Today was pretty similar to yesterday and the days before, cycling with a tail wind and side wind across flat terrain.

We arrived in Fargo a pretty big place compare to the one bar towns we have been travelling through. It had a good bike shop, a great health store were I brought some soap that Jesse recomended from a hippy that started shooting guns aged six.

We then headed to where we are couch surfing tonight. We decided to try and do the gallon of milk challenge. One gallon of milk in one hour without being sick for another two ours it was impossible. I drank just under half a gallon, and felt pretty bad I have not been sick yet though. It was a tough challenge. The couchsurfers house is pretty cool with lots of pictures and bike related things.

Last night it was humid and there were loads of mosquitoes.

Today’s ride was good, relatively flat and the majority of the miles with a good tail wind.

Not much happened until we got to Cooperstown where everybody seemed to say hello, and ask us a lot of questions. It was the most friendly town we had been to and seemed pretty busy in a good way.

We headed out of town a little way and came across the Minuteman missile silo site. There was a lot information about it all. There were about 1000 of these missile around america in the height of the Cold War. It was a pretty strange place in a way or the idea of it was pretty strange, the missiles were stupidly powerful.

After this little bit of sight seeing we head on to our destination for the night. Page, this town seemed to be very small but in fact had a lot of things going on a cinema, only open at the weekend, and currently being repaired maybe in time to watch big cat adventure this weekend but it was advertised as tentative.

Its surprising that a town this small can support a cinema but a lot of bigger towns in england don’t have cinemas.

The grocery store was well stocked and they unlocked the toilets at the baseball field where we can camp its pretty good but there are a lot of flies.

Today there was more head winds and a few ups and downs in the morning. Which made for a hard ride.

Around lunch time we stopped to buy petrol for the cooker and some other foods, but there wasn’t much on offer apart from and selection of tools. We grabbed a few snacks and headed to the bar in town and got some white russians and a burger and chips. After this the day was a bit of a blur with more head winds.

We carried on till we got to Pekin and headed to the bar, they only had disappointing beer but we had one anyway and got told there was no store in this town, which is more of a village. We were planning on cycling on a bit unless there was a shower in town, we got told there was one at the Prairie View Lodge that we could use for free. It was all pretty strange as the owners where there and thought we were staying and then one of the owners said we could have a shower we were all pretty tired and didn’t really know what was going on but it all worked out okay in the end and Cliff and Jesse got a lift to the store in a nearby town with somebody who is doing research into trees.

Who knows what will happen for the rest of the evening, I think this has been the strangest days cycling so far!

Today was more of the same cycling with a bit more wind which was annoying.

Really not much happened on the ride and we all felt pretty tired at the end of the day I am not really sure why but we did.

We really wanted to buy a cold drink and some food in the town but it was like the whole town had closed. We found a bait shop that sold drinks and ice creams.

We found the park it has plugs but no water so Jesse got some people to fill up our water bottles from their hose. The water doesn’t taste too good.

The rest of the evening was spent cooking and talking. I didn’t take any photos today so the photo attached is not from day.

Today we cycled into Rugby the geographical centre of North America. The ride was flat and the road straight. There was also not that much traffic.

We didn’t have that far to cycle so we got into the town fairly early. We went to a museum but it was too expensive. Well didn’t seem worth the money! They had a north lights tower that was a little disappointing.

We headed into town to a 1940 dinner/soda fountain place. It was pretty good in there the drinks were not quite up to expectations but the atmosphere was good and the staff friendly. Although I couldn’t help thinking that the waitress thought we were going to try and pay with british pounds!

We are warmshowering tonight in a nice house in a park. We had a good dinner then cycled out to Rugby Gun club for some pistol practice. Unfortunately the gun clun was closed so we rode back home via the train station which was pretty cool it had a lot of train books inside, toys for children a book exchange, a half done jigsaw.

After this we cycled back and had some watermelon.

I woke up to thunder and lighting this morning. It rain quite a bit whilst we were packing up, and as we started our ride along old highway 2. This road was nice a quiet with very few cars and trucks.

We arrived in Minot and headed to a bike store so Jesse and I could buy some more cycling gloves, the new ones, to replace the ones I brought in Whitefish that have now warn out already.

The shop had just recently reopened after the floods that hit Minot. As we were riding out of town we saw more evidence of the floods and the houses that had been badly damaged by them.

We cycled out of Minot to Surrey were there was a small free campground. This was full of people clearing up the flood mess. It seems that a lot of people travel around looking for work. Or maybe it is just because there is lots of work around here at the moment.

The scenery was pretty much how it has been for the last few days, and the cycling was a bit flatter which was better although the head wind picked up in the afternoon.

11.8.11

Today was a hard days cycling. It was hillier than I was expecting and watching Oceans 13 last night was maybe not the best idea!

We cycled with Jesse today, which was good but the roads we went on were very busy with Oil related lorries etc. The drivers were good but the roads were fairly narrow, they would be good roads to ride on without the trucks.

We made it to Stanley and out of the worse of it, and have got a little camp stop on a verge, there is a sign saying tent camping only. There is a shower and toilet across the road and quite a bit away.

There are a lot of transient people here it seems coming to work oil jobs. One motel car park was full of these little shed things, for people to live in it was fairly strange.

Cliff and I cooked dinner as Jesse went to the laundry. We also met up with another cyclist who we have seen for a few night doing the same route as us.

Its strange to think how these towns must have been before the oil boom and what they will be like when it goes.

Well its time for bed now.

10.8.11

Today we didn’t have as far to cycle. So we got up and it felt fairly relaxing.

As we were leaving Montana Cliff, got a puncture so we pulled into a Casino car park to fix it. Then we entered North Dakota.

We carried on to Williston, where we got some shopping and headed to the park which on the map said there was free camping available, we got there to find a no camping sign. So then we headed to the leisure centre which luckily had a list of people in the town that were happy for people to camp in the garden and a free shower.

We rang a person who kindly let us stay in there garden. As we were putting up our tents a storm came in and they said that we could sleep in the basement. After cooking dinner in the garage which was very good. We went to the basement to watch a film on the massive projector.

The people we are staying with have quite a lot of people to stay at there home. The most people they have ever had to stay is 35 in 21 tents.

Williston is an oil boom town with a lot of people here to work. The oil work means that other jobs in the town have increased and people keep telling us that people in McDonalds get paid $20 an hour. The town is very much a working town.

Its very relaxing watching a film.

Today was a long ride without any wind to help us on our way. Luckily it did not hinder us too much.

All off the day was spent cycling through an Indian Reservation. We have done this a few times and I haven’t really written about it much, but these places feel a lot poorer than other places we have cycled through and seem very separate. We didn’t really speak to anyone all day apart from when we brought an ice cream and drink and they were very friendly.

For the last 20 miles we cycled off highway 2 on an alternative route which was nice because it was car free but not nice because it was gravel. We cycled this last section with a cyclist we have been camping with for the last few nights.

Tonight we are camped in another park, free but with a five day limit. There is also another cyclist here, he is moving from Florida to somewhere on the West coast he is not sure yet.

Today was a pretty hard cycle mainly because of the distance as it was pretty flat, with a few sneeky hills at the end.

We had take away pizza for dinner which was a well come treat it was nice not having to shop and then cook and wash up.

Well its bed time for me now.

8.8.11

Today was another day on the plains. It was pretty uneventful. Apart from the fact there were a lot of oversized loads, so far in america there have been none, but today there was a train, on the road and lots of wind turbine parts.

At the start there was a tiny head wind which was horrible but luckily this changed to a tail wind and allowed us to make some good time.

We stopped in Glasgow to pick up some supplies before heading on to Nashua.

We arrived at the park and which is next to the Senior Centre, we got invited in for lemonade and brownies and pumpkin pie, it was all good, and good to chat to the people there.

One of the men used to be Santa for a shopping mall that one of the other cyclists we are with used to go to.

Tomorrow will be a fairly load day so I think I am going to get an early night.