Predicted rains got us on the road early today as we headed 72 miles to Fargo and a layover day!!!  Yippee!!

Right of the campground we had a 6% mile long uphill through a construction zone. Those North Dakotans are so darn friendly . . . only a minimum $80 fine for speeding though a constructions zone. In others tastes the fines is hundreds of dollars and in some jail time is an option!!!!

On the way out we saw the bridge where Doc Mike almost got sucked down into the abyss as he waded out to take a birdbath into into what tuned out to be muck. Almost lost his shoes!

As most riding days there was the yin and the yang today. High humidity meant LOSTS of low level clouds, a blessing because it shielded the direct sun and made for a cool morning ride. Darn right pleasant . . .

 

. . .the yan, part of the road, relatively new paved, had NO SHOULDER. Hwy 46 seemed to be a major connector and had LOTS of traffic. Although North Dakotans are generally very courteous and move over into the other lane and give you a wide berth when passing, it was still many miles of ‘blue knuckle riding!!! A special note about the grain haulers later . . .

. . . so darn polite, North Dakotans post which routes should not be plowed during the  winter!!!!

Our first pass through town was Enderlin where most of thee gang pulled over to the local C-store for liquids. The road is awash with grain hauling trucks riding to and fro. Evidently the main elevators do not have enough room to store all the grain from last years harvest so much of it is kept on the local farms in bins.

The grain haulers are EXTERMELY courteous to bikers, either pulling into the other lane when passing you or if there is oncoming traffic, they do not try to ‘squeeze through’ but you can hear them coming to a near stop behind you, waiting for the oncoming car to pass, and then starting up again from low gear. They really put the ‘professional’ in the phrase professional trucker. The timber hauling cowboys in WA and ID could really take a lesson  from their ND driving cousins.

The major hubs have been shipping grain all winter and there is now room for last years surplus so the trucks are moving it from the farms to the elevators. Enderlin is a major shipping hub with at least three large facilities (that’s all I could see form the road) HUGE elevators, all on the rail line . . .

. . .  as you can see this is a BIG operation.

One of the country commissioners who was at the Sheyenne River campground when we pulled in told me that Enderlin had a major soybean processing plant. This looked looked like it. The plant extracts oil from the soybeans for non-human use, Much of it goes into making the bottles for the bottle water you buy in cases at your local grocery.

Allen goes off route for a bit to get a close up photo of this old church . . .  nice setting

Soon I met Laurie and Brian from Minneapolis who were heading to Astoria, OR . . .

. . . in the special doggy trailer they had a dachshund named , Lupee, who was enjoying a free ride. You can barely see him through the screen Hope he can take the heat as they head west!!!!

I felt sorry for this little doggie who was fenced in his own 40 acre pasture and separated from his neighbors. He was right at the fence line, loudly sounding off!!!!

North Dakotan humor . . . w e are in the Land of “Fargo’ , don’tch ya know!!!!

. . . about half way into the ride we came to Kindred, a great place for a little lunch stop. The weather had been beautiful, the sky had now cleared, and the temps were now 95, on the bike. No problem though . . . still under 100 degrees, which seems to have become our new norm!!!!

Fifteen miles out of Fargo we came to our first real detour of the trip. Loup Loup pass had been closed due to Mother Nature, but this 2 mile road closure of Hwy 17 was man made. The flooding problems that Fargo/Moorhead experience in the spring periodically is being ‘fixed’ by the Corp of Engineers with this major 2 mile water diversion to channel water away from the cities. Folks in Kindred told us it is VERY controversial and in the news daily. Evidently MN does not want to get on board and pay their share. ‘Hey, What happened to that Minnesota nice’????

The last ten miles into Fargo were along University Ave but on a paved bike trail. It stared here out her in the country . . .

. . . not in MN yet but it looks like ND’s support the Twinkies!!!!

. . .mmmmmmm not sure of the colors on this one. I don’t think this model would want to put a copy of this in her portfolio!!!!

. . . about 1 mile down the trail I could see a car backed into the trail and a person pacing back and forth. Oh boy.  I thought it might be someone we passed on the road who didn’t appreciate the space we were taking up. Although we have been ‘coal rolled’ since MT, there have been a few unhappy drivers who had to slow or wait to get around us. Had we made someone mad e. . .  NOOOOOOOOOOOO, just the opposite! It was a ‘road angel,’ Julie. A retired programmer for Blue Shield and a fellow biker. She had passed us on Hwy 16 (giving us a wide berth), went home and filled up a small cooler with Gatorade and came out to wait for us at the trail!!! We had a nice chat as I drank the ‘Blue’, my new favorite flavor,  that was ice cold . . .

. . . soon Good Mike arrived and was chugging down a cold water. We talked biking for a while and routes around Fargo. When we left Julie, she was on her way to get more Gatorade and tie up with the riders behind us. At our ‘debriefing’  later, we realized that the “Gatorade Lady’ had found just about all our riders. Thanks again Julie for making our entry into the Fargo area so pleasant, and safe riding!!!!

There was a threat of severe storms all day and the chances intensified in the afternoon. Allison decided we should motel it to stay out of the rain that could be around for the next two days. We are staying at the  ‘No-Name Motel” literally. I think it had been a big Ramada or Holiday in but then evidently changed ownerships and became the Vista. It was sold again and now had no name  . . . evidently they are attempting to get a Baymont Motel chain accreditation but it has taken some time. In the meantime, ’ No-Name’!!!

They have strict 3:00pm checking time and here you can see some of the gang ‘patiently’ waiting for their rooms after what ended up being a 75 mile day . . .

. . . again when the  fifteen of us arrive somewhere . . .we sort of take over the place. Just like James Dean in the ‘Wild Ones’!!!

. . . but we did have Rod to entertain us with his ‘Road Find of The Day’ !!!!

A final checking of the rooms and we were in. The staff arranged it so  we all had first floor rooms . . . yes, no hauling stuff of stairs!!!!

Rod and I are roomies this time around, and we both thought the digs looked grand. Running water, a flush toilet and clean sheets who could ask for more. Actually I could. An hour later, after a shower, I had my laundry washed and dried. NOW, I WAS READY TO STRETCH OUT A BIT!!!

Time to explore Fargo!!! Some walked to a local BBQ spot and five us took a shuttle to Downtown which was a happening place. Right out here on the Prairie . . . who knew!!! Lots of restaurants and young people, loft type housing and social activities going on in fact, read all about it here: Fargo is Competing with Silicon Valley to Build a Startup Community  Bernie and Corvin when to an ‘authentic German Beer Hall’ and Mark, Allison and I went to a Mediterranean restaurant. We decided we should eat something we can’t really find on the road in towns of pop. 100-300!!!!

. . . they have B-Cycle program, making it easy to get around town. Thank you but we brought our own!!!

An interesting mix of old and new. Still got the old signage around town, but you can see the windows are new. ‘Big-E-Nuf’ overalls . . . that’s a hoot!!!  Shoe findings, had to look that one up:  shoe findings – Shoemakers’ tools and supplies, with the exception of leather.

At Café Aladdin, sounds exotic for Fargo, not really? There ended up being quite an assortment of ethnic restaurant’s . . . a sure sign of a young population. Mark and Allison had the Combo Plate with Falafel . . .

. . . and I had the marinated Chicken Gyro. yummmmmmmmmmmmm . . .

We had agreed to meet at the German Bier Hall for ‘One for the Road’ before hailing our shuttle for a ride back to ‘No-Name’.

When we go there Corvin was just having his ‘Kucken’ dessert, with two scoops. Both he and Bernie had had the schnitzel which Corvin said was very authentic.. We all had a German beer before we left downtown for the night.

Tomorrow will be a day of resting, laundry, eating and recreation. Many will have their bikes into the shop for repairs and some needed body repair and healing too . . . it had been a tough week.

Two have colds (which we hope they are not passing around) One had extreme nausea and need to be trucked from the campground yesterday morning, Mark got a shin splint after tripping over a chain two days ago and hitched a ride from John the Beekeeper to Fargo. He has been applying hot and cold to his ankle religiously, as per Doc Mile’s instructions, and hopefully will be healed by tomorrow. Two of our gang collided on the path on the way in yesterday. One ended up with road rash and hit the pavement hard on his helmet . . . the other suffered a bent front wheel which will either be re-trued or if bent too, bad will need a new wheel!!

. . . tomorrow more exploring!!!