Day 41: The rolling hills of ... North Dakota?

Fessenden, ND to McClusky, ND

Stats!
Miles biked today: 56.6
Total miles biked on trip: 1593.3
Max speed: 26 mph
# of birds that saw giant targets on our heads: 2
# of times we successfully dodged bird “bombs”: 2
# of drive-by soda offers: 1
# of hills climbed (each dubbed “Mt. North Dakota” by us): 26

We started out from Fessenden this morning with a song in our hearts. It was beautiful, warm (but not too warm), and clear. There was a little bit of wind, but for the first 15 miles or so, we weren't going against it. We sang and rode together down the very empty road, having a grand time. When we had almost gotten to our first turn, a pick-up truck slowed down and the driver shouted at us, “Do you need a cold water or pop?” We said no thanks, but it was nice of him to offer!

We turned south, and the wind was against us. It's also when the hills started. We climbed hill after hill after hill today. I am trying to think of it as good practice for the Rockies. And even though the wind was against us, it was pretty mellow.

At around 30 miles in, we stopped for lunch at the Dairy King in Hurdsfield. When we walked in, every single person turned to stare at us. I think they are not used to having strangers in. We had a nice lunch and eavesdropped on everyone's talk about the flooding in Minot (pronounced “my knot,” rhymes with, “why not?”) and the surrounding areas. A lot of people are blaming Canada for the flooding, since the water is flowing south from Saskatchewan. We heard people in Fessenden and Hurdsfield talking angrily about Canada, and the news reports constantly remind viewers that Canadians are not to blame. There's still a lot of anti-Canada sentiment around here, and in Fessenden they were saying that they wanted to flood Saskatchewan in retaliation. Weird.

After lunch, we headed west again. A little ways in, a dog started chasing us. We have dog repellent (pepper spray, more or less), but I never want to use it unless it's really necessary. My year living in Thailand (where there are a ton of mangy dogs) taught me that dogs will stop chasing you if you stop, and there's nothing to chase. So we stopped and the dog stopped chasing, but kept slowly approaching, barking, wagging his tail madly, clearly having the time of his life. Dean shouted, “Go on! Go home! Bad dog!” and his wagging tail slumped, he hung his head and lumbered home. I felt bad for him. He wasn't really a bad dog. :(

A few miles farther down the road, we encountered bird bedlam. Three hawks were fighting each other in the sky. Screeching and soaring and diving and biting each other – it was crazy. Another kind of bird (not sure what kind) kept following Dean. There were two together, and one kept flying back and forth, seeming very interested in Dean. We thought it was cool, and we were watching it fly alongside (above) us, and soon I shouted, “Look out! It's POOOPINNNG!” Dean swerved and avoided a direct hit, just barely! Then it flew off, clearly in defeat.

So we climbed hills and we climbed hills and we climbed hills some more. Everything hurt. Numb fingers, sore muscles, knees, thumbs, butts, feet … everything. I don't know why today was so hard – I guess we're out of practice on hills. But anyway, we're here and fed and we've washed our laundry (for free!) and we're ready for another day on the road tomorrow. I think we'll be in North Dakota another week.

We're both getting homesick. I am definitely the worse of the two – Dean's just bored of North Dakota, but I am really homesick. I want to see our house and our families and our cat and wear makeup and play roller derby and take naps eat healthy, normal-sized meals and all do the wonderful at-home things you can do. I miss you all!