Coast to Coast - Dan's Bucket List

Rugby ND to McVille ND Aug 24, 2009 (Rode 116 Miles)

Tiger Salamander

Saturday and Sunday nights I camped at Oakwook campground in Rugby. A nice little campground with showers and bathrooms. Sunday night there was a pretty big storm and the wind blew hard and the lightning flashed so much it was like a strobe light was going off in my tent all night. A few seconds after each lightning flash, the thunder would crack and it was like having an 8 inch howitzer parked in my tent firing rounds down range. It was quite relaxing and soothing to my nerves.

That brings me to the “Parable of the Fat Guy and the Dove”

There once was a Fat Guy riding his bike across the country for reasons not totally clear to anyone but himself and God. His wife loved him dearly but to be perfectly honest she thought he was an Idiot. Anyway, as the Fat Guy-on-a-Bike struggled across the country roads, he came to a nice little camping spot with some pretty trees and a little grassy spot where he could pitch his tent for the night. He set up his tent, washed up and went to bed. That night there was a terrible storm and the Lightning Shot across the night sky and the Thunder Cracked and the Wind Howled and the Rain Poured. Just the way the fat guy liked it. Somehow it seemed soothing to his tired old worn out fat body.

As the morning drew nigh, the rain, thunder, and lightning stopped but the wind still howled. The fat guy lay in his sleeping bag thinking of all the wonderful miles of road he would be able to merrily ride over that day, when he heard the Beautiful Song of a Dove singing in the trees above him. He listened to the Cooing of the dove for quite some time and finally opened his tent and stepped out into the windy chilly morning.

The wind was still howling and the black clouds floated menacingly above the trees. The Fat Guy spoke to the dove and asked: “Why are you singing on a nasty, chilly, windy, morning like today?” The dove looked at him with irritation and said: “In case you weren’t aware this is North Dakota and if I had to wait for a nice calm day to sing my song, I would never get to sing! And besides I have to sing to attract the Hot Chicks around here and I had one inside 20 yards before you came out of your tent and spooked her off. So if you wouldn’t mind going back inside your tent, I will start over and see if I can’t get one of those good looking Brunette Dove Babes to come back and dance with me.” The Fat Guy went back inside his tent and rested for awhile as he listened to the sweet cooing of the dove again as he sang his song.

It was then that the Fat Guy realized that if you want to sing your song, you can’t wait until the moment, or the day, or the weather is right. You just have to greet each day with a smile, a little confidence, pride and enthusiasm and your days will go better no matter what the day may bring. If you are going to Sing your Song then just sing your Song. It doesn’t matter what the weather may bring.

The End

I got up a little later after my conversation with the dove and the wind was still blowing pretty hard. The flag on the pole was stretched out straight and it was going the wrong direction. There are a lot of doves in this area around the camp and they were cooing all morning. The doves didn’t seem to mind the wind at all. I got packed up and went to a small café to have breakfast. Afterwards I went to the post office to mail a package so I didn’t get out of town till 9:00 am. By then the wind had died down a little and was just a gentle breeze which I was grateful for.

I rode about 10 miles at about 8 to 10 miles an hour into the wind and the wind began to shift from blowing west to blowing north. When the road curved every once in a while I got a slight tail wind and sometimes I got a little head wind. Better than a direct head wind all day. As the day wore on the wind began to shift toward the east and finally I got a tail wind. That is so nice. It gives me an extra few miles an hour on my speed and is much easier to ride with tail winds.

I got to Devils Lake and bought a Subway sandwich and a nice man and woman gave me some advice about traveling on good roads instead of poor roads. As I went to leave I noticed that my rear tire is coming all apart. (See photos) The rubber is delaminating from the tire core in 15 or 20 places. I looked at my front tire and the same thing was happening but not in quite as many places. Nice! I just bought these tires in Kalispell MT and they were almost new. I tried for an hour and ½ to find some place in town to purchase new tires. No luck. No 700 x 28 or 32’s in Devils Lake. So I got on my bike and kept riding.

I got to Pekin about dark and there wasn’t really any place to put up a tent. Pekin is very small without even a gas station. I could have put my tent in the small city park but there was no bathroom so I kept riding another 9 miles to McVille, ND and put my tent in a park just outside of town. Nice little place with a bathroom. No showers so another sponge bath. I had to ride about 45 minutes in the dark on roads with almost no shoulders so I rode on the wrong side of the road so I could dodge the cars. Not my most preferred way to ride but I got to camp and went to bed about 10:30. 116 miles.

I saw a lot more beautiful country. Miles and miles of row crops of corn, beans, sunflowers, wheat, oats, and hay. North Dakota is a very beautiful state. Very green. I did not realize that North Dakota would be so green. There is a lot of water in the state. Lots of little lakes and pockets of marshy ponds that have lots of ducks.

There are quite a few geese around here and I noticed that they struggle flying into the wind as much as I struggle riding into the wind. Some of the lakes have old dead trees with dozens of nests of some type of large black bird. I think they might be Cormorants but I am not familiar with them and am not sure what they are.

I saw a Beautiful Golden Eagle sitting on the side of the road and it stayed there until I was about 50 feet away then flew off. I have seen dozens of Hawks and many of them fly beside me and make their crying sound. I don’t know why they do that but it is interesting to watch.

I found a Tiger Salamander on the side of the road just sitting there. I told him to get off the road but of course he didn’t listen to me. Just like my kids I guess. Anyway, I picked him up kicking and screaming all the way and threw him in the swamp. He will thank me later for saving his slimy rear end. He would have been a pancake salamander by afternoon. Those tiger salamanders are pretty aggressive so it is a good thing they are not six feet long. That would be interesting.

I saw hundreds of small 2 inch frogs dead along the side of the highway. I don’t know why. There was a good storm the night before so I guess that is why they came out, but I don’t understand why they died. They were not smashed just laying on the shoulder of the road dead. I don’t get that.

The mornings are very peaceful. This part of the country is sparsely populated so there is a lot of country. It is nice to ride in the early mornings with the sun coming up and the birds singing. It doesn’t always feel that great on my body after riding a long ways, but the country is very pretty. Somehow I had pictured North Dakota as more dry. I don’t know why.

McVille to Argusville (rode 104 miles today)

Very peaceful morning. Sitting beside the lake writing this note. Called Lori and she is a little upset because some stupid neighborhood dogs are running loose around our home killing animals. They apparently killed our neighbors Llama, 4 sheep from the other neighbor, and they killed Lori’s favorite cat “Cali”. She has enlisted the help of some friends who know how to trap to see if we can put a stop to that nonsense. Those dogs will wind up in dog heaven or hell pretty soon if we have anything to say about it.

Today was a very calm day. Not much wind which seems to be unusual for North Dakota. I saved a couple more salamanders and plucked a seagull out of the lake that didn’t seem to be doing very well at all. I also found a little bird by the side of the road that had seen better days. I will probably get Seagull Flu for messing with the Seagull. Oh Well.

I saw some grave markers by the side of the road so I stopped to look at them. A mother who died at about 53. That doesn’t seem very old anymore now that I am 53 also. The other marker was a young 13 girl and the third one was a 1 year old girl. They weren’t there because of an accident. The markers dated 1906 to 1913 and 1928. So they have been there awhile. It appears to be the early death of a couple of children. Tragic things seem to happen to people since time began and it makes you think that you are pretty fortunate when things are going well.

I thought that I had just about gotten over the bad habit of falling over on my bicycle but alas I guess it is not to be. I pulled off the road to look at those grave markers and as I went to get off my bike my foot clipped into the pedal and I just sat there and slowly tipped over and smashed my face into the grass. A truck was driving by at the time and he must have had a good laugh. I felt like an idiot but what is new? It took me awhile to get my foot out of my pedal with the bike and all the gear on top of me but I finally got it out and pushed my bones back into place and rode on.

I looked down into the grass and saw a hole and saw a snake in the hole. (See photos) Kind of lucky I guess. I don’t find a lot of snakes in holes usually. Anyway, I was pretty sure it was either a rare African Mosambiqui Pit Viper or maybe a Garter snake so I did what anyone would do and reached down and pulled him out of his hole. He was quite a friendly little fellow.

I finally made it to Fargo and just in time. My tires were falling apart pretty bad but they made it to the bike shop. I rode on those tires coming apart like that for over 200 miles so I was pretty glad when I got to the bike shop to replace them. I don’t know why I am having such good luck with tires. Anyway I have some new 700x32 Specialized Armadillo tires which hopefully will hold up.

I have seen some pretty country and miles and miles of row crops. I never knew corn was planted in fields measured in miles of length before. Never ending fields of crops. I have seen a lot of frogs and salamanders so if country health is measured by the number of frogs and salamanders, then North Dakota is pretty healthy.