Hugs, butterflies and road construction 

9/7 70 miles from Bismarck ND to Napoleon ND

I like North Dakota because you can bike from desert to desert. There is a bake shop in this town so we will see what they have.

I would have liked to go for more miles today but we are quickly back in to low option, no services land. Tomorrow we are supposedly facing a strech of 78 miles with no services. Dearly missing my support crew.  Seems like recently we are either 100 or 75. So 175 / 2 works out.

We faced a terrible 13 mile stretch of road milling, tarring and paving. No other options but a cautious and shitty crossing.  Crap all over our tires, bikes and socks. John’s bike wouldn’t shift correctly afterward because he had a pebble tarred to his derailer. It works fine now.

After that fun we had lunch at the Road Hawg in Hazelton. Homemade pie and potato salad. While we were there Margaret Watkinson walked in and asked us right away about our bike trip as she saw our bikes outside. The first thing she said is “I like bikers. They are good people.” She then gave us both a big hug. They see a few XC bikers in the small town as it on the Northern Tier route.

There were small butterflies all over the place today. They looked like miniature Monarchs but I really don’t know what they are.  I asked John what they were and he said how the hell should I know, you’re the one who grew up on a farm.