My campsite last night was really nice. Shaded and no bugs (that surprised me). Didn’t see Mr. Bloom this AM and didn’t want to ring doorbell at 7AM so didn’t get a chance to thank him once again for his hospitality.

As we progress east, there are more crop lands and less range land.

I discovered the downside to riding on Interstate yesterday. The exit/entrance ramps could be a tad bit dangerous…especially in a metro area. I didn’t have any problems but not many people exiting or entering from these country roads.

Crop duster coming in hot! I thought he was going to tailhook the wires in 2nd pic. Before I got close enough to take pics, he went under on a pass.

Stopped for breakfast at small cafe in Hebron. I believe there may be some folks of German heritage in the area.

Corn is not looking good. This is probably worst I saw. Guessing they will chop this up for feed because they won’t get much of a yield.

Stopped in New Salem (33 miles from Bismarck) about 3. I was pretty beat. I had lunch at a small cafe. It was 24 miles to next potential stop and storms forecast for tonight. I needed to be indoors tonight.

I was doubting whether I could make another 24 miles. It’s easy in the morning, a bit more difficult midday, and really difficult late in the afternoon.

There was a small motel next to cafe. I decided I’d stay there. It would make getting to Bristol on Thursday extremely difficult, if not impossible, but I was really tired.

There was 1 car in parking lot so I assumed it would be no problem getting a room. NOT! Fully booked with roadies setting up for a 3 day country music fest down the road. Bummer for me.

No choice but to suck it up and pedal the 24 miles to Mandan. I knew it would not be a fun couple of hours.

I could see the storm clouds gaining on me as I rode. Got rained on a couple different times but didn’t really bother me. In fact, it was a bit refreshing

These cows were making all kinds of noise and coming from all over the pasture to congregate. As I was stopping to take pic, I wondered if they were doing this because of approaching storm. Loud crack of lightening as soon as I got stopped. Guess they knew something.

I had about 8 miles to go. Got a second wind and pedaled as fast as I could for the next half hour.

Got to a motel 10 minutes before it started pouring…along with thunder and lightning.

Glad I got those miles in now that I’m here. About 245 miles to Bristol. Way better than 270.

3 more days of 80+ miles. That’s a lot and I’ve been going pretty hard the last several days but it’s possible. If I don’t make it, I’ll be really close.

Ride on.

Just Pete