McClusky to Steele - 72 milesMy stats: 72.3 miles
Time in saddle: 7 hours 9 minutes
Average speed: 10 mph
Maximum speed: 23.6 mph
Calories burned: 4498
What a tough day and a complete 180 from yesterday! I left town around 6 AM and got to Steele around 3:30 PM. Long day, but I didn't take the sag wagon and rode the whole way! The wind kept switching from east to southeast to south - just as we turned in each of those directions. It started out around 10 mph and ended up around 30 mph.As you can see from this picture taken at the first rest stop, the sun wasn't much help for the temps either. This stop was sponsored by the McClusky track team booster club and was supposed to be a Hawaiian theme. To this girl's credit, she kept dancing continuously while we bikers started shivering after losing the body heat from pedaling. They did have good food though.
All along the route I saw many many dried up prairie potholes like this one, especially the farther south we went. This one was somewhere between Wing and Tuttle I think. But the riders from my area marveled at the green grass still available, something we hadn't seen in the Mandan area for months due to the drought.
Here is Archie making a toast with one of the ladies from a rest stop by the Steele Ambulance service. She came out dressed in her curlers and bath robe to make a point of how early we riders like to get up. Their stop was only about 10 miles from our destination, but it was very welcome. They were smart to put up this wind break for us to get away from the wind.
Archie as usual got into town much earlier than the rest of us. He had his tent set up and was waiting for us - so he got this photo of a very tired Dodey and Sheila, just before we were able to find our luggage and scope out the park for a spot to pitch a tent. He did help us set up the tents. After I got a shower, I realized I was pretty hungry, so I took a strange shuttle bus - a rattle trap of a thing painted up to look like a train - downtown. The driver recommended the local American Legion Hall. The huge patty melt hamburger and large serving of potato wedges were very good. It was so cool and quiet in there also. So nice to get away from all the 'wind noise' of the day. Talked with some locals up at the bar for an hour or so, then joined Al & Lisa Thompson from Mandan at a table. Later we were joined by another rider - can't remember his name but he rides every year from Lake Benton and is a farmer. Watched the huge grass fire on the tv just north of Bismarck and all the local farmers were pretty worried about the lack of rain. We all started walking back to camp, and were then picked up by that strange bus for the bumpy ride back. Stopped to pet a few cute dogs along the way, but just reminded me of my own - hoping they were doing all right with the dog sitter. We were all too tired to go the musical variet show at the high school. And I slept so hard. Woke up once in the middle of the night to coyotes again, but fell right back asleep again.
Archie as usual got into town much earlier than the rest of us. He had his tent set up and was waiting for us - so he got this photo of a very tired Dodey and Sheila, just before we were able to find our luggage and scope out the park for a spot to pitch a tent. He did help us set up the tents. After I got a shower, I realized I was pretty hungry, so I took a strange shuttle bus - a rattle trap of a thing painted up to look like a train - downtown. The driver recommended the local American Legion Hall. The huge patty melt hamburger and large serving of potato wedges were very good. It was so cool and quiet in there also. So nice to get away from all the 'wind noise' of the day. Talked with some locals up at the bar for an hour or so, then joined Al & Lisa Thompson from Mandan at a table. Later we were joined by another rider - can't remember his name but he rides every year from Lake Benton and is a farmer. Watched the huge grass fire on the tv just north of Bismarck and all the local farmers were pretty worried about the lack of rain. We all started walking back to camp, and were then picked up by that strange bus for the bumpy ride back. Stopped to pet a few cute dogs along the way, but just reminded me of my own - hoping they were doing all right with the dog sitter. We were all too tired to go the musical variet show at the high school. And I slept so hard. Woke up once in the middle of the night to coyotes again, but fell right back asleep again.
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