Ride Across the USA: 7/12/10, Mon -- Fergus Falls to Osakis, MN -- 67 mi/ 1873 total

Time to meet some of our great hosts/relatives/friends we've met along the way:

No picture but our nephew and his wife, Rich and Kendal Brown of Bellingham, WA where we had great conversation and excellent salmon.
Camped two nights in the driveway of Gene and Lottie Overway in Bay View, WA. They have an absolutely perfect view of the bay.


Meet Duane and Jan Holter of Priest River, ID who rescued us from the miserable, cold day of riding and provided us with a warm bed for 2 nights and laundry service as well. They live right on the river which was flowing pretty full!!


Meet cousin Gail and Tim Neff of Whitefish, MT. Tim moved his camper so we could park in their driveway overnight. Pouring rain when we put camper up but it was sure good to see them.


Meet cousin Deb and Randy Holtan of Plentywood, MT. Plentywood was not on our route but we drove up to see them, have a meal together and tour their new home. It's beautiful.


Meet Darrell and Josie Dahlberg of Brockton, MT. You can see for miles from their home and we enjoyed the tour of the farm and their equipment. Darrell was also gracious enough to let us drive his new pick-up to Plentywood.



'Ya gotta love the squirrels -- they took out power to the campsite at 7 Sunday a.m. so no electricity and eventually no water. At 10 Sunday night the mosquitoes moved in dive-bombing so bad we couldn't sleep so we sprayed the hootch and went on a killing rampage. Checked tires this morning and the valve went bad on my rear tire, so flat before we could start. Rode on the trail today and we plan to finish it at St. Joe. Trails are boring but you feel safe from the traffic.

Ride Across the USA: 7/10/10, Fri -- Morehead to Fergus Falls, MN -- 61 mi/ 1806 total

We try to take time to keep an eye on the wildlife around us.....

We broke off the AC route on the recommendation of another biker and headed this direction so we could ride the Central Lake/Lake Wobegone paved trail. It is 120 mi long and the longest continued trail in the US. We had strong headwinds all day today, got hot and it was really kind of boring riding in the Red River valley. Wind blowing so hard that I was able to go 14 mph down hill while pedaling. What is your four worst problems while riding? Kirk says hills, wind, traffic and heat. I say wind, wind, heat and hills. Beautiful campsite at Pebble Lake, Delagoon CG. Heard my first loon of trip. J and H not here so we were relaxing, waiting to put up camper as we were watching the clouds. It started to rain so I grabbed our stuff we didn't want wet and dove under the camper. One other camper in park and we ended up under their awning until the tornado siren went off at 5. J and H come flying in and we just ended up with rain/hail.

Ride Across the USA: 7/9/10, Fri, Page ND to Morehead, MN. -- 61 mi/ 1745 total

Kirk on bridge as we cross-over into Minnesota with Red River in the background.


Tranquil scene as we're riding along. Should have stopped and taken a picture when we saw the hawk in the ditch that would not fly because he had a "catch".



Pedaled without much stopping as we wanted to be through Fargo before rush hour traffic and to beat the heat. We had detours and roads that didn't run through, so there was a lot of weaving around to get to KOA compground. Clear sky today and not much wind of any kind and by 11 it was getting HOT. Red River valley is flat and a chocolate looking river. Pretty uneventful day. At the campground we saw another biker and asked him which way he was going. He said north, somewhere. Then we saw his Burley, so loaded I don't know how he pulled it. We're a little slow, but he was homeless. At 11:45 another camper pulled in and set up his fold-down so it was a short night.

Ride Across the USA: 7/8/10, Thurs, Binford to Page, ND-- 59 mi/ 1684 total

Kirk standing on the door that flies open when a missile would be launched.


I would really hate to have to go down this hole for real -- command post for this site was 20 miles away


Marcus and Patrick from Vermont. Yes, they warned us about what we have to look forward to riding in the East.


An outdoor shower is better than no shower at all!


Planning session and where we were going to camp next. Happy birthday to Hazel!



Is this what you call a "drowning" farmer? All sorts of old equipment/cars for what? Stop the water???


Mitch and Ryan from Chicago .... I'm on the phone with Denny Brass.

No flat tires for Kirk today so hopefully we have solved the problem. A day of road constructsion with pilot cars which can be interesting on a bicycle. At Cooperstown we met father/son Mitch and Ryan from Chicago who are riding to Connecticut. East of Cooperstown is November-33, a minuteman missile site which has been inactive since 1998. Further down the road we met brothers Patrick and Marcus from Vermont, heading to Washington state. We are fixing Hazel supper tonight since today is her birthday and we have cupcakes for her cake. Page is a town of only 300 but they have a place to camp, no showers so we used our outdoor one.

Ride Across the USA: 7/7/10, Wed. -- Rugby to Binford, ND -- 60 mi/ 1625 total

They still dig for water (irrigation) in ND along with the oil



Many areas of marsh along the way. This was just down the road from the boys digging for water

Our view as we stopped for lunch

Trying to find the source of the flat tires. That is 3 flats for Kirk since we started the ride.

No problem putting camper top down so this day started great! Kirk was airing tires and found his front flat, fixed it and we were on our way by 8:20. Detour was not bad, only added a couple of miles, but the seams in the road after that were terrible. I spent most of the time standing on one leg to help ease the blows. We saw no other bikers today and not much traffic since we are off hwy 2. About 5 mi from Binford we stopped for a quick break, ready to take off again and Kirk's front tire is flat again. Once we were at the city park we were able to find a small wire in his tire that was causing the tube to leak. Only cost $10 to camp with a full hook-up and they furnish the towels. Nice touch and this is a small community. Kirk was able to find the right tubes at the local hardware store. Jerry was happy, he had coffee with the good 'ol boys.

Ride Across the USA: 7/6/10 - Rugby to SE of Devil's Lake, ND -- 78 mi/ 1565 total

Supposedly they have "built up" the road to keep it from flooding ....


Duane says they can dredge some adjoining lakes that would take care of the problem.


All I know is, pedal faster and get out of here quick!



What was supposed to be a 54-59 mi day ballooned due to flood detours and road construction. Gusting wind, some of it off-side tailwind, then head wind and then cross, trying to blow us off the road. Bright spot of the day, I was able to get a haircut at Leeds. Lots of rock trucks and half the roads were terrible with wide seams. Devil's Lake is huge, 14 wide x 40 long and its over-flowing. We stayed at "Duane's" off Hwy 20 and it is a good thing as he helped us fix the camper. Blew a fuse when we messed up trying to raise the top. It is fixed, good shower, good goulash and good night.

Ride Across the USA: 7/5/10 -- Minot to Rugby, ND -- 66 mi/ 1487 total

You stop for lunch wherever you can .... not the quietest of places but we were definitely out of the way.


Arlete and I working on the computers in our "home"


Rugby, ND -- the Geological Survey center of North America!


Jay Jay's patriotic haircut



One of the best rides with nice farms to look at and good roads. Rode hard to beat the rain and met Arlete Hodel and Dick Skaug, real touring veterans. They came over to visit, she has a blogsite and helped me get going with mine. Then we met Jay Jay Lee Fulton, VN vet who is on the cross-continent wheelchair race. The sheriff's department had paid for his hotel room due to the storm. J and H took him to Devil's Lake the next day.