Tag: Bismarck ND

Down the Lawrence Welk Highway and beyond

June 15, 2018 – Bismarck to Napoleon, ND

Napoleon

Still some wind today, but much easier than yesterday. It got stronger toward the end of the 72.1-mile ride and winding our way through the ponds outside of Napoleon brought us face up into the wind.

And about those “table tops” we’d be sailing across after we got past Bismarck? No signs of them today.

Lawrence WelkBut we were on the “Lawrence Welk Highway” today, which brought back many memories. Thought of my Grandma Saul, who sat down in front of these TV shows every night, long after they had gone off the air leaving only reruns to go on and on forever. If they aren’t still there and if she were still alive today, she’d be searching for the Lemon Sisters and Jo Ann Castle on Youtube.

We did love Grandma back then, but at the time, we had little good to say about Mr. Welk and his music. Wonder if we’ll be sitting around looking for American Bandstand, Shindig and Soul Train reruns in our older days? Maybe not yet.

IMG_0030 2
Isn’t that a beautiful table? I bought it especially for this trip. And Don, our now solo SAG host, prepared a lunch for us.

Napoleon had a special ring to it for those of us who grew up in Henry County, Ohio, whose county seat was also named Napoleon, the dreaded arch rival back in the day for those who grew up nine miles down the road in Liberty Center, which is not some shopping center that came along much later.

Not so friendly coming out of Bismarck, where the sure-to-show-up on any bike ride is some jackass yelling out the window at they speed by you. Made me wish we were back in friendly Montana.

But in Napoleon, ND, they were getting ready for a parade of old tractors the next morning, and several of them were out cruising the town that night. Every tractor driver I ever met was friendly and always gave a wave. Same here.

Bismarck to Napoleon

 

“Maybe we should call it a day here”

June 14, 2018 – Glen Ullin to 15 miles short of Bismarck, ND.

MJ on June 14

For the second time this trip, I heard Mary Jo say something I never expected to hear from her: “Maybe we should call it a day here.”

“Here” being 15 miles short of Bismarck and only 40 miles of riding? I had steeled myself against this throughout the ride today, hoping I would not be the poltroon who put my bike in the back of the truck and myself in the back seat. But I happily changed course and agreed as going up hills in a 24-mph head wind was a struggle. For me, it meant straggling along at three mph and impossible to get over 10 mph on down hills because of the winds. Still not to Bismarck yet, so no table tops to cruise across.

So the bikes went into the truck, and we drove into Bismarck and had a nice lunch before taking Kathy, the No. 1 SAG person ever, to the airport to fly back to Seattle and head south to California with No. 1 grandson, who finished his first year at Seattle University.

My birthday came earlier this year as Mary Jo and Don bought me a new bicycle pump to replace the one I bought in 1992, when I did my first Seattle to Portland ride. We tried the old pump out while in Medora, and it did not work. Nothing like a worn-out, busted pump on a long bike ride.

North Dakota seems richer than Eastern Montana, and others blamed that on fracking and what that has done for the economy here. But some of these things have been in place much longer than the oil industry arrived here. I’m blaming it on agriculture – more croplands instead of range lands, well-kept buildings instead of whatever holds up over the winter. Just looks that way from over my handlebars – even into the winds.

Glen Ullin to Bismarck.jpeg