Jean Nouvel's Guthrie Theatre
Jean Nouvel's Guthrie Theatre
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
June 25, Long Prairie to St.Cloud, Minnesota, 86 miles
Left the campground at 9.30 and had breakfast at a local restaurant on main street where I got my fill of coffee and pancakes. Then visited the library where they usually have free internet access.
Headed east out of town on a reasonably busy highway 27 which had probably the worst surface I've come across so far. Pulled into Little Falls 27 miles later where I stopped again for steak. Eating out is generally less than half the price of what one can expect at home.
In Little Falls I had my first crossing of the Mississippi which I'm going to be following to Minneapolis and beyond.
Route finding out of Little Falls needed a little attention - trying to avoid the particularly busy highway. Eventually found a quite side road which was heading the rightway. I'm now heading directly south towards Minneapolis. This was particularly trying given the strong headwind for most of the day. 86miles at 12mph isnt fun.
Then the big one- 2000 miles on the odometre! This represents the halfway point on the journey. It is quite timely as I'm about 3 days short of the halfwaypoint-timewise.
The landscape on the backroads proved a good distraction from the headwind. I saw mature wheatfields for the first time today. Temperatures were in the high 80's F. It can as a relieft when I got an unexpected spray of water from a field irrigation system.
Stopped in a small town called Rice for some more 'nose-bag'- before the final 26mile cycle to the far side of St.Cloud.
Headed east out of town on a reasonably busy highway 27 which had probably the worst surface I've come across so far. Pulled into Little Falls 27 miles later where I stopped again for steak. Eating out is generally less than half the price of what one can expect at home.
In Little Falls I had my first crossing of the Mississippi which I'm going to be following to Minneapolis and beyond.
Route finding out of Little Falls needed a little attention - trying to avoid the particularly busy highway. Eventually found a quite side road which was heading the rightway. I'm now heading directly south towards Minneapolis. This was particularly trying given the strong headwind for most of the day. 86miles at 12mph isnt fun.
Then the big one- 2000 miles on the odometre! This represents the halfway point on the journey. It is quite timely as I'm about 3 days short of the halfwaypoint-timewise.
The landscape on the backroads proved a good distraction from the headwind. I saw mature wheatfields for the first time today. Temperatures were in the high 80's F. It can as a relieft when I got an unexpected spray of water from a field irrigation system.
Stopped in a small town called Rice for some more 'nose-bag'- before the final 26mile cycle to the far side of St.Cloud.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
June 20, Rugby to Pekin, North Dakota, 105 miles
Today was a day of two halves - and very long halves at that.
Rode the first 50 miles on highway 2 to Devils lake. The main roads here are referred to as 'highways' which are legal and reasonably safe to cycle on - these are different to the 'freeways' or 'interstates' which are their motorways. The scenery was interesting however this particular stretch started to become quite unrelenting - 50 miles of riding in the hardshoulder is quite gruelling.
Coming into Devils Lake I met up with another cross country rider who is raising funds for Lance Armstrongs Cancer charity. His mother-in-law was driving alongside him for the entire journey together with all his gear and equipment. Lightweight!
I ate a humungous pasta and salad combo at the pizza hut restaurant in Devils Lake at lunchtime before getting back on the bike.
The second half of the day took me down quiet rural country roads. These roads always seem to run driecty east-west or north-south. The scenery is gradually changing from plains to hilly dairy farming landscape.
Mid afternoon I stopped in Warick - another tiny American farming town in the middle of nowhere. Dropped into a local bar for a 7up and to get out of the heat. Surprisingly the locals at these bars are always very friendly. Always get asked where I'm heading to. The cross country cycling thing generally gets peoples good sides out.
Finished the day at a B&B in an equally small town of Pekin. Just another stop off along the way.
June 19, Minot to Rugby, North Dakota, 61 miles
I had a couple of things to do in Minot today so I left late about 5pm for the 60 mile cycle to Rugby -the geographical centre of north America !!
Thankfully the cycling today would be reasonably easy with a favourable tailwind behind me so I averaged close to 20mph and arrived into Rugby about 9pm having stopped for breaks at the only 2 towns along the way (Granville and Towner).
Weather today sunny but not opressively so. Rugby has a schoolbus workshop about 1 mile before town so all I could see for about 500 meters was hundreds and hundreds of yellow school buses parked artistically in the empty fields.
5 miles be fore town I passed a sign which read 'Geographic centre of north America-5miles' which I thought was an ammusing concept. Rugby is the geographical centre of north America - on both axis! In the centre of town to mark this point is a rather naff little stone obelisk . Although I still have another 300 miles of cycling before I get to the centre point of the trip as the home leg is less direct.
Thankfully the cycling today would be reasonably easy with a favourable tailwind behind me so I averaged close to 20mph and arrived into Rugby about 9pm having stopped for breaks at the only 2 towns along the way (Granville and Towner).
Weather today sunny but not opressively so. Rugby has a schoolbus workshop about 1 mile before town so all I could see for about 500 meters was hundreds and hundreds of yellow school buses parked artistically in the empty fields.
5 miles be fore town I passed a sign which read 'Geographic centre of north America-5miles' which I thought was an ammusing concept. Rugby is the geographical centre of north America - on both axis! In the centre of town to mark this point is a rather naff little stone obelisk . Although I still have another 300 miles of cycling before I get to the centre point of the trip as the home leg is less direct.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
June 18, New Town to Minot, North Dakota, 74 miles
Headed east out of town on Highway23 this morning after the usual epic breakfast. How would you like your eggs?
I had a 30mph hour tailwind for the first 57 miles which I did in about 2 hours. I hit a top speed today of 37mph thanks to the tailwinds. The roadsurface is not that great on this particular stretch so I have to keep vigilant. The first 57 miles headed east without a single bend except for one peculiar diversion around a lake of approx 1mile.
Then the fun started as I had to turn 90 degrees left onto Highway 83 to get to the town of Minot 17 miles down the road. This 17 mile stretch too longer than the first 57 as I was now riding into a strong crosswind.
Ended the day in Minot. The town of a Minot is a reasonably large town and is typically American. A 6 lane carriageway is the main 'street' with the usual array of burger joints, tyre centres (they really love them here) and cash advance services. Stayed at a Days Inn which had the luxury of an indoor pool and jacuzzi! The hotels are usually relatively cheap and are a welcome relief given that I camp most nights.
I had a 30mph hour tailwind for the first 57 miles which I did in about 2 hours. I hit a top speed today of 37mph thanks to the tailwinds. The roadsurface is not that great on this particular stretch so I have to keep vigilant. The first 57 miles headed east without a single bend except for one peculiar diversion around a lake of approx 1mile.
Then the fun started as I had to turn 90 degrees left onto Highway 83 to get to the town of Minot 17 miles down the road. This 17 mile stretch too longer than the first 57 as I was now riding into a strong crosswind.
Ended the day in Minot. The town of a Minot is a reasonably large town and is typically American. A 6 lane carriageway is the main 'street' with the usual array of burger joints, tyre centres (they really love them here) and cash advance services. Stayed at a Days Inn which had the luxury of an indoor pool and jacuzzi! The hotels are usually relatively cheap and are a welcome relief given that I camp most nights.
Monday, June 18, 2007
June 16, Wolf Point to Williston, North Dakota 95 miles
Hit the road about 10.30am although had been intending to get out earlier given the intended mileage. Was hoping that the winds would be favourable to me but unfortunately I would be cycling against heavy headwinds all day.
Todays route took me 70 miles through the Fort Peck Indian reservation (one of the many that I've passed through). Yesterday a waitress at a restaurant had seen me looking at maps and advised me not to stop in any of the reservation towns as they were supposed to be pretty lawless.
The landscape was extremely undulating all day and therefore had a lot of climbing to do. I had been expecting flat plains similar to Montana but was quite surprised. It would be like cycling for 95 miles through a hillier version of Ballybunion golf course. Long green grasses under dark skies.
I stopped at a small petrol station after 30 miles to top up on food and water. An Indian guy there advised me to take an alteration to the main route which turned out to be a good thing as it was far less hilly and less busy. 20 miles down the road while still in the reservation a car pulled up beside me. The guy behind the wheel was a native Indian and just pulled up to say hello. When I told him I was Irish he was duly impressed and got out of his car. He told me his Indian name was 'Running Brave' and that he was Sioux. Indians always seem to shake hands with their left hands.
Continued on to a town called Cullbertson where I ate a 2 person pizza before heading out for the last 35 miles of the day. The skies behind me have been looking very ominous all day. Eventually hit the state border about 7.00pm and took a photo at the state welcome sign. This is the third time zone that I'm travelling through so I had to wind my watch forward an hour. This meant that I would be getting into Williston quite late about 10pm.
4 miles outside of Williston a guy in a pick up truck pulled up in front of me and advised me that he had just heard an tornado warning for the area. He said I'd probably outrun it but I could throw the bike in the back of his pick up if I wanted a lift to town. Reluctantly I took up on his offer having quickly decided to come back to the same spot in the morning and take up where I stopped.
Got left off in Williston (locals always seem to go out of their way to help complete strangers). Given the tornado warning I decided to look for a cheap hotel of which there are plenty. Unfortunately, even though Williston is a large sized town every single one was booked up. Turns out that the Miss North Dakota final was on that night. So I cycled 3 miles north of town under thunder and lighting to the local RV/Campground. There was 1 other tent there and numerous motor homes. Put up the tent near the laundry block which I knew I could bail to if things got really nasty. The rains came just as I was settling into my sleeping bag along with nearly 3 hours of constant thunder and lightning. The tornado never came and ultimately I got a solid 8 hours sleep.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
June 12, Shelby to Havre, Montana, 107.5 miles
grain silos
The road to Boston
1000 miles !!!!
'Big Sky Country'Left the campground early this morning in anticipation of todays reasonably long ride. Luckily I had a constant tailwind all day which kept my average speed above 20miles per hour. Top speed today was 39mph.
I am now firmly in the 'plains' and the Rockies have all but dissapeared into the horizon. The logging trucks have dissapeared but they've been replaced by grain trucks.
Stopped for luch in a town called Chester after about 50 miles. Later at about 80miles I stopped at a tiny town called Gildford and sat on a bench outside the local store. An elderly farmer approached me with the usual curiosity. When I mentioned that I was from Ireland he asked me how come my English was so good. I imagine he had never been out of his home town let alone the US.
Finished the day in the university town of Havre where I got a room in the local university which was free! (although they said they usually charge)
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