Ft. Stevenson State Park to McClusky - 63 miles
My stats: 64.2 miles
Time in saddle: 4 hours 25 minutes
Average speed: 14.5 miles
Maximum speed: 28.2 mph
Calories burned: 2703
Such a great ride for the first day. I left camp around 6 AM and rode the 3 miles into Garrison for breakfast. I paid way too much for a breakfast of two bowls of chopped fruit. I'm not one of those riders who can eat a large heavy breakfast right away so had to skip all the pancakes, sausages and coffee & syrups that was included with the breakfast. The temps were still a little chilly but warmed up while riding with Greg (neighbor from Mandan) and lots of dog talk about our 'babies' back home. Felt great by the time I reached the first rest stop - St. Paul Lutheran Youth stop - about 17 miles from camp.
Had to get a photo
of our mascost atop the porta-potties. This year dressed up in honor of Lawrence Welk, Myron Floren and the champagne ladies of the band. The weather was so great with a nice northwest tail wind.
Took some pics of sunflowers, Lake Audubon and strange looking sign for a well driller along the route.
I met up with Rick and Brian from Alexandria Minnesota at the next rest stop - St. Olaf Lutheran Church. We arrived just when the Sunday services were starting. A beautiful little country church. They had quite a brunch set up for all the bikers in the church basement. Just what I needed - great homemade bars & desserts to fuel up.
We three rode together chatting all the way to Turtle Lake where we found the local ice cream shop and had a great ice cream cone. They rode on ahead while I stayed behind and got photos along the way of pelicans, horses and the McClusky canal.
I arrived in McClusky around noon and set up my tent by the grade school and had a great shower (complete with a bubble machine ala Lawrence Welk).
The afternoon was pretty lazy just wandering around the small town and taking snapshots of the local gardens, buildings, birds and parks.
LeeAnn Allen from Wyoming and I met up in one of the parks and had a homemade rhubarb slush -YUMM - and a hot dog. She gave me a lot of tips about buying a new bike this winter. Later I caught the tour bus to visit the McClusky Canal - the engineer from the Garrison Diversion C-District was pummeled with a lot of questions from all the bikers that aren't from North Dakota who found it hard to believe that the state could spend almost a billion dollars on a canal that isn't even being used. He finally had to admit it was 'somewhat of a boondogal'. After returning to McClusky, I tried to get on the internet at the school, but found their system had blocks for almost all email sites. Cell phone service was not too good either. While wandering around the school looking at all the old photos and trophies, I met a girl from New Mexico who was almost exactly the same age as me. She also had some great tips about buying a 'women's specific design' bike. After a short nap in my tent, I met up with LeeAnn and got at the head of the line for the huge german-russion supper. Our plates were piled high with strudel, knephla hot dish, old style sausage, chicken breast, cucumber salad, and of course kuchen dessert. We had a rather entertaining chat with Bob from Georgia about the different food cultures in various parts of the country.
After a short walk, I decided to take a ride on the mule drawn wagon. Had a great little chat with two young sisters about their pets and their grampa's mules. I was too tired to stay up for the high school students put on their play in the in the park, although it was easy to listen to those who decided to partake in the karaoke - some were quite good, most were just hilarious. It was really easy to sleep that night, no need to listen to the late night talk shows. No chills this night.
My stats: 64.2 miles
Time in saddle: 4 hours 25 minutes
Average speed: 14.5 miles
Maximum speed: 28.2 mph
Calories burned: 2703
Such a great ride for the first day. I left camp around 6 AM and rode the 3 miles into Garrison for breakfast. I paid way too much for a breakfast of two bowls of chopped fruit. I'm not one of those riders who can eat a large heavy breakfast right away so had to skip all the pancakes, sausages and coffee & syrups that was included with the breakfast. The temps were still a little chilly but warmed up while riding with Greg (neighbor from Mandan) and lots of dog talk about our 'babies' back home. Felt great by the time I reached the first rest stop - St. Paul Lutheran Youth stop - about 17 miles from camp.
Had to get a photo
of our mascost atop the porta-potties. This year dressed up in honor of Lawrence Welk, Myron Floren and the champagne ladies of the band. The weather was so great with a nice northwest tail wind.
Took some pics of sunflowers, Lake Audubon and strange looking sign for a well driller along the route.
I met up with Rick and Brian from Alexandria Minnesota at the next rest stop - St. Olaf Lutheran Church. We arrived just when the Sunday services were starting. A beautiful little country church. They had quite a brunch set up for all the bikers in the church basement. Just what I needed - great homemade bars & desserts to fuel up.
We three rode together chatting all the way to Turtle Lake where we found the local ice cream shop and had a great ice cream cone. They rode on ahead while I stayed behind and got photos along the way of pelicans, horses and the McClusky canal.
I arrived in McClusky around noon and set up my tent by the grade school and had a great shower (complete with a bubble machine ala Lawrence Welk).
The afternoon was pretty lazy just wandering around the small town and taking snapshots of the local gardens, buildings, birds and parks.
LeeAnn Allen from Wyoming and I met up in one of the parks and had a homemade rhubarb slush -YUMM - and a hot dog. She gave me a lot of tips about buying a new bike this winter. Later I caught the tour bus to visit the McClusky Canal - the engineer from the Garrison Diversion C-District was pummeled with a lot of questions from all the bikers that aren't from North Dakota who found it hard to believe that the state could spend almost a billion dollars on a canal that isn't even being used. He finally had to admit it was 'somewhat of a boondogal'. After returning to McClusky, I tried to get on the internet at the school, but found their system had blocks for almost all email sites. Cell phone service was not too good either. While wandering around the school looking at all the old photos and trophies, I met a girl from New Mexico who was almost exactly the same age as me. She also had some great tips about buying a 'women's specific design' bike. After a short nap in my tent, I met up with LeeAnn and got at the head of the line for the huge german-russion supper. Our plates were piled high with strudel, knephla hot dish, old style sausage, chicken breast, cucumber salad, and of course kuchen dessert. We had a rather entertaining chat with Bob from Georgia about the different food cultures in various parts of the country.
After a short walk, I decided to take a ride on the mule drawn wagon. Had a great little chat with two young sisters about their pets and their grampa's mules. I was too tired to stay up for the high school students put on their play in the in the park, although it was easy to listen to those who decided to partake in the karaoke - some were quite good, most were just hilarious. It was really easy to sleep that night, no need to listen to the late night talk shows. No chills this night.
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