August 7: Route 1804: A bit too “Lewis & Clark” for me

                             

                                             Lawrence Welk grew up near Strasburg, ND

So last time I posted my experience for lodging in Pollock, South Dakota. Pollock is the last town, actually the last of anything in SD. Talking with some of the locals, my concerns were confirmed: between Pollock and Bismarck ND, along Highway 1804 - my route on the bike mapI s- there are no services at all. This is a ride of two days.  Which meant carrying food and water on the bike, enough for two days.  And of course, if I have a bike breakdown, well who knows??  When this vacation started I remembered thinking it would be fun to somewhat relive in a modern fashion, the L & C experience. Meaning being self sufficient for food and other necessities.  However at this point, that didn’t seem fun at all! I’ve been spoiled by my lifestyle. And L & C had guns and abundant game which  provided them their meals.

It was also in Pollock that I met the only other cross country cyclist along my journey. Her name was Triva, from North Carolina, and riding across America. But neither of us realized what that entailed, in this part of the country.  The option was add twenty miles to the route, and jog east back to venerable US 83, the road which would be my companion all the way to Minot. At least there were a couple small towns on Highway 83.  That was my choice, and later I found out that Triva had made the same choice.

So another ten miles back east - seems like I’ve been doing that a lot lately on a trip with the objective of the Pacific Ocean. A benefit though was that I had a chance to visit Strasbourg, ND, which was the boyhood home of Lawrence Welk. I didn’t go to the actual residence, since it was off my route a ways, and the day was getting hot again.

The second town I visited was Linton, which is a county seat; population about 1000, so a moderately sized town by ND standards.  I opted for Don’s Motel, which turned out to be a nice place, and probably half the price of the chain hotel across the street. I found myself doing that quite often on the trip, since the cost for sleeping was my biggest expense. Don was very friendly, and gave me some important information; I decided to spend a second night there.   There was actually a heavy rainstorm in the morning, so staying there was a good idea.  The next ride was going to be a long one,  65 miles to get to Bismarck. 

Linton was a another prototype small town, like so many others on this vacation. Usually only one place available to get a meal in the evening, invariably a bar and grill place. That’s where everyone went of course. So many times, I would meet for a second time a person that I met earlier in the day, in the town.  I ended up eating a lot of fried food on the trip. All these menus seem to look the same after while. There was actually a pizza restaurant in Linton, that was my first choice. But it closed at 7:00PM on Friday’s, and didn’t even open on Saturdays.  One surprising aspect of these small towns, with populations From 500 to 1000. They all had municipal swimming pools, and they were always open.  It reminded me of my childhood, and how we would pass the summer. Keeping cool at the local pool.  It’s surprising to me how few of the towns near where I live have municipal pools. McFarland does not. Even Madison had no local outdoor pool until relatively recently. One more note: the pools in South Dakota all had high diving boards, another throwback to my youth. 

Miles: 39

North progress: 25.2 miles  West progress: negative 2.5 miles

Elevations: max: 1820;  min: 1629

Max speed: 24.8 mph

                            So many sunflowers, I didn’t know they were such an important crop.

                    North Dakota likes to let you know when you’ve crossed the state line.

           South Dakota, not so much.  My entry into SD, back near Elk Point, had no state line sign at all.

                                                                   My Covid profile.