Three Bicycles, Two Countries

Day 45 rode 63, Dalbo, MN

The day was another gorgeous fall day! Woke up to 40 degrees, packed, had breakfast at the cafe and took off with our new friend Dan. It was a pretty ride on mostly back country roads. Had a picnic and continued onto the cyclist "bunkhouse", a rustic abode with wooden beds, microwave, hotplate and a TV (which no one has even attempted to turn on yet)! Yippee, news tonight! One night will cure us of wanting news. Animal viewing includes sand hill cranes today, mink and wild turkeys yesterday and a beaver lodge yesterday. It will be nice to sleep inside and not have to deal with putting the tents up and taking them down, should save us at least 10 min in the morning! Overall another great day on the bikes, and tomorrow we'll be in Wisconsin. Have to get some cheese curds.

Jordie's Cafe

Mississippi River

One of the many chicken sheds we passed today, glad I'm vegetarian!

Picnic Lunch stop

Love places like this!

Day 44 rode 108 miles Lake Wobegon country, Bowlus MN

We stayed at a park that connected us to the bike path the night before, so it was a quick ride to the bike path. We rode all day on the Central Lake Trail then the Lake Wobegon and finished on the Soo Line. It was paved, very well maintained better than most of Seattle's bike paths. It was a Rail-to-Trail, so we never had a grade greater than 3%. The beginning of the day we rode on the Central Lake Trail for about 45 miles. Stopped for lunch in Alexandria, and hit the bike shop so all of us could get new rear tires. Then back to the trail for 10 miles and then hit the lake Wobegon Trail for the most of the day. At 108 miles we finally made it to Bowlus. We had dinner at the Jordie's Cafe and the owner let us camp in her yard. We met another rider Dan and talked with him at dinner. Always fun to meet fellow travelers, swap stories and tips. Dan may ride with us tomorrow and then he heads south along the Mississippi River we'll head north across Wisconsin and then the U.P. of Michigan.

Lake 10,001!

Something to do with the Kensington Rune Stone

Lake Wobegon Covered Bridge Bike Path

Kayleen with our favorite tee

Day 43 road 84 miles out of ND into Fergus Falls, MN

We woke up early and peddled out of Fargo, after a restful night in the hotel. We rode the bike path back out of Fargo and headed southeast to Cormorant, MN where we had lunch. The scenery made a big change, and it definitely is feeling like fall in the Midwest. Lots of green, lakes and rolling hills. After lunch we headed to Pelican Rapids made a pit stop and headed to our final destination, Delagoon Park in Fergus Falls. Matt finally got a flat, then another slow leak, upon inspecting his rear tire we can see thread almost all the way around. Time for a new tire at the next bike shop. Camping was at the park, and it's conveniently located next to the paved bike path we are taking for a 100 miles the next day. We were the only tent campers at the park, so it was very quiet with a great view of Pebble Lake. We did have an unwanted friend visit us, but we're lucky the skunk did not spray.

One of 10,000 Lakes

Day 38... And we are off for 77 miles, Hebron

We started the day off with a flat on Kayleen's trailer, while still in the campground in Medora. Then, after crossing the Missouri River, 7 miles into the day she got a second flat on her rear wheel. Beginning to think that bike has a black cloud! But the good news, her bike was working as it should! We stopped at the Painted Desert Visitor Center, wandered around and then headed to Dickinson for lunch. We road the beginning of the day (30 miles) on the I 94... And then hopped onto the old 10... Much nicer! We stopped and had lunch at the Pita Pit, and replenished our groceries! We were lucky and spent the rest of our ride to Hebron on the old 10, we were also lucky to have the wind at our back! We rolled into the Hebron City Park at 5:30 (we lost an hour on time zones), set up camp, had dinner, and watched some of the DNC on you tube.

I-94

ND Badlands

three of us at Painted Canyon Visitor Center

ND Airport

Hebron City Park

Day 42 rode 75 miles to Fargo

Fargo's Great Northern Bike Shop

We woke up with cloudy skies and thunder in the distance, so we ate, packed and rolled out quickly to miss the rain. We lucked out, the storm bypassed us and headed north. Our merry band of cyclist stopped in Enderlin for a second breakfast, where we chatted with a retired farmer about our biking journey. Kayleen shipped some stuff home that she didn't need/or use. Then we were off to Fargo. On the outskirts of town we caught the bike trail, and headed into Fargo with a substantial head wind. We were told that Fargo had a great bike shop, so of course we checked it out. It was an old train station that they had converted to a bike shop, called the Great Northern Bike Company. The staff was nice and helpful. We all agreed that Fargo was a fun city. Matt and Kayleen headed out for dinner (as this may be one of the few cities with good food for a while) and Sally did laundry. Our hotel is more like staying in a nursing home that was turned into a hotel.

2nd Breakfast


Fargo's Main St

Day 41 and 97 miles down, near Enderlin, ND

We were lucky and started the am in the upper 40's. Left camp at 8 with the winds blowing lightly out of the south. Our first stop was Gakle, 39 miles into the day. On the way to lunch we had 6 miles of tail wind with downhill. Had lunch at the Tastee Freeze, the best choice out of the 3 restaurants. Shortly afternoon we headed out east on the ND 46 for about 57 miles. Sally mentioned it was so easy to navigate this part, a monkey could do it, which is why she doesn't get the map. The monkey wouldn't get lost. Most of the afternoon was cross winds until 4, and then turned into a very nice tail wind. When we spoke with the campground host she said the water wasn't working, and didn't know if it would be up and running by the time we arrived. So we stopped at a convenience store at 90 miles into the day, had a snack and filled up all the water bottles and platypus. The next 7 miles were a piece of cake we rolled into Little Yellowstone Camp ground at 5:30, and we were the only ones there, it was great! Nice and quite and the water was back on, life is good. Saw our first Oak Tree in the camp, up till now it has been all Cotton Woods.

Little Yellowstone Campground

Day 40... 1/2 mile of bliss, 70.5 of hell!, Napoleon, ND

The morning started off very chilly, 35F. Everybody busted out there cold weather cycling gear, and then took it off after 10 miles. The day started with some nice rolling hills. Whoever said this part was pancake flat, must have had a little something special added to their pancakes! They rolling hills were nice but the kicker was the 10-20 cross/head winds. We had made it to our lunch spot at 1:30, Hazelton ND. Scarfed down lunch and headed out for our last 26 miles into Napolean ND. The second half of the day had more strong cross winds, with gusts that would push you across a lane of traffic. We rolled into town at 5:30, grabbed diner and Matt finally figured out why he had shifting problems. As he worked with the derailleur the shift cable finally broke and came out of the housing.