Eliot just wanted to say how proud he is of you guys.

We tell him about what you guys are doing everyday during our good night time (when we tell him about all the people who love him).

Miles = 92

Cooperstown, ND  – Fargo, ND

Last day in ND.  Gusts of wind up to 40mph going NW to SE.  It was a love-hate relationship with the wind.  For the most part today, we were headed slightly SE, so the wind helped us.  However, sometimes we had to go a few miles directly S and the crosswinds slowed us down quite a bit.

Stayed with the Schneider family’s relatives, Don and Dorothy Jordan.  So refreshing to shower in a place where you don’t have to put a quarter in every 2 minutes….half-tempted to stay in there for 45 minutes just because we could.  Explained our story around a delicious home-cooked meal.  Wish we had a refrigerator to take the leftovers with us.  Such a warm family!

Miles = 155

Velva, ND – Cooperstown, ND

Spent the day with John and Jerry.  It was great to spend time talking and getting to know them better; makes the time go by faster too!  INCREDIBLE TAILWINDS!!!  In case you didn’t take the time to read the number of miles at the top of this blog, we cycled ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE miles today!!!  Enough said. 

Here’s some of the scenery we saw:

Mi = 52

Makoti, ND – Velva, ND

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Not a good morning.  Woke up to a severe thunderstorm around 4:30am.  Water puddled up on the ground beneath our tent and seeped up through the waterproof flooring.  We made a run for the firehouse feeling SO thankful that the bartender gave us the secret punch-code to the door in case of severe weather.  Nothing like a self-tour of the firehouse at 4:30 in the morning.  After about 45 mins, we curled up on a row of chairs and fell asleep for another hour. 

When we got up, we laid our things out in the sun while we had breakfast and then packed it up and left.  Terrible headwind today.  Caught up to Jerry and John and were able to form two lines–one breaking the wind and the other drafting.  This gave us some relief, but we were still moving slowly, feeling as if we were on a treadmill–pushing hard and not going anywhere.  About 30 miles into the ride, we came to a fork in the road…stay with the route map we’d been following, which takes us up and around Devil’s Lake, or make our own route by continuing straight, cutting out over 60 miles.  Took a risk and went our own way, happy that John and Jerry followed…we were in it together till we got back on the map. 

Pulled up to a town called Velva looking for a place to stay.  We headed into the city park, which is right next to the public pool.  Spent an hour or so at the pool to celebrate Matt’s birthday–way more fun than the morning and day had been.  They had a covered, winding slide, similar to that of at a theme/water park.  After we got out and showered, we asked the people at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church if they would mind if we used their washer & dryer.  Ask and you shall receive.  Sweet-smelling clothes once again!  While we waited for the clothing to dry, we learned that there were severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for the night.  Went to the city hall for advice.  Again…ask and you shall receive.  The two women there listened to our story and handed us the key to the city hall, where we could camp on the carpet of the large conference room.  Cell phone signals were back up and we could check-in with our loved ones at home.

Jerry took us out for a steak dinner for Matt’s birthday!  He gave us a toast, “Here’s to the birthday of a man who could convince his wife to trek across the country on a bicycle and raise thousands of dollars for a worthy cause!”  John took us out to dessert.  Steak AND ice cream!  Happy Birthday, Matty!

Mi = 80

Lake Sacacawea, ND – Makoti, ND

Left the teepee (tipi) about 8:45am…a bit of a late start.  47 miles till we hit any form of commercial entity.  We didn’t fill up on water before we left; we were told it’s flat from here on east.  That was a lie!  We hit a lot more of those WHOPPERS (Heaven’s highways)from yesterday.  We decided that they need escalators.  You should be able to hook your bicycle onto a belt that pulls you to the top, the way you can in snow-tubing.  When our brains were finished rambling hatred at the hill we were climbing and the seceding hill we could see as we reached the top of each one, we had finally come upon a town.  We filled up with ice and water, bough a huge Gatorade, and had lunch.  Tempted to stay after the 47 miles of rolling high hills, we pushed on another 33 miles to Makoti in order to pick up our next mail drop of food.  Jonathan “booked it” ahead of the old fogie to make it there by 4:30 when the post office closed.  He made it.  No sooner had we arrived across the street to the city park then it started to rain Xlarge rain drops.  We put up the ten as fast as we could, threw the rain-fly over it, and ran to the only open place in the tiny town –the bar.  We stayed for a while; Matt and Jon were ecstatic to watch the Phillies on TV!!

Mi – 72

Culbertson, Montana  – Lake Sacacawea (not Sacajawea), NORTH DAKOTA!!!!

Biked straight through except to holler and dance when we crossed into North Dakota. We took a picture with Jerry and John there.  Feels like we’ve been in Montana forever!!  Should only be about 6 days in ND and then the states go by rather quickly (we clip a lot of corners).  Stopped for lunch to replace 2 broken spokes on Laureen’s bike.  A friendly lady ahead of us in line asked us about where we were going, as most people do when they see us hobbling along carrying 40lbs of gear.  She responded “and you do it all with a smile, right?”  We were quite serious when we replied, “Well, we’re bicycling to raise money for an orphanage in Kenya and that’s all the motivation we need.”  Our conversation shortly ended, we made our lunch choices, and got in line to pay.  Little did we know the generous woman ahead of us slipped the cashier a $20 to cover our lunch.  It is motivating to see how touched people become by our story.  They can be so generous! 

After we got back on the road, we hit some WHOPPING hills!  Some of them were so steep we called them “Heaven’s highway” because it looked like we were headed straight up. 

We are staying in an AUTHENTIC NATIVE AMERICAN TEEPEE (TIPI) TONIGHT. 

Mi = 92

Nasua, MT – Culberston, MT

Helen and Bob Heikens invited us to coffee at the senior citizen center in the morning (they must not have been checking ID).  Said “goodbye,” picked up our mail drop of food, and headed out of town.  Fairly easy day today.  Gentle winds were at our back today.  Mostly flat–a few small rolling hills during the last 6 miles. 

Passed through some creepy towns.  We were told not to stop there for long…heard alcohol and meth have rotted the townies’ brains.  Ran into Jerry and John again.  Great to catch up and socialize with people sharing the same experience.  It bonds you before you really even know one another.

Badlands of Montana–not much will grow there, but they sure form beautiful scenery:

Can you read this??  (Think South) 

Jawn (Sparacio) meeit uh mayun nimed Jeeum, hose frum Tayxis.  Hay loovs hays ayxaint.  Nayow hay caint stup token lok hay’s frum Tayxis.  Eets ketchay teeoo.  Weez owl bayn token lok weez frum Tayxis fur dies.  HAHA

Miles = 0

Mail drop is coming in Nashua, Montana and the post office is not open until tomorrow.  Have to stay here for another night.  It will be our first rest day.  It’s a tiny town, so we were expecting to be bored.  Wow, were we wrong!!!

“Come to me all who labor and are weary and I will give you rest”  This was the gospel message at church this morning.  We began our day following a cross, which we’ve coined a “Jesus-stick”; we were hoping it led us to a Catholic church and that we were early enough for a mass.  A young priest greeted us and we asked if we could still receive the Holy Eucharist even though we had missed mass 2 weeks in a row.  He said, “C’mon, let’s celebrate a sacrament right now.”  So we got to celebrate Reconciliation AND go to mass.  Still 40 minutes until mass began, we decided to pray a rosary.  An older couple, Ed and Sheila Malone, overheard us praying the rosary on our fingers and handed each of us wooden rosaries, hand-carved and blessed in the Holy Land of Medugorje, as well as an invitation to breakfast.  We traveled down the rocky, dirt road to their house where Lady Louise, their springer spaniel, greeted us.  (Her hyperness reminded us of our Guiseppe…we miss him!!)  Sheila made bacon omelettes from the eggs given to her after mass by the local farmer.  After we ate and socialized a bit, they invited us back for brownies and laundry that evening.

Bob and Helen Heikens (seen above) took us for an adventure in the afternoon.  Our 1st sight-seeing trip in a car was out to the largest earth-filled dam in the world, called Fort Peck.  We went to the museum there and observed the largest T-Rex fossil collection.  This area of Montana was the main home for T-Rex.  Before we got to see the actual dam, we took a tour of the powerhouse.  They drove us to all different observation points where we could look out over the plains at the dam, the powerhouse, and reservation tanks.  At one point, we could see the entire quaint little town.  Bob and Helen took turns pointing out each person’s home and giving us a little history of the lives each person led.  This is small town at its best!

Later on, we went back to the Malone’s house to visit once again.  Sheila took the laundry and did it for us.  She even folded it!

What a great day this turned out to be…and we thought we’d be twiddling our thumbs and playing cards in the park all day.  We exchanged addresses with both the Heikens and the Malones–they want to put us on their Christmas card list.  We’ll do the same!

Miles = 84

Malta, MT to Nashua, MT

Weather = 20-30mph winds BUT they were headed our direction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW, what a difference!  Definitely made up for those miles we’ve been short of.  Yesterday it took us all day and all our strength to ride 60+ miles.  Today, we hit 60 before lunch and hardly broke a sweat.  Wind is a lovely thing when it pushes you along!

One downer of the day was traveling through Saco, MT.  Everyone here in Montana calls it the “mosquito capital of the world”.  As we passed through the small town and the wide-open range surrounding it, we were swarmed by mosquitoes like bees around a hive…..AND we were going 18-21 mph!!! 

Camping in another city park tonight.  Although we usually set up our tent under a pavillion (if avail.), tonight we decided not to because there is a wide hallway between the bathrooms and showers.  It’s possibly big enough to be a lounge area complete with a pull-out couch (if of you in Nashua would like to consider it.    )  Instead, we set our sleeping bags on the nicely painted, clean, bug-free floor.  Aside from being concrete, we had plenty of room to be comfy.  It wold be a beautiful night for sleeping under the stars, but the gnats around here are terrible!  We’re just glad they aren’t mosquitoes.

Miles = 68

Chinook, MT to Malta, MT

Weather = HOT HOT HOT and WINDY!

Not smooth today at all; another frustrating day.  After yesterday, our patience for the ride has been running thin, and today, there was so much wind AGAINST us that we felt as if were on a treadmill–pushing as hard as we could but getting no where.  On top of the wind, the temperature on my bicycle read 106.  No one talked much, just cycled through the heat into the wind.  We had to stop in 5 mile intervals for a break. 

A severe thunderstorm warning with 60mph winds and possible baseball-sized hail was on for tonight’s 4th of July.  We decided to stop at $50 hotel, expecting to get the “sketchiness” we paid for.  What a surprise it was to find a room so beautiful, modern, and clean!  A kitchenette complete with refrigerator, microwave, and kitchen sink was available.  Nice not to have to do dishes in the bathroom!

The boys like to wrestling while giggling in their spare time. 

Don’t know where they find the energy.  It must be related to the testosterone indicating that they need to demonstrate dominance.