Biking to Oregon: Day 9 - Let's Keep Going

Similar weather as yesterday, with early winds coming out of the west that would increase in speed as the day progressed. The road outside of Bismarck was hilly, with more sustained climbs than I had experienced in this trip so far. North Dakota’s elevation increases as you go west, so I knew I was going to climb more than I would descend. Today, I was going to experience something I’ve never done on a bicycle before: Riding on the interstate. As part of the reroute of the Northern Tier Route, ACA, found the best way to get riders through the southern half of the state was on Interstate 94, which allows non-motorized travel in the rural areas.

Today’s route would only get on the interstate for about 13 miles. As I was following the route, it prompted me to turn right to go towards the interstate. The road I was on turned to gravel at that point, and had I continued, it would’ve been a shorter distance to Glen Ulin. I was tempted, but decided again to stick to the route.

I didn’t mind the interstate that much. It had a big shoulder with a rumble strip, which made me feel more protected knowing that I could hear if a car was veering onto the shoulder. Most of the cars went in the left lane when passing me which gave me even more room.

After fighting the headwind and hills all morning, I made it to Glen Ulin to get a grocery store sandwich and chocolate milk. My goal was to make it to Richardton which was 27 more miles. This seemed like a daunting task given the headwind. As I was leaving town, I saw another cyclist in the distance pull out of a town park and head in the same direction I was going. I caught up and said hello. At first, I thought this person wanted to be alone, but he had a relaxed way of talking that matched his steady pace on his mountain bike with a trailer for his gear. His name was Alan and he was doing the Lewis and Clark route, another route put together by ACA. The Northern Tier and Lewis and Clark routes line up in most of North Dakota and Montana. Even though I was riding slower than if I was riding alone, having someone to talk to made the miles seem to go by faster and it made it easier to ignore the wind.

We stopped for a break in Hebron, and I called the only hotel in Richardton to reserve a couple rooms for Alan and I. He had camping gear too, but we both agreed it was a good day to end inside. We continued to Richardton, talking the whole way.

We crossed into the mountain timezone as we entered Richardton. When we got to the hotel, we parked our bikes and the owner of the hotel came outside to greet us. She had an uncomfortable presence. Not friendly, but didn’t want to leave us alone. Before we came inside to pay, she warned us that she doesn’t allow bikes inside the room after some damage left from bikes of previous tourers. I was used to parking my bike outside when I camped, but I was getting a sense that she would be perfectly happy if we stayed somewhere else. I talked with Alan, asking if he wanted to continue to Dickinson with me, another 25 miles. He said he wouldn’t have normally done that, but he enjoyed riding with someone else so he agreed to it. We got back on our bikes and left the hotel. Shout out to the hotel owner who pushed us to keep going.

Alan continued on but I stopped at the Assumption Abbey in Richardton, a big church that stood out as a highlight of the town. I figured I should see something today besides the grass moving in the wind and cattle grazing.

I almost caught up to Alan but then I saw a small park with a water spigot on the bathroom building. I pulled over to refill my bottles and dilute my fruit punch gatorade.

Abbey booked me another hotel in Dickinson, and I was starting to feel like my camping gear was dead weight, but the hotels were making all the difference for my ability to recover. I caught up to Alan again. The wind had died down at this point. We talked for some more, but he said he didn’t mind if I just wanted to continue to Dickinson alone. We said good night and I continued alone, leaving Alan behind me. I figured I would see him the next day if he left earlier than I did like he did today, as we both started our days in Bismarck.

I checked into my hotel and was definitely getting some looks, being covered in bugs and dirt kicked up by the wind. Another Domino's pizza for dinner along with some of their brownies for dessert. Same routine as I had been doing every night: Shower, eat, laundry, post on Instagram, plan my route for tomorrow, and go to sleep.