Day 38 Dyersville to Muscatine Ia

86/2379/1484 Corn, corn and more corn, with a few church steeples . Road is poor and some traffic, have to watch the traffic for trucks, but that is the norm. Pleasant ride into Lowden where we have Main street and again Broadway intersecting Main. Broadway is by far the second most common name of downtown streets second to Main Street. We stop at the Corner Cafe where they are very friendly. Have the chicken , cottage cheese and peach special platter for $ 4.00! Elise the owner takes our picture for their wall of tourists . Interesting old building, where the air conditioner drain comes into the men's bathroom and drips into the sink......We take a picture of the outside cafe and old opera house from the 1800's. Rest of the ride is easy through rolling hills and more corn fields. Come upon a crop circle picture along the road, looks like a golf club! Then a short way up I come upon Ansel's nine hole, where Ansel has built nine holes in his corn fields around a few acres that surround his farmhouse, should have gone back for a picture. Roll into Muscatine around 2p with nothing else remarkable. Motel with more commercials and old tv......or maybe a good book again.

Day 37 Harpers Ferry to Dyersville

57/2293/1570 Another great weather day, cool start under blue skies. Follow the great rivers route for the first 15 miles then thru historic town of Westgate on the river. Lots of old hotels and taverns . Leaving town I get chased down by a big male bull mastiff. He is an experience chaser as he runs 3o degrees ahead of me and catches me easily that way. He is all bark, growl and slobber but he doesn't try to bite me, I shout NO many times and he ends up standing in the road as I try to sprint away uphill.....I glance over my shoulder and see his doghouse, looks like a pile of bike parts and maybe a human femur with black lycra still on the bone. Lucky to get away with no injuries. Hilly short day into Dyersville, and I plan to visit the bike shop, but it closed a while ago, oh well.....We do a Country restraunt lunch and then a sub for dinner and get a redbox dvd movie to watch on the Laptop for a treat. We are so sick of commercials and air wave TV, even cable at motels is very limited to old movies with lots of commercials. We are spoiled by our TIVO recorder and without it we are reading a lot more rather than watch the poor programming on regular tv.

Day 36 Washaba to Harpers Ferry

110/2336/1627 Beau sleeps to 6a! Good nights sleep then leave around 7. Stop at the local Mart and get a bagel and coffee. When I come out there are four touring cyclists there, one (John) going from NYC to Vancouver, the other three doing a two week tour before starting jobs post college. I ask John how much his bike and gear weigh, he says 12 stone,,,,,a Brit. Beautiful cool morning in the 60's and powder blue sky. Have new paved road and cross/tailwind for next 60 miles. Stop in Homer for a break and chat with some want to be retirees and give them by five minute how to speak. They were very grateful, so maybe I should finish by e-book on how to do it......I ride along again until the detour which takes me around I90, where a cyclist in his pickup tells me there is a bike path along I90 so that I don't have to go 10 miles out of my way! Great quaint bikepath along the Mississippi and stands of old oak trees. Come into La Crescent and have a sandwich at the local gas/mart with Suz as we can't find the Subway. Head back along the Scenic River road and have a great ride with some tailwind and some hills now. Suz gets to Lansing and finds no rooms available and no campgrounds so we decide to roll on to Harpers Ferry, another 10 miles along. We get a motel room at the only motel, quiet and comfy but no Wifi, so we play cards and watch one of three channels . Dinner at Buck and Bulls Bar and Grille then back for more cards and route planning. We are considering cutting across Illinois to save time but need to do some planning and maybe experiment off our cycle maps to see how that works. We may find ourselves on bad roads with no places to stay......we'll see.

Day 35 Stillwater to Washaba

92/2226/17 Poor sleep last night in Stillwater as the Dog Dog guys were up drinking and making noise till 1:30a, I overheard a shout match with another guest and the drunks, so I didn't get involved and that did not quiet them down. Leave just after 7a and stop at McD's down the street for burrito and coffee, then get lost. Go all the way back into town looking for route 26 and can't find. There is a footrace and lots of buses, traffic and runners milling about and I ask three for directions and get three differing answers, so I try my luck and after 18 wandering miles find my route 26, aka the Stagecoach trail. Interesting road that follows a hilly corridor through the trees, lots of cyclists out today as it is Saturday morning. Lots of hills today, my total climb in feet is over 3500, more than twice any day in the last week. Stop for a couple of breaks in quaint towns along lakes and the Mississippi. The route weaves back and forth between Wisconsin and Minnesota over the Mississippi. Sailboats on the water around lake Pepin and Lake City, a regatta or racing the local club today. Overcast and chilly but the wind is at my back most of the way. Nice finish along the Mississippi into Washaba Mn for the night. We find a local eat stop on the Mississippi along docks called Slippery's and chat with Tiffany who is single and travelling with her puppy bull dog Maddison. There is riverboat days festival here this weekend complete with a local parade. Looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight, may give beau some wine or beer to see if he will sleep past 5a!

Day 34 Cambridge to Stillwater NC

65/2134/1829 Rain! Beau is up at 4:52 am and it is raining lightly. He then wakes at 6:15a for breakfast . I have to go to the van to get his food, so I get wet and decide to stay up and see if the rain stops soon. Check the wunderkind radar and see that the front with lightning storms will pass within the hours so I settle for the newspaper and the continental breakfast from the hotel and take my time to get ready. Overcast but lightning and rain stop by 8a so I am off. I decide to deviate from the map and try MN 95 all the way to Stillwater and It is a good decision. First 20 is newly paved and a great ride. Route goes through some quaint towns and follows the Mississippi river most of the way, Wisconsin is on the other side of the river all the way. I left the camera off bike today due to rain so a few things I cannot shoot. See a sign at a coffee shop in North Branch that says " Spend Stimulus Money Here" , money for caffeine stimulus? Also pass a neat little museum of metal sculptures along the way, a few acres of metal sculptures. Will not forget the camera in the future, will take the ziploc for rain. Ride into Stillwater after a few steep hill surprises and find that this weekend is LumberJack Days Festival, so hope the motels are not full. Call Suz and she has procured a super 8 room for a premium price, but that is all there is here. The weather has cleared and my luck has held, no rain today on the ride and it is clearing by the hour. Hope the wind from the front dies down as it is coming from the south and that is my direction tomorrow. Will spend the afternoon planning the next 400 miles to Muscatine Iowa before dinner. Will try to do 100 miles per day next four days to see how I feel, so far I am not tired.

Day 3 Royalton to Cambridge Mn

86/2069/1984 Half Way! Today we broke the halfway barrier in Cambridge Mn. Poor sleep last night in the Twin Lakes Campground. Combination of bright security light, train noise, rain storms and 10,000 flies kept us up most of the night. Beau is up at 6a, so so are we. Have picnic table coffee then off for the day. Overcast and cool start. I see rain off in the distance so resign myself to get wet soon, but it doesn't happen. It's five miles back to Royalton to the bike route on rte 10 or I can make my way across the sideboards , so that is what I try, hoping not to get lost. I make it fine to route 26 and save a couple of miles in the process. Quiet start and there is a biplane barnstorming over the fields to the north, interesting to watch in the early morning sun. Along the way on old spotted coon dog ambushes me , I never saw him and he nearly gets a nip on my ankle before he poops out. Another mile up the road I smell bacon cooking at a farmhouse and my stomach rumbles in response. Breakfast today was a protein bar in camp and an apple on break later. The country roads are rough and cracked and my shoulders and neck are getting sore from the pounding continually. I would not be surprised if i have lost a few filling in my teeth from all the rattling the past few days. Bad roads are getting to be the worst part of the day, replacing the high hills in the Rockies. Bad roads slow you down and you have to pick your way among the cracks and pot holes while watching the traffic in your mirror. More dogs along the way, some just look but a collie mutt would have caught me if she didn't have an acre front yard to cover. Bad Lassie!! Suz finds a nice motel in Cambridge with Wifi and we send out our half way email with picture . We visit the local Applebee's and have a steak dinner to celebrate. Rain in the forecast so my weather luck may be running out.

Day 32 Battle Lake to Royalton

93/1983/2070 Another beautiful day on the road. Clear skies and a light wind on the way out of town. Continue to follow the Otter tail scenic byway trough rolling hills, lakes and farms. Pass one farm and get drenched in the smell of strawberries, no question what this crop is.....

I rest at mile 31 gas and grocery stop and chat with the local telephone repair guy. He welcomes me to Minnesota and I am glad I don't' have to pay by the minute ......very chatty. Meet Suz at Long Prairie and we do a BK Whopper lunch, no mayo, then on to Little falls. Not too far and we get a detour due to construction. Takes us way out of the way and I get chased by a farm dog for the first time in days. The dog catches me by surprise in the "worst case scenario" .......going uphill, but I have enough momentum to outrun him before the hill slows me down too much. All the motels in Little Falls are booked, so we head south to a RV park and van camp for the night. Nice place but lots of flies and it is hot in the sun. We have Internet but not a good connection so we do just emails and I finally beat Suz at Rummy. Leftover sandwiches for dinner and an early night at dark. Storms keep us up and we are still killing the flies that invaded the van in the morning. Tomorrow will be the halfway mileage day going into Cambridge and hope the storms let up by morning. Nice campground, they have tubing on the lakes, gooney golf, horseshoes, pool, soccer and baseball feilds.

Day 31 Fargo to Battle Lake

97/1890/2163 Picture of the Fargo police station, reminiscent of the Fargo Movie. Take the picture on my way out of town on another beautiful morning then into a detour on University Drive that takes me 4 miles out of my way through residential areas. County roads 12 and 10 are pretty rough and 10 has lots of noisy trucks. After a point I turn onto the Otter Tail scenic byway and the trucks go away and the scenery improves to small farms and lakes between rolling hills. Stop at the roadhouse grill at Lake Cormorant and have a great chicken sandwich with some locals and Harley Bikers rolling through. Hills not that steep but constant challenge and here we have trees and forest stands between fields of both wheat and corn. Farmers or their wives have planted wildflowers along the edge of their crop fields along the way and the farmhouses all are well kept with flower gardens and lots of plastic deer and bunnies in the neat lawns. Most have planted large Oak trees to shade their home plots and gardens. A young doe walks up the middle of the road around the bend just outside of Cormorant and I barely scare her off the road. In Pelican Rapids along Pelican Lake, there is a small sailboat club with a smattering of small sailboats, signs for Saturday Morning races weekly. Nice easy ride into Battle Lake and a quaint little motel with chairs on lawn outside each unit. We sit out front with Beau and enjoy the afternoon until a shower scares us in. Recommended food is Stella's downtown, not connected with the Stella's from Fargo, but another great restaurant with good service and food on a beautiful outside veranda. Another coincidence. We have a nice sleep and rest tonight.

Day 30 Cooperstown to Fargo

96/1793/2260 Early start with a coffee stop at the Cooperstown gas station/market. The good ole boys forecast no rain today but the newspaper says 40% chance, hope the good ole boys are right. Headwind again but not as strong as yesterday. Weave through wheat fields and see the first long fields of corn and soybean. So lots of turns through the back roads, so I see wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat, farmhouse, wheat, wheat, corn, wheat, soybeans , wheat then a sign for Missile silo : November 33 ! Right off the road, picture above, not expecting to see a missile silo, marked right off the road in the middle of a wheat field. Well, after all that wheat, anything would surprise me! Almost expecting to see peanut butter and jelly fields to go with all that bread. Ride to Arthur, ND for a great lunch at Kelly's cafe, Suz meets me there , she passes me 1.5 miles before there. Whilst we eat, the skies open and it rains hard with some lightning. I start out again with jacket on, but it stops almost immediately and off with the jacket. Lots of turns with more rain threatening. There is some construction on County 4 and I end up taking the road in the wrong direction, the east/west are not marked. So I go 11 miles out of my way. Skirt the thunderstorms and don't get wet. Suz comes and picks me up at the end into Fargo just as the skies open up. After Fargo we head South to Stillwater in Minnesota, a four day trek but looks like more places to stop in the 80-90 mile per day range. At 80 miles per day, we have 28 more days to go.

Day 29 Lakota to Cooperstown

54/1697/2356 Cool morning start with a headwind. Wind gets stronger as the morning ages, and it is 46 miles until I turn away from the headwind. Lots of wheat again and small lakes interspersed in the wheat fields. It is Sunday morning, so not a lot of traffic, but lots of pick up trucks with boats in tow. The lakes are sometimes invisible in the rolling fields , first discernible by the darker cat tails that surround the low lying areas around the lakes. Saw an interesting site, a farmer had created a bridge across a shallow lake using old cars, trucks and farm equipment. Looked pretty nasty, lots of rust and old metal. Finally turned onto route 200 into Cooperstown with a tailwind for the last 8 miles. Quaint town and quiet on Sunday afternoon. The cafe at the motel just closed at 1:30 p so we have a choice of pizza place or getting some groceries. Looked at the pizza place and it seems to be the popular place on Sunday afternoon, lots of families doing pizza and wings after church. We decide to try the market and get a roasted chicken and veggies for the micro- microwave in the motel room. We have a easy night of cards and old movies, Urban Cowboy ( surprise) and then a Robert Ludlum thriller, Bourne Supremacy. Since we don't watch commercials at home due to TIVO, we are finding all kinds of neat stuff that we need to buy that we did not know we needed before.. Chop-0-matic, window cleaners and if we see the Lipitor heart attack guy again, he may not live much longer. There are pills getting commercials for conditions that I did not know existed, I think some conditions were developed by the drug companies because 10% of everyone watching this prime time commercial is going to think they have this condition. Tomorrow on to Fargo, last stop before Minesotta.

Day 28 Rugby to Lakota ND

84/1644/2723 Original plan was to ride to Devils Lake but all the motels and campgrounds are full due to a Cabala's fishing tournament. So we see another town up the road and sleuth Suzanne gets a motel room with Wifi , only one of two left. Stop in Devils Lake and have a sub, no sights different today, lots of farmland with wheat and hay. Have a nice easy ride, tailwind but just 8 mph today at the back, few hills and good shoulder on the roads. I average today 16.74 mph vs 12 mph in the mountains. Gold Wing Bob from last nights campground passes me around mile 73 , he must have slept in and had a big breakfast! Interesting motel here in Lakota, ND. Sign on the door says $ 300 fine for cleaning game birds in your room and towels are available in the lobby to clean your gun or dog, don't use the bathroom towels or you'll be charged extra! We aim to make your stay enjoyable! There is a restaurant and bar here so we will try it for dinner, maybe they will have game birds? Nice to talk with the sibs and Mom for her Birthday lunch. Takes a long time to update the blog when we get so many days behind........now to the maps to recalculate distances 2 go....tomorrow I'll do a long ride between here and Fargo. There are no good places to stay, so I'll ride till I'm tired then Suzanne will come pick me up and take us to Fargo. Then I'll start at the stop point and cycle through Fargo and stay in Minnesota somewhere on Fargo's East side. If we get comfortable with this method, we can up the mileage with Suzanne shuttling between start and stop places, increasing the daily mileage as we will not be constrained by motel/camp availability. We'll see how it goes. I expect to find more frequent stop points as we get into Minnesota and less desolate areas. Perfect would be motels every 20 miles or so as you find them along the interstates.

Day 27 Minot to Rugby ND

65/1557/2807 Will update the mileage logs with the maps sometime around Fargo when we are in a motel with good Internet so I can check some distances online. Think that the 2go figure is too large, have to splice some distances from different maps and check them online. Little BIG project that you don't always feel like doing after a long ride...Last nights was a good nights sleep and had a good continental breakfast at the Days Inn. They had the waffle irons so had a good waffle and the newspaper. Spoke with Tom Z and he and John are doing good, they are about 500 miles behind us now if my Math is correct. Robert King made it home to Arizona ok on the bus, his bronchitis getting the better of him. He'll have to finish on his Harley next year. I ride out on Rte 2 and after 10 miles come upon two touring ladies. They are from Seattle and are on their way to Portland. One is older so this may be a mother daughter team, but I don't ask.....we're both headed to Rugby for the night. They claim to have done one 100 mile day with a tailwind, once in a lifetime ride! We get to Rugby around noon and have lunch at the Geographical center of North America cafe. Great lunch for the money and the locals are very colorful and politically vocal. Conservative country with an opinion about everything. NO MOTELS due to construction workers, so we get into an RV park with CONSTRUCTION workers in their rv's and lots of Motor Bikers. Have a long chat with Bob from Colorado who is here on his Gold Wing and pop up trailer. He grew up here many a year ago and says that the town is divided between Catholics and Protestants, a regular Ireland with the Catholics in the bullying majority. They even control the majority of the town cemetery! We get some internet wifi but the digital tv gets no signal so I can't update blogs. Since it is Friday, the construction workers leave for the local bar and come home loudly throughout the night, so we get poor sleep tonight. Supposed to be cool again tonight.

Day 26 New Town to Minot, ND

69/1492/2872

Late start from the RV park. Sign posted on the bathroom says closed 7-730 a for cleaning, so we are slowed in our morning routine. Of course, no one cleaned the bathrooms at 7a.....finally ready and the camp host chats for a long time about the ride and wishes us well. 2 miles back to the route and it is cold this morning, low 40's and I have jacket and gloves on......for first two hours, windy so wind chill might be into the high 30's. Some small hills all the way to SR 83 over farmland and lots more wheat and hay. Turn toward Minot for last 16 miles into gigantic headwind that knocks speed down to 11 mph tops and less working up the hills. Make my way to Days Inn where the room is not ready, and Suz tells me the wind picked up the driver door and bent it and buckled the front fender. So....we look in the yellow pages and find an auto body shop close by. Drive over and the owner ( Hutchinson Auto Body) is a Harley Biker and tells us it will be a cash only deal, so I cringe and wait for the hit. Then he says it will be anywhere from 30 to 60 dollars to get the door functional again, so I say go for it. We walk Beau and come back and he is almost done with the pry bar and pneumatic wrenches, he shows me the stress fracture and we chat about the ride and he only charges us $20 for 30 minutes work and we are on our way. Get back to the motel and our room is ready! Tonight we dine at the local wings place, but I am disappointed as I thought I could get a good salad, but they only have the standard fried food. Back to the motel and get and update on Tour de France, Lance is in #3 spot. TV and rest tonight.

Day 25 Williston to New Town

73/1423/2941 Late start after loading van for Suz. Rough road with no shoulder and lots of trucks. I watch my rear view mirror as much as looking forward, just in case. Some deer and lots of wheat fields and hay . I pass a heard of horses all laying down, maybe the wind chill? Windy today with 25mph steady and gusts to 40. Suz has a near miss with a deer crossing the road, she saw it bounding through the grass at the last moment before it crossed the road. No motel rooms available in New Town so we find a rv spot outside of town on lake Sacajawea. Nice little general store and a restaurant up on the main route for dinner. Scenic 23 is the local bar and restaurant and has decent food. I have the local Walleye fish dinner and it is good. Suz is not hungry and has soup. Interesting locals and lots of construction workers and truckers stop here. We return for a master rummy game and suz beats me on the very last hand.....Supposed to get cold tonight, into the 40's again. Tomorrow a short ride to Minot, big city.........

Day 24 Culberston to Williston

45/1350/3014 Nasty thunderstorms from 3a on and heavy wind keep us from getting a good nights sleep. Wind was strong enough to rock the van and t storms were right over us, very noisy. Breakfast at the western cafe was good and even the special was a lot of food. 15 mph tailwind makes for an easy ride with a few hills. No animals to be seen but again a lot of wheat fields swaying like waves in the wind. At Bainesville we hit road construction and Suz comes back for me as there is a two mile section that is not paved and they are blasting. We get through with no problem and I continue to ride into Williston. No motels have rooms but we find one at the international motel but have to wait, so we do laundry and check out the route out of town in the morning. Visit to Walmart for groceries and a bathroom scale, want to see what we weigh after 3 months on the road. It is raining on an off, but did not get wet on the bike. Finally get into our room and decide to just order pizza which we make quick business of. Good nights sleep tonight as there are no windows in this motel, so Beau cannot see the early morning light.

Day 23 Circle to Culbertson

81/1305/3059 , 7:30a start after an early morning with Beau. Easy first 20 miles with nothing but wheat in sight, no animals, only raptors soaring over the fields in search of prairie dogs and mice. A few hills but mostly flat with a tailwind until I turn on rte 2 into a monster headwind. 12mph top speed for 30 miles and some hills again. No motels in Poplar and looks a bit run down. Ride on another 30 to Culbertson and again no motels due to construction workers overpopulating the area. We find a rv park with electric, the owners are nice and let us stay for a reduced price of $ 15 in that we don't need full hookup and electric only for coffee in the morning. It's 56 to Williston from here and 139 to Minot and from there 5 days to Fargo to finish North Dakota. We dine at the local casino/bar and grill. Nice salads and we watch the news on TV. Local regulars come through with their 20 gallon hats that stay on in the bar. They have their whiskey, a smoke then move on. Pretty dead for a Monday night, but we are early birds at 5:30p. Play backgammon till dark then early to sleep.

Day 22 Jordon to Circle

67/1224/3140 Long lonely ride today, got a later start as the van alarm went off at 2:21 am and we had a hard time getting back to sleep , then hard time getting up and going. Very hilly roller coaster ride today, short steep up, then short fast down for 55 miles....flattened out in the last 12 miles into Circle. Nice little motel room in Circle decorated from the 60's rumpus room, dark panelling and shag carpet. Lots of deer and prong horn today, cattle as always and a huge flock of sheep in one spot, hundreds all in about a square mile. Lots of locusts again, in the face, helmet and sticking to legs. No places to stop except a rest area with a picnic table under a shade tree, a welcome stop spot out of the sun. Only averaged 13 miles per hour today as it was slow going on the roller coaster hills. Tomorrow some more of the same but then it looks like it flattens out going into poplar about 75 miles up the road. Looking for a good diner tonight at the only restaurant here, next door.

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 21 Lewiston to Jordan

78/1157/3207 Slept in till 7a, somehow Beau did not wake up today! We do coffee from the Lobby and I browse the newspaper for a few, then get the van loaded. Suz will wait for a post office to open then catch me in the next town about 55 miles along. Nice weather again and there are some 60 year old kids outside at the motel playing with their raked hogs with no mufflers as I leave on my quiet bicycle. Ride for half a mile and pass a sign saying this is he geographical center of North America. Ride some low hills for the first twenty and rolling hills after until I hit Winette and stop at the general store . Chat with some bikers outside for awhile and Suz pulls in about 10 minutes and we talk to some local farmers inside about our trip and other things to save the world. They are very friendly and helpful. When I take off an old guy standing on the back of a tractor gets my attention as he looks like the grim reaper in blue jeans driving a tractor with a front loader of hay. I ride on to the Taj Mahal of rest stops, another 35 miles where Suz meets me for a break. The locals say it cost 3 million, has more stalls than will ever be used, air conditioned and very large. Lots of locust out today. Have to ride with your mouth closed and they stick in the helmet and on your legs. In spots the road is covered with them. Also some type of biting fly on and off in area where I am climbing hills and not going too fast. On to Jordan for the night. Little shabby motel in a little shabby town. We stay in and have sandwiches and watch TV. The Van alarm goes off at 2:20a, but we don't see anyone and reset it, but then have a rough time getting back to sleep.

Jim, Suzanne and Beau

day 20 Geraldine to Lewistown, Montana

73/1079/3285 Early start from the city park here in Geraldine, we did not sleep well here all by ourselves in the parking lot. I seemed to wake at every car that passed. Nice cool morning in the 50's but sunny. There is a little town 8 miles up the road called Square Butte that is supposed to have a cafe', but when we get there is is closed. The farmers here say the recession has not hurt them that bad, but the price of gas hurts. Lots of the cafe's along the way are closed as well as small mini marts, gas stations and motels. I ride on to Denton, a small town with a Cafe in the middle of nowhere. Food is good and the owner cook has a dry sense of humor, but quick with the coffee refils and food. See some Elk by the side of the road with their new furry antlers in growth. They run off before I can get a picture. I ride another enjoyable easy 40 mostly flat with a few steep hills and some headwind. Looking forward to a motel , shower and wifi tonight, after that we have a series of campgrounds before Williston North Dakota. Lots of prairie with deer and cows along the road, mountains in the distance that we will have to go over eventually. Comical little prairie dogs live by the side of the road and go racing and tumbling from one side to the next as I pass. Lots of Hawks and an occasional eagle spotted. Arrive in Lewistown at 1p and fine a nice motel and a recommended diner up the road. We clean up, check email and go to Harry's for dinner. It's Friday so there is a prime rib special, we get the "small portion and I can hardly finish. Suzanne cannot and we get our deserts to go. Cherry and Blueberry cobbler, very good but so big we have it for breakfast and desert the next two days! Good nights sleep tonight after a hard ride and little sleep last night.

Jim, Suzanne and Beau

Day 19 Great Falls to Geraldine, Montana

81/1006/3358, Today was the 1000 milestone, just 3358 or less depending on my calculator to go. Up early at the motel due to noisy neighbors upstairs, continental breakfast with newspaper then on the road. Have to work through Great Falls for 10 miles on the bike route and then out of town through rush hour. Then turn onto 289 onto a country road with no traffic and the sun is up pretty high now, cool and wheat fields on the right. I just crest a hill and two F15 Eagle fighter jets come screaming over the electric lines just in front of me, low and loud. Very impressive, they stay low for a while over the wheat fields then climb steep and bank to the north and are gone. Lucky I wasn't nearer with afterburners, I could be BBQ. I ride the country road for more miles and a chopper comes and checks me out, not too near, but I must be the only interesting thing this morning. Maelstrom AFB is to the left and I am on a perimeter road for quite a few miles. Climb a few moderate hills with a 25-30 mile tailwind and blue skies, great ride. About 30 miles out I come to a uphill right over a mountain pass straight up, my toughest climb yet. Then right after is another big uphill! I stop for break at the top and spot two elk across the ravine, one with rack and one without. Going to take a break at Highwood, mall town with a market and meet Suz, but, as we are finding more and more, the market is closed. So as I roll through town, a dog decides to chase, so I jump the pace and get out of town. Suz finally catches me 10 miles down the road and decides to go ahead to Fort Benton to reconnoiter for a lunch spot. Fort Benton turns out to be a quaint very historical place with a park along the riverfront right across the street from the downtown cafe. We have a great early lunch then spend some time in the park with Beau. There is a memorial to Shep, a bronze statue of the dog. The story is that Shep followed his Masters coffin to the railroad here in 1936 and came back every day until 1942 when he was killed by the train. He was such a popular part of the town, that hundreds came to his funeral and they erected a memorial to the dog .

This was a Lewis and Clark town and a major stop on the Missouri river that runs next to the park. The renovated 1850's Grand Union Hotel sits right on the river and there is an old scenic bridge just next to it. I take off for another 25 miles and we end up in Geraldine for the night. The RV park on the map is closed but the general store says we can stay in the city park in our RV van. We do that and there are clean restrooms for our use free of charge. We go to Rusty's bar and grill for fried chicken and beer, then an early night in the van. Very quiet but we don't sleep well, too quiet??

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 18 Lincoln to Great Falls

88 miles, the first 30 up and over the continental divide. Plaque also said this is the coldest spot in the USA, sub zero's all winter and it was 43 in July when I rode by. After the mountain pass I thought I was home free as the map looks like downhill all the way to Great Falls, NOT! There were about 45 miles of rolling hills with steep descents and equally steep climbs, good 6% grades, so it was slow going up, but I still averaged 15mph overall. Saw some deer today and a dead rattlesnake on the side of the road. Wondered what I would do if I saw a Grizzly as there is a large bear population here, but I doubt they come close to the roads. Stopped in Fort Shaw which was the first place out of Lincoln that was open at mile 62 for lunch with Suzanne. A retired farmer whose dentures made him a little hard to understand, chatted with us about the area and his life, then bought us lunch. His contribution to the great ride across America. Nice little cafe and again great food, the beef here is really good, all Angus beef steers. The steers all stop grazing as I ride by and watch me pass, all of them, usually all at once, a little comical to see. Now that I am over the continental divide, the hills should get smaller I think and I may be able to pick up my daily mileage. 88 miles with hills is about all I can do now .

88/925/3351 Today/Done/2go

Jim, Suz and Beau

Da y 17 Missoula to Lincoln Montana

We meet for breakfast after loading the van with our stuff. John mentions that Eli's map has a shorter route than the map that I bought at Adventure Cycle, so I go up to his room and yes it is a shorter route by 300 miles, so.....we go back to Adventure with the group and get the new map, then have a our pictures taken. Bob has a flat that we discover on the group picture, then wait for the repair and leave around 9:30 a heading east. The crew will go north at jct 83 about 450 miles up. John wants a coffee and the group sees a car wash to wash their bikes, so I say my last goodbyes and head east alone. I ride to Trixies at Ovalada about 50 miles up the road and have a great lunch in a converted barn, that contains a bar, pool tables, tables and lots of stuffed moose, deer and Elk. I continue on for another 25 miles and just 7 miles outside of Lincoln our great weather goes south and I have a heavy shower and temps that drop from 82 to 62 and a stiff headwind. Suz is waiting in Lincoln and we find a great little cabin with kitchenette for the cheap and relax and shower. Then into the Ponder-rosa grill and a great dinner. They have the paper and we update on the Tour de France, Lance is now in second place. The waitress gives me a small American Flag to put on the back of my bike and chats with us about our journey, we also get the website of a local wood carver who had littered the restaurant with very interesting wood carvings of gargoyles, angels and other folk. They were really very good carvings, so if affordable I may order one for the house once home. Back to the cabin and the sauna , then a good night sleep after updating email and blog.

Early start tomorrow, it is about 100 miles into Great Falls, so I'll see how close I get.........

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 16 Rest Day

Today is a total rest day, so we sleep in till 8 and get a continental breakfast at the motel. Then we link up with the crew and drive down to Adventure Cycling. Suz and I spend a couple of hours creating our new route with little help from the Adventure group. I use their directory of maps to chart a route and then buy the maps for best cycling routes and add up the mileage. It seems farther than what I thought and I check the maps again after we go back to the motel. We leave Adventure and go for Pizza at a place recommended by the Park Rangers at the Montana visitors center. Not so good, poor service and gourmet type menu that I decide to pass on , have a bite of Suzanne's sandwich and a cold smoke beer from Scotland, good lager. We go back to motel and do laundry and blog updates. Meet in the lobby to share a bottle of Cabernet from Tom and then on to the Paradise falls grill. We have our Last supper and chat for awhile and back to motel for another night of old movies and some leftover wine. Good rest tonight as we will rise early for tomorrow departure.

A flutterby lights on Suz's had in this picture..........

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 15 Lolo Hot Springs to Missoula

35 miles into Missoula Montana, an easy ride downhill and we stop at the McD's in Lolo 7 miles out of town for breakfast. Tom, John and I do a easy paceline into Lolo, where we meet Suz and then we move on to Missoula to find a Motel. Super 8 has best pricing, laundry and nearby grocery, restaurants and Walmart. Cold this morning, we all leave bundled up in our cold weather gear, 42 to start and 83 at the end. Looking forward to a full days rest and a visit to adventure bicycling . We will rest today and go their on Monday to create a new course for the Solo Jim supported by Suz and Beau ride. I am sorry to leave the Lochsa gorge coming into Missoula as it was a great scenic ride on great roads with no trucks and little traffic along the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers for two days. Would love to have this route in my backyard to do daily or even once a week. We do an Italian restraunt tonight and it is good food, but American Italian, missing some core foods but ok. John buys the group a bottle of wine, well appreciated by all and the crew give us a card with some $$ in appreciation for Suz sagging and doing groceries and motel search and the like. We decide to regift and we will pick up the tab for tomorrow's "Last Supper " together as we would not have spent any more money, but it was a great and heartfelt gesture from the group and much appreciated by Suz and me. We go to the motel and rest by watching old, old, old Scifi movies ........

Jim Suz and Beau

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 13 Long Park to Wilderness Gateway

57 miles. Another beautiful day, and another big breakfast at the Sakejewa lodge up the road. I can hardly finish my short stack and will have to start cutting back on the amount that I eat if we don't increase the mileage to compensate. Since we have decided to leave the group in Missoula and make our way along the Northern then South to the Trans America route , I will shed the panniers as I know now I will not be camping with tent and sleeping bag, so I can pick up the pace to 70-75 or more miles per day. That will save us approximately 30 days over our current pace depending on the total mileage. It was mostly downhill along the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers today, so pretty easy day. I get into the campsite at 11:30a and we read and nap in the shade and wait for the crew to show up. Tonight we all eat sandwiches and leftovers as there is no food stop for 25 miles in either direction. Bob does not show for over an hour later so John and I jump into the van and ride back to where we find Eli and no Bob. Turns out he was in a different part of the camp when we left. Early night tonight, everyone wants to leave early tomorrow to crest the Lolo pass before it gets too hot.

Jim Suz and Beau

Day 12 Winchester to Long Park Kamiah

54 Miles today, we get a late start after a big breakfast at the Winchester Lake Cafe. Robert gets the pancake egg sandwich and it is bigger than him. A short stack is two pancakes the size of a large serving plate and no one can finish their breakfast. The locals at the cafe are very friendly and stop at our table to give route advice and local history. We find that Winchester was named for the fact that in 1851 it was the most popular gun here. The Nez Perce Indians were creating havoc with the settlers and the army chased them around for a number of years. Today I am out front and miss the turn as it was not marked and go five miles out of my way. I stop at Cottonwood and get direction back toward Kamiah, over the farm land again a lot of wheat and peas. Because I get lost I miss my turn and come into Kamiah about 5 minutes behind the crew. Bob has just arrived and Tom and John are in the local Cafe having lunch. I decide to go to the campsite and meet suzanne for a sandwich and get stuck for a bit in road construction. They just paved this section so I get roasted on the top and bottom. The Long Camp RV place is ok, and by a fast moving river and the showers are hot. We have been joined the last few nights by Eli W. from Brooklyn who is solo riding from Portland to New York over the summer. We have been sharing our sites and food to reduce cost for all and he will probably stay with us to Missoula, Montana. He does not like to get up early, so he does his ride at his pace and meets us at camp a few hours later. Not too much excitement here, Suz makes a complete pork chop dinner on the grill for all, most excellent, we all have very healthy appetites each day.

Jim Suz an Beau

Day 11, Hells Gate to Winchester Lake

54 miles, we leave Hells Gate at 8 and have a nice slow start up highway 505. A lot more fields of wheat and peas along the way, Come to a T in the road and not sure which way to go as it is not marked. I ask a car that come along and the woman drivers says one way and the man in the back says the other way........so I go to the right and hope for the best as east is our general direction. A few miles along I come upon the Jasper coffee shop and they confirm that I am going in the correct direction. I have a coffee and read the local paper , good article about the Tour de France, then I am off to Cul de Sac, a very small town with just a gas station mini market. I meet Tom the Harley biker there outside and get his entire life's story of woe over a gatoraide while I wait for the crew. After 45 minutes, they don't show so I start up the Winchester grade myself. The sign says it is steep and 8 miles straight up. I make pretty good time and about 2 miles up I stop and call Suz as I have cell coverage back now. I spot a large female elk across the gorge feeding in a green field. Wish I had binoculars, but then for the weight I am glad that I don't. I continue up the hill in my lowest gear doing about 6-7 mph and I make one more stop in the shade of a big pine. Lucky there are no dogs along here as I could not outrun them, can't out ride my Shadow. Finally crest the top and see a cell tower so I know the climbing is over at least for awhile. I have a nice 7 miles on top of the mountain before coming into the small town of Winchester, Idaho. The campground is by a beautiful Lake and is in a stand of giant old forest pines. The pines give the air a fragrance of Christmas trees , all very pleasant with the view. Previous campers left some wood so I will make a fire tonight, it will be cool in the 40's. We go into town and find the pub for a beer and sandwich and chat with the locals and wait for the crew. They show up after another hour and we go to the campground only to return to the pub later for dinner. We make a fire later and relax, the climb was hard on some and we all retire early as it gets chilly. Really pretty sight in the mountains looking down on the lake.

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 10, Lewis and Clark to Lewiston

78 miles to Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, Idaho. Another great weather day. We are up early in this little park that has a bee problem. Yesterday some sites were swarmed by bee's so they closed a part of the park. Quarter showers again and Beau is up at 4:23 am, but we sleep again till 5:15a. Early start to Dayton, OR for a great breakfast at Al's drive through restaurant. We chat with the elderly waitress and some of the local regulars that have long since been retired. Suz joins us and we eat well on this cool morning. I ride an easy pace after breakfast as the day warms for another 37 miles and find a coffee shop on Route 12 in Pomeroy around 10a. Beth makes me some fresh espresso and I get a homemade oatmeal and cranberry cookie and read the paper for a half hour and relax. The crew does not come along so I am back on my bike and tool up the hill out of Pomeroy and do some moderate climbing over the mountains then some steep descents . I take may time going down the steep descents as some spots have guard rails and no shoulders so it is a squeeze with trucks. The panniers cause the bike to wobble in the crosswinds so I take is slower than I might normally. After a 25 mile decent I enter Clarkston across the river from Lewistion and make my way through construction in town, then over the bridge and four miles up the path to Hells Gate State Park, the gate way to Hells Canyon . Pretty ride along the river and there is a park all the way for bikers and joggers . I see two beaver along the river, not sure that they were beaver until I pass a info sign about the beavers that populate the rivers edge. I finally find the campsite and have a nice rest under the trees on a lush grassy lawn with the river in view. Good hot shower and wait for the crew. It's around 1pm now so we read and play some backgammon and chat about the sights today. The crew calls around four from a local pub where they stopped in Clarkston to get refreshed. They finally show in camp around 5 and we have salad and cold cuts for dinner and plan the next day.

Jim, Suz and Beau

Day 9 Walla Walla to Lewis and Clark

25 Miles today, Monday 6/29,2009. We decided to ride two short days instead of taking an entire day off, so this is a short day. We sleep in and have a big breakfast and leave late around 9:15a from the motel . We stop at a bike shop uptown for John to get his bike computer fixed and re calibrated. We ride the middletown road to Waitsburg and we find out why the song America has the waves of amber grain line in it. We ride for twenty or more miles with the only sight being wheat feilds puncuated by an occasional farmhouse and barn or by a cemetery in the middle of nowhere. Near Waitsburg there are long fields of peas as this is Green Giant Company territory. I get into Waitsburg ahead of the crew, I have not seen them since the first hill, and ride around this all American town. Very clean and both very old and new buildings on the small main street. The hardware and general store has everything from appliances to antique horse saddles . The owner tells us of other riders coming through in the past week and how good the weather is for us, it is usually over 100 but this week is in the cool 80's. I stop at the farm store which used to be the livery stable, then gas station, now propane and gas station , grain store and quick mart. I chat with Walt there for about a half hour waiting for the crew. He gives me a fairly detailed history of Waitsburg including current bike rides and the local politics. Then the crew comes in and we spend another half hour checking out the town. We ride another five miles up the road to the campground and meet Suz, we have the pick of sites and it is clean and neat and quiet. Looking forward to tomorrows ride of 75 miles to Hells gate campground in Lewiston. We all agree to leave early tomorrow to try to beat some of the heat on this longest day yet. I will ride my own pace to see how I hold up at this distance in the hills. Early to bed tonight after some backgammon and stories as well as more map checking.

Jim, Suzanne and Beau