Fast, then slow.

(brice writing)

Today started out with a beautiful ~15mph tailwind. We covered 46 miles in about 2:50, making almost 16 miles an hour, so we stopped for lunch along the James river:

…and that’s when the wind stopped, followed by 15 minutes of spitting rain, followed by the wind remembering that it left its jacket at home and abruptly turning around. So it took us 3:15 to make the remaining 28 miles, down around 8mph and getting slower by the minute.

The cycling was broken up by some interesting geography; this area of ND had some serious floods in 2009 that evidently completely changed the landscape, creating lakes where there had been none before:

I was enthusiastic about biking in the wind:

and there were some more very straight roads:

Finally, we arrived in Gackle, where were planning on camping at the local RV park. I started this trip extremely skeptical of the merits of RV park camping, but the previous two places we stayed had really nice areas for tent camping, clean showers, and a comfortable atmosphere. Because high winds out of the west are forecast for tomorrow, we were really hoping for a similar experience from Gackle so we could take a rest day tomorrow. As it turns out, the tire sign out by the highway is about the best thing going here:

The Gackle RV park is 5 gravel pads next to hookups with a bit of grass, where we’re now camped. The shower is broken, as is the toilet; fortunately the land backs up to some fields with no neighbors. Also, both the cafe and the bar in town are closed through Memorial day, which is understandable… but if we did take a rest day here, we’d be hanging out either in our tent or at a picnic table in what is basically a gravel parking lot. We really didn’t feel like biking 60 miles to Hazelton against the wind though. So we’re settling for Napoleon, which is a bit over 36 miles away. We’ll take a rest day there on Tuesday, when we should at least be able to hang out at a cafe, and then have about 70 miles to go to Bismarck.

The wind is supposed to be a bit weaker early tomorrow, so we’re planning on getting up at 530ish and hitting the road by 7. Wish us luck.