Today was the earliest start I had on this trip so far. I was on the road by 5:30am, just as the sun was rising. A few of the locals warned us about the stretch of highway 200 between Circle and Jordan, and as I started riding, it became obvious why. The road went through rolling, blind hills and had no shoulder. There …

When I woke at 5:30am, Alan had already left. I was amazed I hadn’t heard him pack up his tent and leave. It was a bit cooler in the morning and an overall beautiful day with calm winds. Only a few miles of interstate today which would be the last bit of interstate of the whole trip. I stopped by a gas station in …

Trying to avoid the thunderstorms that were approaching, I left early in the morning. The goal was to make it to the next town over, Belfield, to wait out the storm. I had a tailwind pushing me out of Dickinson and I saw some nasty looking clouds approaching. The weather radar on my phone and showed the storm heading …

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 …

Similar to yesterday, I had to make some choices today about whether I wanted a shorter day or a longer one, with the towns being small far between. The wind and weather forecast teased me to take another shorter day, but I wanted to keep my progress going. I aimed for Bismarck which was 111 miles away taking the …

Waking up before sunrise and before my alarm clock prompted an early start to the day to take advantage of the cooler temperatures, less traffic, and calmer winds. I stopped by the same gas station I got ice cream at the night before to get two breakfast sandwiches. The unmasked cashier asked me if I was scared of the …

My hotel was slightly off course from the Northern Tier route, and I had plans today to divert from the route until North Dakota. The Northern Tier route kept going northwest from Fergus Falls to Fargo, North Dakota, and then back down south. I opted to skip Fargo and go northwest for a shorter distance before …

I packed up camp and headed back across the street to get breakfast from the same restaurant I ate dinner at the night before. With a good stock of water and clif bars, I joined the paved bike trail after breakfast to begin a day that would be mostly flat with no highways or roads shared with vehicles to worry about. …

Around 2:30 in the morning, I woke up to the sound of thunder and hard rain against my tent. I opened my weather radar app and saw a fast approaching storm. I’ve never camped in a storm like this, so I started to google what I should do. Should I stay in my tent? Should I go to the building with the restrooms and …

I woke up after my second night of camping to realize what would be a common occurrence, which was a dew-soaked tent. Anything touching the sides of my tent would also get wet, which was hard to avoid, even in a two-person tent. I tried to keep my sleeping bag as dry as possible, but a wet tent would be the new normal. …