Day 19 – Interstate 94

Date: Saturday, 30 July 2016

Time on Bike: 6:03:22

Total Travel Time: 8:50:17

Miles Covered Today: 75:34

Total Trip Miles: 1,206.9

Average Speed: 12.4, Maximum Speed: 26.5

From: Somewhere on HW 139, west of Mandan, ND

To: Richardton, ND

(Uploaded from Dickinson, ND on 3 Aug 2016)

I hope I am not going to jinx it, but boy have I been lucky with weather! Every time it has rained, it has either rained during the night or during early morning hours. It might have delayed my departure a bit in the mornings, but I haven’t lost a day due to bad weather or had to don my rain suit!

Had to wait out the rain a bit this morning. But by the time we loaded up everything, hit McDonald's, and got to my starting point west of Bismarck/Mandan, the sun was out!

I noticed last night that I would be riding on Interstate 94 for about 13 miles today as part of my Northern Tier route. We had already seen several cross country cyclists loaded with gear using the nice, wide shoulders on Interstate 94. And I remember in 1984 I had to get on Interstate 5 in Washington state as there were no other parallel backroads that went in the right direction. I could see by my map that it was the same thing here between New Salem & Glen Ullin, ND.

So I figured maybe I could make better time and put in more miles riding Interstate 94 today. Rather than go back to the ranch that I had left off on HW 139 yesterday, I would backtrack a little and take HW 25 to Interstate 94 and head west. Sounded like a plan.

As I was unloading my bike on HW 139, a Highway patrolman stopped by to see if everything was OK. Very nice of him to check in. I explained I was getting ready for my day’s ride and asked about riding on Interstate 94. He informed me that it was legal in North Dakota to ride bicycles on the Interstate. We talked for a bit. Told him how much I was enjoying the scenery. He told us just wait until the Badlands, it gets even better! He left and took a left onto HW 139.

So I headed over to Interstate 94.

Was initially a little weird cycling on an Interstate… by choice. It was a Saturday, so traffic was low. It was a beautiful shoulder, but I needed to watch out for that rumble strip. When drifted over to it, it got my attention real fast!

Wind was picking up, but was off to my side.

The scenery was similar to what I had been seeing on the backroads. One difference was the hills. On Interstate 94, they were long, long drags. Followed by a sweeping descent. On the sideroads, they were short and steep, maybe ½ to ¾ of a mile. But then I got the downhill. It was a change of pace for sure.

And the suck that I remember from 1984 when trucks wiz past you at 75 miles an hour was shorter and less of a suck/pull than I remembered. Darn, you still had to pedal to go forward!

But there was really no place nice to take breaks. I luckily had a vista for Sweetbriar Lake.

Hung out there for a bit. A few cars pulled over. People got out. No one ever asked what I was doing on my bike on the Interstate. No questions about where you going to. Or where you coming from… Back on the bike.

The exit for New Salem came up and that is where I was meeting Bunny & Woz. I was happy to get off Interstate 94!

It was a sleepy little town

apparently with a lot of history as they had their own Historical Society!!

It was off the rail line, that was very busy even for a weekend. The grain silos were right next to the rail line and farmers were busy offloading their corn.

As always, Bunny had found a great little park near the rail line.

Woz had initially been a little startled by the train noises, but eventually settling in nicely.

Yup, Woz was here!

I decided that I would not return to the Interstate for now. Had another section coming up later today anyway, so returned to backroads. More sunflower production around here.

The road had these weird rust like marks on it. Looked that way for many miles…

Soon I was back on Interstate 94. My water was running low, so I took advantage of a rest area on the Interstate. Thought this sign was spot on for my cycling trip as well!

A nice view of the area, with more wind turbines in the distance.

I offered to take a picture of a large extended family. Again, no one had any questions for me. Strange?

It was Saturday, and I usually talk with my very good friends Arie & his wife Rachaeli in Israel via WhatsApp. Today we used Skype so I could show them where I was. I pulled over to an exit on the Interstate so I could show them a grand vista of the North Dakota I was seeing. Arie & I had even once talked about doing this bike trip together. But sometimes life gets in the way!

The rumble strips changed to a wide strip every 100 feet or so on the road. So it forced me to either ride on the white line of the Interstate or far off to the right side where I had maybe 6 inches to a foot of clearance before running off the road. I was not pleased with this new design!

I was happy to leave the Interstate. But I would be back several times on my route of the next few days!

Next rest stop was Glen Ullin, ND. No bathroom!?!?!? Very disappointed in ya Glen Ullin! But at least shade and a picnic table to have a picnic!

This is what I am looking at every minute or so ~8 hours a day.

My mirror!! To see what is coming. I don’t like to be surprised by vehicles passing. Lets me also gauge how much room they are giving me on the road when they do pass!

I have been paralleling this train track for days it seems. But I know that will mean a fairly flat road. The trains go on forever it seems. I counted over 130 cars... lost track. Hard to bike, watch the road, and count tanker cars!!

Last rest stop of the day - Hebron, ND. We have a suspension bridge to cross to get to the park from where we enter the town.

Big events in the day of a long distance cyclist are entering a new state, or crossing a mountain pass, or entering a new time zone. This is a picture of me (apparently) crossing over into the Mountain Time zone, but… no sign on this backroad. I know it is a new county as the road surfaces change at county lines. So this must be the county line!! Set my clock... back one hour?? Let's see... spring forward, fall back. Oh, that is something else!

And the road had recently been resurfaced. But crap for me to ride on. They put down tar and then crushed rock on it. Before it has set up, the rocks stick to your tires. I can hear them get stuck in between my tires and my fenders… makes this bad grinding scratching noise. And the road seems heavy as your tires “stick” to the pavement.

It is like a Hollywood movie!!! I find myself in the middle of a locust swarm. But they are mostly on the road. Thousands of them. I hear them crunch as I run over them with my narrow 1.25 inch tires!

To paraphrase David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young fame), the last mile is always the longest mile. And so it is at the end of my cycling day. Those last miles usually seem to take forever to wrap up!

I am learning that when you see a water tower, you are entering a town. So I am always on the lookout for water towers now!! This is the water tower letting me know I am almost done for the day.

Here is Richardton, ND!!

Load up the bike. We have all our junk today as it is moving day. We are headed to Dickinson, ND. Have a reservation at a Motel6 that looks very promising from the pictures they have on their web site. We’ll see…

A little art off of Interstate 94.

Well, the Motel6 is by far the nicest we have seen on our trip! As I registered I learned why. It was a Quality Inn until a few months ago. Great rate. Great sized room. And a hot tub that I plan on using… if it is operational. I arrive at the indoor pool at 9:58 PM after settling into our room, rustling up dinner (WalMart chicken, salad, and red skin potato salad – yummy good!!!). The pool closes at 10 PM. Oh no! No jacuzzi tonight! My aching knees walk me out in despair!!

More pics.

And for those of you who actually hung in there to see my additional picture, the David Crosby song I was paraphrasing was "Long Time Gone". The part that say "The darkest hour is just before the dawn". Get it?? :)