Charles City, IA July 28

The breakfast of champions: breakfast burrito, girl scout cookies, and PBR! (best girl scout fundraiser ever!) Swaledale, Iowa

Blog update: 7/28, Charles City, IA. RAGBRAI is in full gear and we are headed eastward again! Alex and I are riding with Team High Life and are enjoying all RAGBRAI has to offer. The ride has been relatively easy and we are exploring other sides of the ride besides bicycling! As we've been saying, this week is our vacation from our vacation. We had no qualms about ditching the gear and riding unloaded for the week! We are even getting more ambitious and did the first century of the summer on Monday. It's been great to be back in our home state. We spent several days with Alex's family in Sioux City, visited friends in Ames last week, rode with my brother a few days on the ride this week, had dinner with my mom, and will see more of the fam tomorrow in Waterloo. Everyone has been excited to see us and hear stories from the road. We are also beginning to realize that, come Sunday, we will have to push pretty hard to get to Raleigh, and we will not be assisted by the helpful Adventure Cycling maps.I think we're up for the challenge! Raleigh or bust!

Rockford, IA July 28

In front of the house in Rockford where Andrea's mom grew up. Our handprints are probably on that sidewalk.

Clear Lake Iowa July 27

Kyle is dropping in to ride a couple days

Riding with Team Miller High Life

Ragbrai Day 1 July 25

on the road again! alex and i leave on ragbrai 2010 from alex's house with our friend lando, who rode today (but wishes he could do the whole week!)

Andrea's pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2404529&id=16900117&l=6ae8ae6bb1

A link to Andrea's facebook photo album

Alex photos

You are invited to view a photo from alexander.n.smith's photo album: Bicycle across America

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Message from alexander.n.smith:
Hi everyone,These are the pictures that I have taken during my cross country bicycle trip from Seaside, OR to Sioux City, IA. Once I have finished and made it to Raleigh, NC I will be adding the rest of the pictures I take. I will be joining up with RAGBRAI starting this Sunday to cross Iowa and then will continue from Dubuque to Raleigh. Feel free to share with anyone else you may think is interested. Best Wishes!Alex
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Sioux City July 20

7/20, Sioux City, Iowa
We made it to Sioux City! Now Alex and I are officially on break until RAGBRAI (or should I say until August 1...we don't expect RAGBRAI to give us much of a challenge after what we've already done).
We've had a good past couple days. On Sunday we took our first rest day. Our bicycling friend, Rick, was extremely hospitable to us and showed us a really great time in Yankton. After having a relaxing day and taking care of some other business (my bike got a much needed tune-up by Rick's son, who works at the local bike shop in Yankton), Rick and his girlfriend Pam took Alex and I kayaking on the MIssouri River. It was a big ordeal arranging the logistics, such as placing cars at both the drop in and ending locations and getting everyone to the drop in area. We didn't end up getting on the river until about 8:30, but it turns out this was a great time for a kayak trip. We saw the sun set over the river, paddled through dusk, and then the last half of the trip by moonlight. Rick has been kayaking on the river for the past 30 years and knew the river like the back of his hand. He showed us the "shoots/chutes?" (narrow parts of the river where the current is strong and you can really get going in the kayak), some of the sandbars, and other cool parts of the river. At one point the river was over a mile wide! Alex and I really enjoyed ourselves and hope to be able to do some more kayaking in the future! We paddled about 11 miles, and finished our trip down the Missouri at 11:30. This was by far the most fun side adventure we have had yet! Thank you so much to Rick and Pam!
We left Yankton at noon yesterday, managing to avoid most of the rain and thunderstorms that passed through the area. We had the flattest day of biking yet into Sioux City and made decent time, at least compared to other days in the past week. We were disappointed when we arrived in Iowa, however. Iowa was the first state we have biked into that hasn't had a sign to welcome us. We figured we came in on a road that wasn't traveled enough, so when we got to Sioux City we backtracked a little on Hwy 12 back into South Dakota to try to find a sign that we could pose with. No such luck! Alex and I had to drive to a bridge on the interstate today to get a picture with the Iowa sign. I feel like we cheated, but only a little.
Alex's parents greeted us when we arrived (they even had a "welcome" sign on the door!) and we had a delicious pork chop dinner. We have spent today relaxing in the air conditioning and running errands (by car, of course!). It will be strange to not be going on any day long rides this week, but I really think my body needs some time to recover before we start the last 3 weeks of the trip. Alex and I are planning a trip to Ames this week to try to visit some friends. Since there will be no major biking occurring this week, I probably won't be writing any more updates for awhile. Alex and I are trying to get some pictures posted, so I will post some links later for everyone to check out!

Sioux City, Iowa July 20

we had to drive in the interstate to find this iowa sign. whooo iowa!

Yankton, SD July 18

7/18, Yankton, SD

Alex and I successfully reached Yankton yesterday! However, the day of riding was extremely challenging, as temperatures reached 100 deg and we put in close to 90 miles, making it our 2nd longest day of the trip so far. We tried to get an early start to beat the heat, but as has been mentioned a few times previously, we have a hard time with early starts. We did make it on the road just before 8, though. We stopped in Springfield, 50 miles from Pickstown, for a break and to evaluate whether we could make it the additional 40 miles to Rick's house east of Yankton. There, Alex discovered his wallet had fallen out of his handlebar bag at one of our roadside breaks 18 miles back. After evaluating our options, we decided NOT to ride back to find it. Alex got lucky and convinced a convenience store worker at our rest stop to drive him back. We have been exceedingly lucky with meeting kind and generous people on this ride. The only compensation Alex's driver would accept was that we would promise to "pay it forward", or return the favor to someone else when they need it. Alex was successful at locating the exact patch of grass where we sat and found his wallet in some tall grass.

We tried to stay out of the worst of the heat, and took a few hours of break at Springfield. We hit the road again by 4 and rolled into Yankton around 7. Rick, our friend from Snake Creek, is letting us stay at his house. He, however, is not here. He finished his ride to Sioux Falls and is now taking care of some RAGBRAI business in Sioux City. He told us how to get into his house, and we have been enjoying all the amenities of a real house! Alex's parents drove up from Sioux City last night to take us out to dinner. It was nice to see some familiar faces and it made us even more excited about reaching Sioux City!

Today we are taking a much needed rest day in Yankton. It has been nice lounging around and I'm realizing how exhausted my body actually is after 35 consecutive days of riding. Today should have been the 90 mile day! The temperatures dropped and there is plenty of cloud cover. Rick is supposed to return this afternoon and hopefully we will be able to do something fun, like kayaking. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy a midmorning nap.

We estimate one more day of riding to get to Sioux City! Should arrive tomorrow!

Pickston, SD July 16

7/16, Pickston, SD. We are getting so close to Iowa we can almost taste it. We have been meeting more and more people with Iowa connections and coming by more Iowa products (Sioux City sarsparilla!). Yesterday, my birthday, was made brighter by a meeting with another touring cyclist and Sioux City native, Rick. We met him at the restaurant at our campground after a challenging 75 mile ride from Ft Thompson to Snake Creek Rick had an interesting story-he had planned to be touring from Missoula to RAGBRAI (he's the captain of Team Road Booty) but his plans had been derailed when he was hit by a car in Okoboji on June 27. However, he deemed himself recovered enough to join some friends on a "Faces to Falls" (Mt Rushmore
to Sioux Falls) despite having a fractured skull and probably 50 stitches in his head. Rick, who now lives in Yankton, SD, invited us to stay at his house tomorrow when we go through Yankton. He also invited us to go kayaking on Sunday. Rick plans to retire next year and start a kayaking and bike touring business and we offered to be some of his guinea pigs. So, what could have been a just frustrating birthday was salvaged by the company of a random stranger. We breakfasted with Rick this morning and rode with him to the first time before he split off on his own route. We plan on seeing him tomorrow night in Yankton, though. That is, if we make it. We have an 80 mile day planned for tomorrow and it's supposed to be 100 deg. Today was close to that temp, but we only had a 55 mile ride to Pickstown. We plan on starting early (for us that means before 8...) and trying to get in as many miles as we can before it gets hot. If we end up kayaking and taking a rest day on Sunday, that will delay our arrival in Sioux City until Tuesday. But it will be
worth the adventure! (end)

Fort Thompson, SD July 14

Our luck seems to have returned, at least in terms of weather. Both yesterday and today the winds have shifted and are from the northwest, so we have been having a nice tailwind. Yesterday we made it to Pierre. We stayed on a picture perfect spot alongside a lake. Both the camping and the showers were free. We even found a church group giving out free food in the park! I found Pierre to be very quaint and enjoyed meeting people in the park. Today we rode to Ft. Thompson, about 75 miles.Turns out South Dakota has some of it's own mountains...we had 5 ginormous hills today that were on par with a certain stretch in Montana after Roger's pass. Ft Thompson is on one of the Indian reservations and we have already met some interesting people. We convinced the local grocery store to cook us a pizza so we had a nice picnic out behind the store for dinner tonight.
Now we are drinking a pre-birthday bottle of wine at the campsite waiting for the water to come back on. Yes, the water here stopped running right after we got here and we narrowly missed getting a shower. Hopefully this bit of bad luck is confined only to campsite luck and not on the weather. I'll take a tailwind anyday! I say that now but after this wine is gone, this might be a different story. Tomorrow we are headed into the middle of nowhere again. Our destination is some random recreation area about 75 miles away. In terms of other cyclists, we've met a few groups in the last few days. We met a couple from Wisconsin biking out to Oregon (and moving there as well), a group of high school students from St. Louis doing the Lewis and Clark trail from St. Louis to Seaside with their teacher, and an older couple jumping to national parks and doing the exact same tour they did last summer. We are getting excited for Sioux City and RAGBRAI! We estimate our Sioux City arrival on Monday. Thanks to my mom for typing in 14 text messages to the blog so we can be updated! Post by Andrea

From Mom- Happy Birthday to my favorite girl! 25 years old July 15!

Pierre, SD July 13

Alex on a hill 25 miles outside Pierre.

Lake Oahe outside Pierre.

Mobridge, SD July 12

Hello from the middle of nowhere, SD. The past couple days have been nothing short of challenging. Here's a recap: Saturday was hot. Really hot. We had wanted to go the 84 miles from Bismarck to Pollock, but it was so hot (almost 100) that we only made it 50 before giving in to the heat. We found a campground nearby and promptly passed out for several hours. We met some fisherman friends camped next to us and they fed us steak, potatos, and beer. We take all the hospitality we can get! Yesterday was actually a pleasant day of riding, despite all the hills. We rode 74 miles to Mobridge, SD.
Today was an entirely different beast. Of the 64 miles we rode today, the first 54 were directly into a 20-30mph headwind. It took us 6 and a half hours to do the first 54 (my computer said an 8.5 mph average).
To top it all off, we had a 10 mile stretch of gravel. Needless to say, we are tired tonight. Tomorrow we head to Pierre and we're supposed to have another headwind. This is the time when I'm wondering if we actually are crazy.
I will not update as much as dad did. I do not have Internet on my phone like he did, so updates will come when I can get online, like tonight at the back of a convenience store on wifi with Alex's itouch.
Now, time to rest up for more headwind! - post by Andrea

Washburn, ND July 8

Wasburn, ND -- Thursday, July 8
Today, with great sadness, my great adventure ended. It ended by pedaling
65 miles traveling in all directions the compass will point on a nearly picture perfect day. All also has gone splendidly well regarding my logistical return to the Iowas City area as my friend, Bob, accidentally discovered the three of us on the road towards Washburn as he was exploring the Lewis and Clark historical sites around the area. Everything has happened as planned, except that I will likely need a seven step withdrawal plan to recover from the addiction this adventure has created.
I truly wish that I could go on. After 26 days and 1620 miles, I find that my body and mind have adapted to the rigors of a bicycling tourist and the simple freedom that it brings. It has been over twenty five years since I've last gotten lost for an extended period of time from the world, from my job, from the daily cares of life. This adventure has done all that and more, including the opportunity to see a portion of the country up close and meet some of its people.
Although I don't believe this adventure has been a life changing experience, it has been an experience best described as "priceless".
Spending nearly a month in constant companionship with my daughter and her boyfriend was a once in a lifetime opportunity. There are many memories and stories of this adventure that we will all share for many years to come. I'm extremely grateful to both of them for this gift. For me, it was an emotional end; an end not only to my great adventure but also the symbolic hand off of my daughter to her boyfriend and potential future partner. It was a moment of mixed emotions.
As for the day, despite the miles logged our forward progress was only slightly more than 30 miles as we navigated around Lake Sakakawea. In doing so we crossed Garrison Dam, the 5th largest dam in the U.S. It was a beautiful area providing many pass through towns (a novelty compared to the past several weeks) and many picture taking opportunities. Our pace today was generally leisurely which was boosted by a slight breeze when traveling east.
We also had our 5th flat of the trip as Andrea's B.O.B (her bike trailer) feel victim to a sliver of metal from the cord of a truck tire casing.
We've been very fortunate to date in not having similarly related flats as these casings litter the shoulders of carrying heavy truck traffic. If you are a bicyclist you soon learn to dislike wide shouldered roads as this space is littered with all kinds of debris (rocks, tire casings, broken glass, wrenches, straps, staple removers, shoes, panties, etc.). Despite the annoyance of the flat, it did prove to be timely as we discovered that my bike pump was the only bike pump of the three that could inflate both presta and schrader type valves.
Since my adventure has now ended, my bike pump is now mounted on Andrea's bike. In fact, after we arrived at the campsite in Washburn, Andrea and Alex had a feeding frenzy on trading up on my equipment. Andrea will now be pulling the Burley trailer that I bought in Portland, Alex will use my thermarest, and Andrea my pillow. There are numerous other items that have traded and or confiscated. Hopefully I will my equipment's return for my next great adventure.
As my time at the campsite came to a close (I hoteled it in Bismark), Andrea and Alex were again joined by the French Canadians. Although they have general kept to themselves, a certain bonding has begun to develop, despite some language barriers. As they are also following the Lewis and Clark trail with similar overnight stops, I suspect that Andrea and Alex will share other times together. I'm hopeful that when they leave the Lewis and Clark trail somewhere near Sioux City and travel through parts of Iowa that their journey takes them through Iowa City and they take me up on my offer to overnight at my house.
In addition to the French Canadians, The group was joined by couple in their early 60's pedaling from Pierre, SD to Williston, ND. I would have loved to have stayed and shared stories of our respective travels. My departure did prove fortunate for them as their camp stove had failed.
They now have our second stove that was going home with me. What we have experienced and what we have heard from others that in times of despair that has generally been fortune.
Lastly, this is my last entry into this blog. Andrea and Alex will continue to update this site with photos and text messages but not in the same volume as the past 26 days.

South Dakota, July 10

Bismarck

Bismarck, ND July 9

Today was our first day riding without Dad. It seems as if more than just a person is missing from the ride; it actually seems as if the whole atmosphere has changed. Maybe that's due to the fact that Alex and I had to adsorb a lot of what Dad was carrying and now we are more weighted down and have to push harder to do the same distance, or maybe it was just the slight headwind and the sun blazing down. Either way, things have rapidly gone wrong since our arrival in Bismarck. First, I flipped the unflippable Burley. No one was hurt, but it was a close call. I just hit the side of a curb and over she went. Funny how dad rode with it for a whole month and never flipped it and I do it on the first day...Next, I did something I have never done before: walked my bike up a hill. I feel ashamed saying it, but there was no avoiding it. The bike paths in Bismarck are not well planned and out of nowhere, there was a hill with what must have been more than a 20% grade. It looked like a vertical wall rising in front of us as we turned a bend on a bike path on the route. I tried to build up momentum, but it was no use and soon I was standing in my lowest gear and still almost falling over. I was lucky to clip out before the whole bike fell over! Then, to make things even more fun for us in Bismarck, my front derailleur stopped working. After a few stops fiddling with things at the side of the road, it appears to be at least functioning, but I foresee some definite mechanical work tonight at our campsite. Luckily, I think Alex has the know-how to (hopefully) fix this problem. Finally, to top things all off, tomorrow we HAVE to do 80 miles south (there is nothing between Bismarck and the next town, Pollock, SD) and we just learned it will be 94 with a wind from the south. I'm suddenly starting to feel about North Dakota what I felt about Montana.

Maybe Dad was just our good luck. Maybe he should think about just rejoining the ride. Who needs a job anyway? Regardless, he is greatly missed on the ride and it just doesn't seem the same without him. - post by Andrea

Last Day July 8

Dad's last day. Washburn, ND on the missouri river. sad day!- from Andrea

Garrison Dam July 8

At the Garrison Dam, North Dakota

Garrison, MT July 7

Garrison, MT -- Wednesday, July 7
What a day! We managed to lasso a nice tail wind when we were traveling east to pedal 84 miles to this great lake side park/camping area 8 miles east of Garrison. Although the camping area does not have any showers, it does have running water allowing us the clean up with soap and water by the hydrant or to take a bucket bath in the woods. I used a combination of both, especially the woods and the 'kitchen sink' to bath my 'whiter' side.
While here we also got to view a full rainbow and the faint outline of its matching mate.
Our route today was punctuated by bright colored yellow fields on relatively lightly traveled roads, excepting the first 19 miles. Because of the concerns about the traffic during the first leg of our journey, we left early today (7:30 AM) on a full stomach. We had planned to leave earlier, and were on track to do so; however decided to delay our departure and have breakfast to allow the sun to be higher in ths sky to avoid having the glare of the morning sun affect their visibility.
The first 10 miles of the route were indeed tortuous and dangerous; thereafter the road traffic calmed down. This was fortunate as the shoulder was pot holed and in poor condition all of which was further exacerbated by a constant stream of rumble strips just to the outside of the white strip which narrowed the useability of the shoulder. We were all relieved to turn into a cross wind and leave this gauntlet. Thereafter, the rest of the ride was peaceful and enjoyable.
On today's ride we once again found the French Canadian bicyclists as well as the two young dudes. In talking to the two young dudes we learned that he had hit a pothole on the "tortuous highway's shoulder and had taken a spill into the highway. Fortunately it occurred at a time when traffic was not around.
One of the memorable moments today was cooking the evening meal. It was a picture perfect setting and a great way for me to end my final night of camping. For once we did not combat wind, did not feel rushed, nor were we threatened by mosquitos or rain. Although it did briefly spit rain later, the full rainbow was like tying a bow on the nearly completed great adventure package. What a great final evening!

New Town, ND July 6

New Town, ND -- Tuesday, July 6
Today's 75 mile ride will be primarily be remembered for two things: trucks and Lund's Landing. It was perhaps one of the most demanding sharing the road with truck experiences that I have ever had. When this journey started - we were primarily concerned with the sharing the road with the logging trucks of OR and WA. That experience pales in comparison to our experience today on our ENTIRE route.
The devil for today's ride is the petroleum boom in northwestern MT. There is 'black gold' in this hills and oil wells are being everywhere. We were told by one of the locals that by the time a virgin site is developed into a producing well an over of 500 trucks carring equipment, earth moving equipment, rock, etc will enter the site. This does not include the daily/weekly maintenance that a producing well may need. Prior to staring our journey from Williston, we w told that we should avoid the once peaceful route that we were taking. We explored other options, but all of the alternatives took us far off course. By the time our pedaling ended for the day, our nerves were a little frazzled. If one took away the trucks, it would be a gorgeous route.
One of the pleasant surprises today was lunching a Lund's Landing about 25 miles east of Williston on Hwy 1804. This was a surprise find, as we did not expect, nor did we find, any other services during our entire trek.
Lund's Landing is a lodge/marina/cafe on the Missouri River. The husband and wife owner built the place with their own hands beginning 22 years ago.
It has received recognition in many national magazines. It was a great homey place to stop. We meet the owners and learned its origin and history. It is perhaps best known for its 'June Berry' pies. It claims that it is the only restaurant to serve June berry pies year round.
Contrary to past form we each had a different type of June berry pie, ale mode of course. We learned that this was going to be a costly mistake when a passersby stopped to buy a whole June berry pie and was quoted a price of $28. All of us gulped when we heard that price.
With that said we did receive one benefit as to owner gave us specific direct ons along our route where we could pick fresh June berries to eat.
Twenty miles later we were 50' off the road well into the ditch, escaping from the truck torture eating June berries. What a treat.
Our camping location tonight is on the lower end of our past camping experience. It is at a marina. The owner has placed us near the top of a hill where the wind blows with gail force. Making the evening meal was a fright to watch especially as bikes were blowing over, burners were being blown out and the contents on top of the picnic table strewn across the camp site as a front with high gusting winds moved through the area. The water if you could find it was not drinkable. To top it off, this experience cost us $20!
Two other notable points for the day include meeting the two young dudes ( the 12 flat tire guy) attempting to average 80 miles a day and learning that the first 19 miles of our route tomorrow will be worse than today.
Regarding the young dudes, if they are seeing us, they are not meeting their goal. In fact, they are likely somewhat disappointed to see us - after all, they can barely keep pace with an 'Old Guy' and a 'young woman' on a bicycle. The experiences and problems that they have had would make a good comedy series; including the day that they pedaled over 120 miles but only after they had pedaled to 1:00 AM. As for the first 19 miles of our route tomorrow, we learned that two bicyclist were killed last year somewhere in this stretch by one of the trucks associated with the oil boom. This has us all a little worried.

Williston, ND July 5

Williston, ND -- Monday, July 5
I've reached my initial goal of pedaling from Seaside, OR to Williston, ND three days ahead of schedule. As such, I will have the opportunity to pedal 200 miles into ND before my bicycling adventure ends on July 8.
Our ride today was relatively short (45 miles) and excepting a few hills relatively flat. It was an easy ride, especially when I compare it to the riding in eastern MT during the past several days. Although I enjoyed MT, I (we) were sure glad to leave the state.
Our departure from MT was under cloudy and raining skies from a mosquito infested campground; however, we were given a grand send off by Randy and Cheryl (our camping neighbors) as they prepared breakfast for us consisting of eggs, pancakes, links and sausage. As noted in my July 4 post they made the stay at the campground a great, remembering experience.
Today, we also lost the WV teacher who had been traveling with us for nearly a week. He hoteled it in Sidney on July 4 and decided to lay over an additional day to give his butt some rest time. All of the long days of riding had created a few tender spots.
Williston was a great overnight. We were allowed to stay in its city park and use the showers in the community center - all without charge. The city has a big community center and a wonderful city park all of which was very close to a grocery store and laundramat which we took full advantage. We also had our best evening meal yet, BBQ pork chops and grilled vegetables which we prepared on one of the park's grills.
Given that we lost the WV school teacher and had not seen the French Canadians since early on the 4th, we fully expected to be camping alone in the park. We were pleasantly surprise when two independent groups of two bicyclists rolled into the park about 1 hour from each other doing Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier route. This route and the Lewis and Clark route have one common point in Williston. Both groups of riders had a tremendous day doing 135 miles and 147 miles respectively. They we're able to do this because of their relatively flat route which traveled due east for the entire day and aided by a 25 mph tail wind. We were benefited by that same wind for a portion of our ride but not to their extent. Like always, it was great to share stories and meet people with the same passion. I continue to be amazed at how we continue to hook up with like minded souls in the middle of nowhere. This is neat!
Our ride tomorrow will be over 70 miles. It could be a challenging day depending on the wind, terrain, and temperature.

Somewhere in North Dakota July 7

We just hit 1500 miles for the trip! Middle of no where, ND. (15 miles south of Parshall)

Alex at New Town, ND July 6

Alex makes a friend at a Missouri river overlook outside New Town, ND

Leaving Montana! July 5

Leaving montana! yay!

Sidney, MT July 4

Sidney, MT -- Sunday, July 4
What a day! The original story line was how we rocketed 84 miles over hills and some extended flat areas propelled by the favorable wind direction and speed we could have hoped. Our travels today first were to the NE and then nearly straight E with winds strongly out of the SW. High temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's made our riding conditions nearly ideal.
Although the ride was ideal we had many variables to content with including the availability of services, due to the holiday, and camping location.
Since we were off the designated route today we had very little information to guide us. Our first town Richey - 30 miles out - was figuratively a ghost town today. All the businesses were closed and a few people could be found. Fortunately we had fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and water to re-fuel and get us to the next town, Lambert, 21 miles further.
It is here we struck pay dirt arriving just as the town parade had ended and free food (a donation was suggested) was being served. It was like a RAGBRAI town. We had great conversation, great entertainment, great food, and even great pie!! We spent a lot of time in this town and enjoyed every minute.
Despite the long trek, we arrived in Sidney at about 4:00. We had hoped the find a place to stay in town to catch the evening fireworks. With the exception of a dump of an RV park that wanted to charge us $30 to camp nothing could be found. We even sought advice from the sheriff's department without success. In the end we ended up camping at Rosalin Park five miles out of town but somewhat on tomorrow's route. We had been warned that Rosalin had no running water and As it was next to the river it is mosquito infested.
What we had learned was true. Almost immediately when we got off the bikes we were swarmed by mosquitos. Andrea immediately proclaimed "This is the worst fourth of July ever". We were all wondering how we could possibly manage not only setting up our tents but cooking our meal in this infestation. As I was surveying the situation I noted two campers 150' away enjoying the late afternoon under the protection of a mosquito net.
In my usual voice, knowing my voice carries, and in response to Andrea's proclamation, I stated that maybe we would get lucky and the campers would invite us over. A few moments later we were invited over and, after quickly setting up the tents, accepted their offer.
Randy and Cheryl are the names of our saviors this evening. What had started out as near disaster turned into a wonderful experience - one of those kindness of stranger moments. Randy and Cheryl shared their vodka, wine, and dinner. We ate like kings! Fresh caught catfish, burgers, and salad. We could bring little to the table, except a cork screw for the wine bottle which they did not have. We even made a beer run into Fairview with me driving a 4-speed 1966 Ford PU (Randy was the passenger as he was to drunk to drive). What a trip! This will be one of those moments that I will remember for a long time.
Lastly we had our own independent fireworks display. The display put on by other nearby campers and the $5 display the Alex had assembled from a vendor in a Sidney grocery store parking lot. Yes, a day to remember.

Circle, MT July 3

Circle, MT -- Saturday, July 3
Today's ride was a roller coaster ride lasting 66 miles. We seldom varied in elevation by more than 200' and at the end of the day we were at the same elevation as we started. There was very little flat land riding, excepting the last 10 miles. As soon as we crested one hill we began our descent into the next valley to begin yet another climb. Our day was made easier by a slight tail wind for most of the journey as well as a cool overcast day.
Today's ride was made interesting not by the countryside but by Alex's intestinal issues. Let's simply say that many sage brush received unexpected fertilization. All of this was most likely caused by Alex drinking the water in Jordan despite warnings by the locals yesterday not to drink the water. Alex chooses to drink the water because Andrea boldly stated that, based upon her experience, people over react to bad tasting water. Outside of the bad taste the water is generally fine. I suspected we might be in for a problem when Alex filled his water bottles from the tap in the Jordan grocery store. Upon noting this, the store attendant strongly encouraged the he replace the water with water from the water purifying machine at the back of the store. Although we all took advantage of the offer, Alex had already indulged in the local water the evening before. Go figure, this is what happens when you have a young environmental engineer in your group. You should note that Dad did not listen to his young environmental engineer daughter.
In Circle we are camped in their little used city park with three other cross country bicyclists (the WV school teacher and the two french Canadians). This city park has a swimming pool on site but it has long been closed because of vandalism. The people in this town are friendly and accustomed to having bicyclists stay in town. The WV school teacher, Randy, arranged showers for us at the Sheriff's office. At least I wasn't being asked to spend the night. It was a nice experience.
For the next two days we will be deviating from the published Lewis and Clark route. Instead of traveling to Poplar we will be traveling to Sidney, MT. We believe the road will be better and the opportunity for services in the pass through towns much better. This route will also put us another day ahead of schedule and provide us a good opportunity to see a significant fireworks display.
Lastly for the first time in many days, the evening weather is calm and dry and the camping area has fewer than expected mosquitos. This all adds to a more enjoyable experience. This has been my 21st day of riding. What a neat experience it has been. I will be a little sad to see it end in a few more days.

Jordan, MT July 2

Jordan, MT -- Friday, July 2
Today's ride was all about the weather. When we left Winnett this morning it was a picture perfect day. It ended with strong winds, hail and rain and a severe thunderstorm warning until 11:30 PM. As I write this post at 8:30 PM I'm sheltered in my tent. Meanwhile outside, it is raining, thundering, and the winds are strongly blowing. It is a good thing that I improved the coaring on the tent fly yesterday, else wise, all of us would be sitting in a pool of water. Because of the strong winds at the city park campsite, we decided to dine at a nearby cafe. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the clouds let loose with pea sized hail and rain.
At least it did not let loose on our walk back!
When we began our ride this morning I thought I was living a dream and could do this bicycling touring for a long, long time. When we left this morning, Andrea was at the top of her game. She was in the riding groove and she made it almost impossible for Alex and I to match her pace for the first 43 miles. By the end of our 76 mile ride today, my fantasy of doing this for a long time had been shattered and Andrea's groove had long been lost been replaced by this grouchy, irritable, let this be over person.
Our culprit today was 33 miles of constant hills while battling a 25-30 mph cross wind in a blazing hot sun. It was ceaseless and never ending, in fact, it still continues. Towards the end of our ride we could see the storm that would dump on us this evening developing in the western sky. We had hoped the find a campsite with showers this evening to remove the layers of sweat, sun screen and dust from the ride; however, this was not a benefit available any place in town (motel excepted). For Alex and I our shower was relegated to lathering up at a nearby outdoor hydrant, while Andrea's was from our portable 'kitchen sink' behind a nearby bush. Yes, it was a trying day.
There were many good things about the day. The pancakes at Winnett were fantastic. We had one town - Sand Springs - (more like a store and post office in the middle of nowhere) to provide a mid ride refueling stop and near picture perfect morning weather. The store in Sand Springs was quirky but neat. As bicyclists, we were all asked to log in so that the attendant had a record of the bicyclists that passed through. There was a very limited selection of food on the shelves; however, the store did have a freezer of frozen pizzas which one could bake and eat on site. Since
the store was also a post office we used the time while the pizza was baking to write and send postcards. The store attendant was very accommodating to bicyclists. This break helped us get us through the day.
Lastly while eating dinner at a cafe we struck up a conversation with the Garfield County Sheriff. We shared some good stories and humor and learned more about our route tomorrow as well as the severe weather alert. Randy, the WV teacher, is still camping with us. He had a tough day too. Despite leaving 45 minutes before we did this morning he arrived at the site 90 minutes later.
The winds are supposed to cease tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be a good day. We are hoping so as it is a 68 mile ride to Circle with a constant stream of short hills and no services. It will be a challenging day.

Winnett, MT July 1

Winnett, MT -- Thursday, July 1
What a day. We had a relatively easy 54 miles. Although we had a slight head wind, it did not significantly impact our ride. The most challenging part of the day was the first nine miles as we climbed out of Lewistown.
Once that was over it was close to downhill or flat the rest of the way.
The biggest challenge was pedaling the 54 miles with out any services. As we have throughout our journey, we purchased a variety of fruit, vegetables, and packaged meat to snack throughout the ride and stop for a roadside (aka ditch) lunch. The scenery also added some good flavor today as well.
Our biggest highlights today did not come from riding but from our overnight town of Winnett. It was here that we were threatened with severe weather and rain, camped in city park where the sprinkler system malfunctioned in the early evening and began bathing our tents in water, and discovered that Winnett is the second cross road for transcontinental cyclists (Missoula being the other, at least on this day. As with the past few days we've managed to dodge the most severe weather and heavy rain.
More rain is expected tonight. Fortunately, in Lewistown, I purchased a can of silicon and re-sealed the fly on both our tents. As a result our tents have stayed dry through the rain brought by nature and lawn sprinkling systems.
Today Winnett has been a meeting place for cross country bicyclists. In mid afternoon, at the only cafe in town we met two young English lads pedaling to Vancouver. Their route is undefined and changes day-by-day.
Whereas ours is slightly more structured, theirs is free spirit. They have been on the road 40 days and have only paid for overnight tenting/accommodations twice. I marvel at this free spirit. I wish I had more of that in me. On the other hand, some of that free spirit comes with questionable judgment. They planned to overnight in a town 23 miles away and left for that town just as the severe weather was fast approaching. I suspect they were caught in the storm. Shortly thereafter, two Canadian riders pulled into town after pedaling from Denton (93 miles). They were a little beat. This is something that we contemplated but Andrea and Alex vetoed. If it had not been for the arrangements that we made with the city (we are camped next to the pool) to leave the pool unlocked for the night they would have been without showers or restroom facilities. They have been following the same route that we have. Whereas we have dodged the severe storms, they have been hit twice. Hopefully having them camp with us doesn't cause our luck to change.
Winnett is a town of 184 people. It is the county seat of the largest county in MT. Its claims it has the lowest per capita population of any county in the contiguous 48 states. Its total population is less than 1000. Given all of that its sole cafe was recognized in 2006 by Gourmet Magazine for its big, thick, fluffy pancakes and was recognized by The Missoulan as having some of the best pies in the state. We've already sampled the pie, tomorrow we plan to sample the pancakes.
Lastly, throughout our ride all of us have noted numerous crosses placed along the road ways. Some of these have been highly decorated, others bare. The crosses represent highway accidents and deaths. At one location yesterday we counted 10 crosses and at another 4. We've heard that MT at one time had no posted speed limit on any of its roads. Currently, the speed limit is 70. Still far to fast. Presently that has not been a problem for us. We hope that continues for a few more days until we reach ND and a western sporting goods store.
The scenery today was varied and good.

No posts July 1 & 2

Out of cell phone range for a couple days. Headed northeast to Williston, ND on highway 200 in Montana.