Pictures: Road construction near Montana/North Dakota Border
We make it out of Montana ALIVE
Me and Oregon Bill
Rick pumps up Bill’s tire
The evening before we had heard all kinds of stories about how tough it would be for us to make it to the state line because of all the road construction. We found out it was no big deal. For us it was actually a delight having all the traffic orderly follow the pilot truck while we peddled along at our on pace. The only challenge was a couple miles of dirt road and that was difficult only because of the rain the prior day. On the Montana side of the state line is a casino that Kevin and I stopped at for soft drinks and to wait on the others. Just after Susan arrived 3 cyclists heading westward pulled up to visit. Two nineteen year old boys from Boston were traveling with a 20’s something girl from Washington. They had crossed paths the week before and had been traveling together since then. We had a good visit discussing the roads ahead then parted ways. Our group made photos under the Welcome North Dakota sign. We never had the opportunity to make a similar shot for Montana because we were so far off the beaten path when we crossed its state line over 600 miles ago near Heron.
North Dakota greeted us with wide smooth shoulders lovely farmland and light traffic. Bill had a slow leak in his front tire so I stayed back with him and we aired it up every half hour or so. When we got to Williston the map recommends taking a frontage road to get away from traffic. Bill and I started coasting down a long downhill. I’m glad I was taking it easy and not pedaling cause near the bottom of the hill when I was doing about 25mph a motorist didn’t see me and pulled out. I skidded to a stop less than 10 feet from his truck my rear wheel fishtailing wide right. He was all apologies, says he never saw me. After lunch and checking into the Super 8 with the others, I headed down to the local Bike/Auto/Skate shop to true my wheels and rotate my tires.
During the evening, plans were discussed and developed to split the group. Three would be continuing along the northern tier route; Susan, Rick, and Bill. The others (Kevin, Sylvia, Diane and I) joined by Sylvia will be following the Lewis and Clark route down to Council Bluffs and the start of RAGBRAI. When RAGBRAI is over we will regroup Muscatine, Iowa and continue as a group of seven on our original route.
Why the split? I think some felt they would feel out of place at RAGBRAI. Also, the northern tier route offers an easier pace with extra rest days too. I think it is for the best. A couple of weeks apart will do us some good. After RAGBRAI we will be a big happy family again.
I had ridden solo to Pierre, and then was joined by four other riders to make our way to link up with Ragbrai. There was certainly no feeling of being "out of place". On the contrary, many of the ragbrai revelers were envious of the journey we had and were undertaking. I'll be on ragbrai again this year (for the 25th time) and hope to connect with some of you to reminisce. FJ
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