First of all, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this journey with their comments. It really helps me to know that people are interested and following along. It also helps me stay focused on getting blog posts out every day. Some days, like today, I have plenty of time to put together a post and other days, it’s been more of a scramble. Lastly, by commenting, I feel you are joining me for a small part of the adventure.

Yesterday, in the evening, a second cyclist showed up at the Honey Hub. I’ll be darned if I can remember his name, but he was cycling the Northern Tier route in sections. Last year, he cycled from the west coast near Vancouver, if I remember right, to Glacier National Park. This year he is going from Glacier to Chicago in time to see his mom graduate from college. I believe he said he works for Google in the Silicon Valley.

Todays journey started early, as I believed the weather forecast predicted an easterly wind of up to 15 MPH in the afternoon and I wanted to get as far east as possible before it kicked up. My plan was to get to the Little Yellowstone County Park Campground today, which was due east on highway 46 about 54 miles away. Since my roommate for the night said he was a late riser, I quietly gathered my gear from the Honey Hub, packed my bike and peddled over to the town park for a cold breakfast of Granola, almonds and raisins. By 6:30 I was on the road.

Cycling conditions this morning were about good as it gets. The terrain was flat, very light tailwind, very light traffic, the road had been recently paved and there was a wide shoulder. I had my old Trek in high gear and for much of the time, we must have been moving along at close to 20 miles per hour. No real time for reflection, as the great cycling became the focus of my attention.

By 10 O’clock, I had covered 50 miles and reached the only business on that part of the route, a convenience store and gas station. I bought water and an ice cream, and also had my lunch. My original planned stopping point was only 5 miles down the road, so I considered going further. The next possible camping place was the Enderlin town park, about another 20 miles on. Since I had most of the day to cover those twenty miles, I decided that would be my campground for the day.

Due to higher temperatures, a bit more traffic and narrower shoulders, the riding wasn’t quite so nice as in the early morning, but I made to Enderlin’s town park by 12:30. That easterly wind never materialized, I wonder if I misread the forecast or if the weatherman messed up.

Total mileage for the day, 74 miles, far more than I had planned on. Total mileage 1699. Tomorrow I believe it very llikely that I will be able to reach Minnesota.