Riding Across the Country

 Every day is different, but Steve does like to start with a good breakfast.  Today he rode and I walked to Kroll's Cafe.  There we had the pleasure of meeting Lucille, a lovely lady from Glen Ullin, a nearby town (50 miles away) who had come into Bismarck to do her shopping.  She was very interested in Steve's trek and we enjoyed our conversation with her. The next time we met up was in New Salem.  A small town with a cafe!  Yay.  Steve had already ridden 30 miles and it was only 10:15.  But they were happy to serve lunch.  The waitress found a huge piece of blueberry pie for Steve.  She lives in Hebron, our destination today.  Steve asked if there was anything to do in Hebron, and she said, "No, why do you think I work here?"  She explained that there was the Pizza Pantry for supper from 5-7pm.   Steve had been riding on Old Highway 10.  The Red Trail was the original cross-country roadway and became US Hwy 10 ...

 Napoleon boasts a restaurant/bar that serves the requisite hamburgers and chicken baskets.  Thursday through Saturday you can get dinner items and even a salad.  (I did appreciate the sentiment about ice cream, though.)  BUT, nothing is open early in the morning. So Steve had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and rode off into the sunrise.  On the other hand, Nicole from Gackle highly recommended that I stop at Mabel's for donuts, so I hung around Napoleon until Mabel opened shop at 7am.  The donuts were as good as promised.  I saved them and met up with Steve at about 10am.  We found a gas station that had breakfast sandwiches and shared the donuts outside!  I continued into the big town of Bismarck.  In anticipation of our next camping adventure, I decided I need a new air mattress.  The $9 mat from Walmart isn't cutting it.  Dick's Sporting goods had just the upgrade I was looking for, a $14 air mattress.  Stay tuned....

 The ride today was short, again due to the lack of services along the way.  Steve had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast.  We packed up the camping gear and started towards Napoleon.   I did check out the nearby town of Streeter, and if we had any interest in attending a church, we would have had three choices.  Otherwise, I did not see anything in the way of a gas station, quick stop or restaurant.  By the way, Nicole said she shops for groceries in Jamestown, about 40 miles north. Steve, riding across the prairie At one of Steve's stops, a man in a pickup stopped to tell Steve that he loves to see the bicyclists who go by each summer.  He expounded a little on the local farms that grow beef cattle, wheat, corn, or soybeans or a little of each.  There are only two dairy farms in the area.  There used to be may more. He says there are all sorts of city people moving out here where the houses are cheap, but that many aren't...

 We met a few people at the sad little motel in Lisbon before Steve got on the road.  It was raining but tapering off, so he was not in a hurry to get soaked.  They all talked about Medora and what a fun place it is and what we should see and do there.  No breakfast other than Clif Bar, a banana and peanut butter. There was actually a dip and a curve in the road this morning before quite a climb, but this is what we found at the top. We had discussed meeting at a town called Marion, which had an interesting and matter-of-fact logo: Why not Stop & Stretch Unfortunately, there was nothing in the way of services in the town, so I back-tracked to Litchville. I spoke to the proprietor of the town bar and he directed me to the Tastee Treat, the only "restaurant," where we waited for her to fire up the grill and make Steve a cheeseburger. We crossed a lot of prairie today.  Didn't see much, but these cattle thought Steve was the highlight of their day. I got to our...

 Our last morning in Fargo was SO much fun.  We went for breakfast (you know how Steve loves his breakfasts!) at Deaner's Diner.  Try to say that correctly, all you Mainers who pronounce Diner like Dine-ah.  Anyway, our waitress, Andrea, was a gem and when she heard of our trip, she was excited enough to have a picture taken with Steve. Leaving the BW Hotel - a great stay with very nice staff Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the swimming pool, which was a kid's dream play pool We headed south away from the Interstate 94 corridor (that is sometimes a challenge with Google maps) and found the agricultural land we expected.  I had to stop and take a picture when the road I was traveling crossed some train tracks.  The train itself was stopped, separated, with some on one side of the road and some on the other.  It must have been a long stop, and they did that to keep the road open. You can't see in this picture, but the train cars on the right go off i...