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[Montana - after nearly 700 miles its finally over. Welcome to ND!]
[My Biking Attire for the 4th - Flags courtesy of the Prior Lake Girls' Team]
[Guido Supports his country!]
[Kevin rides off into (well east, so away from) the sunset...and Brainerd]
[This is main street Minnewaukan - a hopping place!]
Saturday we did get lucky and have a crosswind that was directed at our backs, not our faces. It is amazing what a difference a few degrees in wind direction can make. Saturday was a much easier day and we only had to do 93 miles. That brought us to the oil boom town of Tioga, ND. We are finally done with Montana! One more state to go before good old Minnesota! Tioga was an interesting town; a strange cross between old-time townsfolk and rough-neck oil rig workers. We camped in the city park which was cheap and had very nice hot showers. We then ate at the Sportsman's Cafe (not impressive) and after a few games of cribbage it was off to bed. Ben was lulled to sleep by a live band playing country music down on main street as part of a 4th of July celebration. I put in my earphones and tried to drown that retched noise out.
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Sunday was a beautiful day with a nice strong tail wind. Our legs were feeling strong and we made some awesome progress across North Dakota on our great nation's birthday. We finished with 112 miles and one full day ahead of our plan. We biked through Minot, ND which was interesting as highway 2 ended up being a freeway with on and off ramps. Nothing like biking up an exit ramp to stop at McDonald's for lunch. We ended the day in Granville, ND where we camped in a city park. It was free, but no showers. Just a pit toilet and a water spigot. There was also NOTHING open in town (small town, Sunday evening, 4th of July...I guess I understand). So we ended up cooking our emergency Tuna Helper meal for dinner and then off to bed it was, or so we thought. They do not have an organized fireworks celebration in Granville, but they do have a couple of people who spent way too much money on fireworks this year. In the Twin Cities it gets dark, every town lights off fireworks for about 30 minutes, and then you're done. Not in Granville. 6 hours of constant blasting, whistling, and flashes of light started around 6 pm and finished up around midnight. These were not just your ordinary firecrackers either. They were lighting up the entire sky. Needless to say, it was a little tough to get to sleep, but at least they were having fun celebrating.
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Today we rode 94 miles to Minnewaukan ND. A little town slowly being swallowed up by Devil's Lake. Most of the day we had a cross wind that was ever so slightly behind us. It didn't help much, but it sure did increase the chances of being blown out into traffic. We passed through Rugby, ND. Rugby is famous for being the geographical center of the North American continent. From there we continued east and rode the winds of an approaching storm for about 20 miles cruising at a nice easy 25 mph. That was fun. Unfortunately, Ben and I had to turn south into the wind and now the rain to get to Minnewaukan. Kevin, meanwhile, was able to keep the wind at his back as he rode on to the city of Devil's Lake and eventually Brainerd for a high school reunion. We wish him well this week. We plan on meeting up again in Redwing, MN next Monday. When Ben and I finally arrived in Minnewaukan we pulled up in front of a grocery store where there were some well placed benches to sit on. Ben proceeded to call the sheriff's office, as our map directed us, to inquiry about camping in the city park. After talking to three people and being put on hold twice Ben was finally told "Well, usually the grocery store takes care of that". How convienient...and odd. We found the campground, had dinner at Rick's, and were stormed on after desert at the grocery store. It has been storming on and off all evening. In between bouts of lightning and thunder there are clear blue skies and sun. Ben's parents will be meeting up with us tomorrow morning and driving along with us for a few days (and carrying our bags!). We are both looking forward to a few days without the extra weight on the bikes.
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