Happy 4th!

Holidays are different when we're already on vacation. This one has been really different. Than other 4th of July holidays, I mean. Not all that different from other days on the trip. With all the schedule changes we made to skip Minot we pretty much let go of our original idea of spending today resting and enjoying local celebrations. Probably jus as well. We've discovered that several of the towns we have gone through have had their fireworks early so everyone can have family gatherings today. I do wonder if that happens when there is not a weekend conveniently tucked in before the holiday.

Not that we have missed it all. Oh, no. We have jumped at the sound of firecrackers very nearby lots of times. There was someone setting off some fairly serious noise makers in a small town where we had a snack on Saturday, and the parking area of the hotel next to ours in Bowman was a stage for lots of smaller stuff pretty much every time we walked by. Flags everywhere.

We did take a day off in Bowman. It's a bigger town than most so we could find groceries and a laundromat and even a restaurant that was open through dinner last night. I suspect they were pretty much out of stuff - the dinner special was pancakes and sausage. I had grilled cheese.

We got up this morning knowing it would be a long day. Lots of miles, and likely headwinds. Even a reasonable chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. On the other hand, we knew nothing would be open so we didn't expect to stop much. We decided to set out pretty early in hopes that we could beat the worst of the wind. We knew the gas station/truck stop was our only breakfast option & I knew that would be a challenge for me.

Sure enough, nothing there that looked great. I eventually found some hard boiled eggs & made them into deviled eggs, and added a prepackaged blueberry muffin. Mmm. As we sat down to eat I looked around and realized that this particular gas station convenience store stocks some really different stuff: hunting trophies! Yes, gazing down balefully at us was a large elk head ($10,000 in case you are interested). Right around the corner from him we plunged into the discount market: a deer head for a mere $125. Is it just me, or would other people feel just a mite embarrassed to display someone else's trophy like that?

We rode out feeling delighted (aside from some minor digestive confusion) that the wind was actually almost a tail wind. And not a very strong one. We made great time on the gentle rollers. We stopped a couple of times - the cool one was when an owl popped up out of the grass and flew very thoughtfully up to a phone pole where I could gaze as long as I cared to (a burrowing owl), shortly followed by a prairie falcon being harrassed by blackbirds. It, too, came to rest on a convenient post. We still made our first turn, 27 miles out, in well under 2 hours. That headed us directly into the wind for a little over 20 miles. But the wind was gentle and mostly blocked by the hills. Mostly uphills. Dakota uphills are very gentle compared to what we are used to, though. (Must be easy pedaling here, said an older guy we talked to during the day. He also said he'd told his daughter-in-law when they saw us out there that we had to be either from California or the east - people here don't cycle.)

So we made that stretch. Then turned again so the winds were almost helpful. We even found an open shop where we enjoyed popsicles and sodas and shade and air conditioning. We finished up by about 3:30. Of course nothing is open here, either, except the gas station convenience store. At about 4:30 we had prepackaged sandwiches, shared a half gallon of lemonade and brought a little container of Ben & Jerry's back to our very, very basic room. It's 6:15 and I doubt we'll be awake to see or hear any fireworks.

We are toying with various options for tomorrow. I am seriously tempted to try to get all the way to Bismarck, but if the wind is unkind or it stays this hot, it probably won't happen. The towns between here and Bismarck are small and have very limited places to stay. I can see why people like the flexibility of camping. If only it didn't involve sleeping on the ground and schlepping pounds of equipment...

Random question: what makes the water in this part of the country feel sort of slippery? Almost as if it comes out of the faucet infused with (fortunately unscented) bath oil? It's not too bad for bathing. It really does not dry my skin out. I am sticking to bottled drinking water, though.

Miles today: 81, around town yesterday 6
Total so far: 1631