July17, 2010: Minot to Rugby, ND. 68 miles.

I was awake at 5 AM when the thunderstorm rolled through Minot. The roads were already dry when we left around 7:30, and we enjoyed blue sky with a few clouds all day. We were stopped by a train on the way out of town--just one for us but some riders had more than one train delay. It was an interesting trip out of Minot--13 turns in the first 11 miles. Then we got on US 2 and stayed there; we are still on it actually--this motel in Rugby fronts on the highway.

CJ and I rode together all day, and there was not much to photograph. The terrain has flattened out considerably, and I hear this is how it will be all the way to Fargo. We had shifting winds today: sometimes a tailwind, sometimes a headwind and everything in between. Several people did not ride at all today, some due to the stomach/intestinal virus that is making the rounds of both groups and some due to the accident yesterday.

By the time we reached the construction zone at about 50 miles into the ride we caught up with Dianne. We were OK riding on the highway but the construction zone was unnerving. The westbound US 2 traffic was routed onto the eastbound side (where we were), so there was 2 way traffic on our side of the road. There was a 2-foot shoulder but it had a rumble strip right in the middle. We rode anyway, but every time there was a big truck approaching from behind me I got all the way off the road.

Then a couple of miles into the construction zone we moved over to the westbound (closed) side of the highway. In the 4 or 5 miles we rode over there we saw only 2 people working (it is Saturday after all) and they smiled and waved. Near the end of the construction zone the pavement disappeared completely so we had to go back across the 2 way traffic and back on the shoulder.

At one point we saw a young man on a fully loaded bike and I said to CJ that he looked familiar. She agreed, but how silly is that? We don't know any of the same people.... It was Matt, the young man we met a couple of weeks ago, riding cross country with Margaret from California to New Hampshire. This time I took their photo and we stopped and talked a while on the side of the road. The van came by with a lot of bikes on top, since many riders sagged through the construction zone.

We stopped at the geographical center of North America and took a few photos, had some lunch and are now encased in air conditioned comfort in the motel room. I am glad every day that I signed up for a supported tour.