The World is Flat

Day 32: Rugby to Devil's Lake, ND--63 miles

We got off to an early start because it was supposed to be VERY hot today. We were riding by 7:30 a.m. which was great. Nice and cool, and we're so glad we started when we did.

The ride was flat and straight and lined on both sides with ponds, lakes, and wetlands. I never expected North Dakota to be so green and lush (and mosquito-laden)! We saw many water birds and a small "island" of white pelicans. They were the animal highlight of the day. David took pictures and I hope we can post them. The animal lowlight was the large amount of roadkill we saw. Of course, when you're traveling on the shoulders at about 12 mph you get to see more of that stuff than in a car, and we were amazed at the number of birds that ate it on Rt 2.

At about 11:00 the heat was on! Even the breeze was like a heat blast--but we were thankful for any breeze we could get. We arrived as planned into Devil's Lake at about 1:00 p.m.--and only 2 hours into the real heat of the day. It only got hotter from there...

David worked on his tan lines (I have explained to him that the bike shorts leave a tan line at an awkward place on your legs because most shorts are a bit shorter than that, so he rolled up his bike shorts about 3 inches--much to my amusement! He is now tri-colored, but the biker's tan is getting better. I have a priceless picture that he doesn't want me to post, but I may just get him back for the duck picture of me! Ha!

We are still in "beer with taste" desert. David says "the world is flat and the beer is light." That should explain some things about the Midwest!

Since we arrived early into Devil's Lake, a VERY exciting thing happened! I upgraded my cell phone and no longer have the one that has been held together with duck tape since February! YAHOO! Feel free to call my fabulous new LG phone which they say is much more reliable than that awful Samsung that fell apart with no help from me...

It is great to get your riding done early in the day--just like it's great to get any work done. We celebrated by doing laundry (every 2 or three days like clockwork) and having dinner at a restaurant called Felix's. It looks like a castle and the service was fabulous! The local walleye fish is also a treat! We also went to see Ocean's 13 at the movies--a very good activity for a very hot day. It was a fun movie--a good summer flick. I almost feel like I'm on vacation!