and Enderlin we ran into a group of 5 other cycle tourists! I turned on the GoPro as I saw them approaching, then I forgot I had it on and recorded most all of our conversation - geez, old guy with a GoPro is an "interesting" disaster at times. The 4 young folks were a group traveling together from Washington to Maine, but only loosely following the Northern Tier. Tom had met up with them and was just riding with them for a while. Later, I saw in a guestbook at a cafe in Enderlin that Tom was from Eagle River, AK. So here's some snippets of the conversation from the meet-up on the road;
The wind was from the southwest today, not too strong at 15 mph, so it was only a small hindrance to our westbound trek. Still, it slowed our progress a few miles per hour, and we arrived in Enderlin at 15:30. So with our breakfast stop and other breaks along the way, we had a portal-to-portal average of 5.6 mph. It is what it is.
Tomorrow is moderately frightening for us. We will be following Highway 46, which is straight as an arrow, due west to Gackle. It's a 73 mile jump, the wind is going to be adverse, and the temperature will reach 90+ degrees. And it's always hotter than that on the pavement. So we are adequately respectful of tomorrow's ride. The good news is that there is a breakfast spot for us 23 miles out, so after about 2.5 - 3.5 hours (depending on the wind) we can relax a bit and refuel. The bad news is that there is NOTHING after that until we reach Gackle, so we need to carry plenty of water and some food. Here's a view looking down Highway 46 - it seems as though it never ends.
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3 years ago
Bud
3 years ago
Of course Highway 46 will eventually end - but not during tomorrow's 73 mile ride. At least we won't (shouldn't?) get lost. I hope your roads are easily navigable, and you find your way to your destination. By the way, our destination tomorrow is a place called The Honey Hub - say what? Good night everyone, we plan a 04:15 wake-up so I need to get my act together now. Usual video snippets follow, peace...
Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 2,482 miles (3,994 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 6 |
You've got this - it's nothing you haven't done before. It won't be your best day, but hopefully not the worst.
Tell us how your toe is doing.
3 years ago
We are heading your way, now in Shelby, heading to Chester MT tomorrow. We might miss though, seems you are on the "new" NT, and we will be staying on Hwy 2.
That shoulder looks like we've had only a bit more narrow, at least we can ride between the rumble strips and the slanting edge.
Happy Travels
Racpat
3 years ago
I'm disappointed we won't meet. I hope you have a good ride on Hwy 2 - the route was moved further south because of the oilfield traffic on Hwy 2. Best of luck,
George (Buddy) Hall
3 years ago
Yeah, today was a tough day for us, but I've survived worst. My toe is much better, thank you! Doc prescribed me an antibiotic that took care of the soft tissue infection, and I put bandaids where the toenail used to be and I can ride just fine. The big difference is that I am now using my old mountain bike shoes that have a roomy toe box instead of my newer road shoes that didn't have much room in the toe area. Best of luck,
BuddyHall
3 years ago
3 years ago
Funny you should ask. I’m in a hostel now in Gackle North Dakota, and was just talking about the roads with Mike who just came from that way. He mentioned that there were some pretty bad roads due to construction on the new ACA route, and that he thought the highway 2 old Route likely to be the better option - and he thought the oilfield activity was pretty light now. So right now I’m not sure what we’re gonna do. Another cyclist named Gin Szagola also just came the new way and she thought that the roads weren’t too bad in the construction area - so there’s a mixture of opinions.
Buddy
3 years ago