Montana--80 mph, 100+ Degrees and the 47th State

 

Monday, August 16, 2021

Greetings from the land of the maskless.  I couldn’t believe it when I went down to breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express and the breakfast room was almost full of people eating.  And the only ones with masks were the guy who worked for the hotel and yours truly.  No wonder the Delta variant is causing a huge spike in the number of cases being experienced across the country.

After breakfast it was in the car to head to Miles City, Montana, almost 500 miles west of Fargo.  Google Maps said 6 hrs 27 minutes, so I figured eight hours with stops which would put me there around 3:30 p.m. (the time goes back an hour en route).  It turned out to be nine hours because I just made a few more stops than I had figured, so I arrived around 4:30. 

I had figured that I would get my “Tour de Miles City”done late afternoon.  However, when I checked the weather this morning for my destination it said that at 5 p.m. it would be 104 degrees!  So I figured with a late arrival and the heat it would make sense to do all my reorganizing and a load of wash this evening, get up early and ride at about 7:30 tomorrow and then head south to Fort Collins, Colorado.

As you can see from the attached shot of my dash board it was indeed 104 degrees outside, and notice the speed limit—80 mph!  When I got on I-94 this morning in North Dakota and it said 75 I thought that was fast!

The temperature just didn’t seem all that bad when I got here and I figured if I could get out by 5:30  my 13-mile ride would be done by 6:30 while it was still light enough.   

There is a lot of traffic along the main street where I’m staying.  In addition

to regular rush hour traffic there’s also traffic to and from the casinos mixed in with all the other businesses (not large Las Vegas type casinos.  Small, but drawing traffic nonetheless) so I wanted to get back when there was enough light to be seen.  I had figured out the course using ridewithgps.com and had both a cue sheet and the course loaded into my Garmin.  But when I went online to take a last look at the map it was suddenly showing several roads I planned to take as being gravel.  So I had to modify the route.  As a result I didn’t get out until 6 p.m.

The sun was trying to break through the haze which was, I think, primarily from the western forest fires.  From soon after leaving Fargo the sky had seemed hazy.  I headed south on the shoulder (lots of stones there) about a mile and a half where under the original route I would have turned right onto a road that would have headed up into a residential part of town, but that was indeed a gravel road. As I came back north on the shoulder of Route 59 it became clear that drivers in Montana don’t “think bicycle”.  At two side streets drivers looking my way began to roll—they seem to have looked right through me.  I wasn’t surprised which is why right from the beginning I approached side streets prepared to stop if there was a car coming out.

Back in town I headed over to the residential neighborhood that I thought I would have approached from the south had the road not turned out to be gravel.  Homes were very middle class but when I turned to go through another neighborhood they were small, not kept in very good condition.   

The former Miles City train station

Heading north again I saw the old Northern Pacific train station that had served Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha as late as 1979.  Just about then the wind picked up and the sky began to get dark in the west.  I debated heading right back to the hotel (I would have had to figure where I was going because the course in my Garmin and on the cue sheet headed toward the north side of down before coming back down to the hotel), but decided to continue even though the wind was getting stronger. 

At the north end of town I made a 180 degree turn as the wind blew harder—fortunately from behind me.  I breezed along, got back, and as I brought the bike into my room the loud clap of thunder told me that I had racked up my 47^th state just in time.

If you want to see the course ridden and the data click the following link: 

Tour de Miles City Info

Tomorrow will now be dedicated just to another day long drive to get me to Fort Collins, north of Denver.  If I get up early enough on Wednesday to take a ride in Fort Collins before going to the afternoon Padres-Rockies game I’ll rack up another ballpark and another state on the same day.  I’ll head to Glenwood Springs after the game, so if I don’t get to ride Wednesday morning, I’ll get Colorado as the 48^th state Thursday morning when I bike on the path along the Roaring Fork River.  The original plan to bike the trail through Glenwood Canyon was obliterated by the mudslide which blocked I-70 and damaged the bike trail about 10 days ago. Then it will be onto Salt Lake City for the Nevada, Utah and completion of my 50 state quest.

North Dakota--the 46th State!

 

Sunday, August 15,2021

Finally on the fifth day of my trip I got on the bicycle, and did the 15-mile "Tour de Fargo" (North Dakota) to get my 46^th state. 

My morning started in Eagan, MN (southern suburb of Minneapolis).  I had hoped to leave my friends Sheryl and David by 9:00 a.m.  It was closer to 10:00 a.m., so instead of being on the bike by 1:00 p.m. for my 15 mile ride I was not underway until about 2:15 p.m. I started along the Red River on a trail but soon left it to head into town.  There was a nice small town downtown, a restored railroad station, the campus of North Dakota State University and various neighborhoods with a range of styles of houses.  Overall the condition of the streets was only “fair” so between pavement cracks, traffic lights, and both a cue sheet and a GPS course that didn’t quite seem to match the roads, progress was a bit slow.  I went down a couple of streets and had to turn around and ended up in some places blazing a new course not planned for.  I knew it was warm but didn’t know until I downloaded the data from my computer that the average temperature was almost 93 degrees.

Here’s some pictures from around Fargo:

The trail along the Red River

Downtown Fargo

More Downtown Fargo

The Fargo Train Station Still Used by Amtrak

This one is for my daughter the triathlete

Some Neighborhoods

Where I-94 (which I came up on from Minneapolis) cuts through town I crossed the highway on a pedestrian and bicycle bridge that arcs over the road.  I came back through a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel a bit to the east.  It was then that I ended up at American Legion Park which has a loop road through it called Roger Maris drive, named for the famous baseball player who spent much of his childhood in Fargo.  Here’s the bridge, tunnel and Roger Maris Drive including the memorial to him in the park:

 

The tunnel under I-94
and the bridge over the highway

If you want to see the route of my “Tour de Fargo”, and the data about the ride, just click on this link:

 The Link to Today's Route

Before going to the hotel I went to West Acres Mall which in addition to the usual mall offerings of stores and restaurants, also has the Roger Maris Museum.  According to the signs it was dedicated with him in attendance in 1984, the year before he died.  He wanted it in the mall so that it was accessible to everyone and there is no charge for admission.  There is lots of Roger Maris memorabilia behind glass and a theater which shows a movie about him on a continuous loop.  From 1961 when he hit 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, there are small banners hanging from the ceiling along the edge of the museum which show the date and location where he hit each of the 61 home runs.  Here’s some glimpses of the museum:

Tomorrow morning it’s off on about an eight hour drive to Miles City,Montana.  I hope to get an early enough start so I can get there around 3:00 p.m. I get a bonus hour because I’ll pass into the Mountain Time Zone.  Then hopefully tomorrow afternoon I’ll do the “Tour de Miles City”and check off Montana from my list, leaving only Colorado, Utah and Nevada to go.  However, it’s supposed to be100 degrees tomorrow afternoon in Miles City so I may possibly wait and do the ride early on Tuesday morning and then head off on another eight hour drive—this one to Fort Collins, Colorado.

So it’s off to bed to prepare for an early start tomorrow as the pursuit of riding in all 50 states moves toward its hopeful completion by this coming weekend.

 

Racking Up the Miles

 August 12, 2021    

The miles were not on the bike today.  Again, more miles in the car.  Today was from Dayton, Ohio, through Indiana and Illinois and then north through Rockford to Janesville, WI.  This was my way to make an end run without having to drive through the Chicago area.

In Indianapolis I stopped at a Starbucks and met up with the daughter of a long time friend of mine. She recently moved to Indiana from Alabama as her husband, who is a newspaper editor, was transferred to the newspaper in Indianapolis.  She is a year older than my daughters and they haven't seen each other in years.  Here's the mug shot we took out in the parking lot between our two cars.  After I left I got to travel, for the second day in a row, through a pretty strong thunderstorm.  So for a second day, cloud photos are attached.

 

Tomorrow its a short two hour ride to Winona, Minnesota to have lunch with a former Amtrak colleague, and then onto the Twin Cities where I'll spend two nights with some friends that we met years ago when they lived in Maryland and went to the same synagogue we belonged to.  Saturday night we're going to a Minnesota Twins game (I have a Twins mask which will look much more in place in Target Field than it does at Nats Park in Washington.)   

Then Sunday it's off to Fargo to get the first of the five bike states.  Sunday night will probably be the next post to this blog.  

 So everybody have a good weekend and I'll spare you of more "car driving blog posts" for awhile! 

Bruce

The Road Trip Gets a Late Start. But it is now underway.

 

Wednesday, August 11

Today was the first day of the three week road trip to get the last five states to have ridden in all 50 and three of the four ballparks I need to have seen games in all 30 active MLB ballparks.  It was not a cycling day—it was just the first leg on my way to Minneapolis.  I had hoped to leave around 9:30 a.m.  It was almost a two hour late departure to go to Dayton.  I arrived at 8:00 p.m. after driving through a really scary storm around Zanesville,Ohio.  Dark clouds.  Driving rain so hard that most

people were driving with their flashers on at about 40 mph on I-70.  The wind started to blow everything around and the car felt like it wanted to go sideways.  Here’s a picture of the dark clouds ahead before I actually drove into the storm.

Tomorrow night I’ll be in Janesville, Wisconsin.  I will try to get an early enough start that I will be at the hotel in Janesville in time to watch the Field of Dreams game. I once thought I’d like to go to that game between the White Sox and Yankees at a small ballpark that has been built into the cornfield in Dyersville adjacent to the field from the Field of Dreams movie…but not with the average price that people are paying for a ticket topping $1,000.  TV will be fine for me at that price!

Some good news today.  Based on what I see online it looks like I-70 westbound into Glenwood Springs will be open by next Wednesday so I should be able to get there to do a ride on the bike path up the Roaring Fork River in the direction (but not enough time to ride the 44 miles to) Aspen.  Then a straight shot west to Salt Lake City to get Nebraska and Utah.

My first ride will be this Sunday in Fargo, so look for a report on that here on Sunday night.

The Go/No Go Decision

 

It has been a somewhat agonizing couple of days trying to figure out what I should do about this trip in the face of the Delta Variant of the Coronavirus.  Should I go?  Should I not go?  If I don’t go for the second straight year when I have my trip planned out will I ever go?  I’ve spoken to several people to get their take on how risky it is going, whether I’m being too anxious about it, or if wanting to go means I’m being too naïve.  Well, it wasn’t much help.  The opinions I got were all over the board from “You gotta live your life.  Go!” to “I don’t want to take a chance of losing a friend.  Wait till next year."

About 10 days ago I had made a change to the itinerary, replacing stops in southern Utah at Richfield (hotel night en route) and St. George (ride to check Utah off my list)and southeastern Nevada (Henderson—near Las Vega to complete the 50 states) with Ogden in northern Utah and West Wendover just across the border in Nevada.  The vaccination rates in that part of Utah and Nevada and the Covid infection rates looked a bit better that my original stops. 

So if I was flexible one time, I could be flexible again.  On Monday, 36 hours before I am supposed to leave, I decided to go.  The first part of the trip is not too concerning (although more than one person advised against going to the ballgame in Minnesota), but as I head further west I always have the option of turning around and heading back.  So I am going to leave here Wednesday morning with this itinerary planned.

Drive to Minneapolis (two nights en route and stopping to have lunch on Friday with an old Amtrak colleague and his wife in Winona, Minnesota.  Prior to Winona, all food consumed will be takeout.  Hotel rooms will be wiped with wipes from my two containers of Clorox wipes.   A few hours after leaving Winona, I’ll arrive at my friends’ home in Eagan, outside of the Twin Cities.  Saturday we’ll hang out and that night we’re going to see the Minnesota Twins (my team for the last 62 years since they were the Washington Senators) and their celebration of the 30^th anniversary of their last World Series (which I remember like it was yesterday!). 

Sunday morning I drive to Fargo, ND, and upon arrival will do a 15 mile ride through town and along the Red River and check off North Dakota.  After checking into the hotel I’m going to see the Roger Maris museum, and then Monday it’s a six hour drive to Miles City, Montana.  I’ll either do my ride basically throughout the town (I call it the Tour de Miles City) late Monday afternoon or first thing Tuesday morning.  Then it’s down to Fort Collins, CO, a bit north of Denver.  And here’s the first place where I will take stock of both the virus situation, and whether I-70 has reopened so that on Wednesday after going to the Colorado Rockies game I can get to Glenwood Springs.  If I can’t I’ll go back to Fort Collins (unless I decide that changes in the virus situation warrant a return home--in which case I'll probably head east into Kansas.).  Thursday I’ll do a Colorado bike ride in Fort Collins (I am really looking forward to riding at Glenwood Springs—I hope it works out) drive up through Wyoming to a night in Salt Lake City. If I am able to go to Glenwood I’ll leave there and head across Colorado after my ride, also to Salt Lake City.  Friday morning a 1 ½ hour drive will take me to West Wendover, Nevada for a local ride to get my fourth state, leaving just Utah.  If I have enough time I will drive around the Great Salt Lake and stop at Promontory Point, Utah at the Golden Spike museum (it’s a shame that as a former railroader I’ve never been there) before going to Ogden.  Saturday there is a paved bike trail from Ogden down to Salt Lake City on a former railroad right of way.  I’ll ride as far as I feel like, stop at one of the stations of the commuter rail system (Front Runner) and take the train back to Ogden with my bike onboard.

From there it will either be off to Texas for the Hotter n Hell Hundred bike ride and then a Texas Rangers game, or I'll head stright back home.

Bottom line is I’m going.  I assume I will get at least two of the five states I need (ND and MT) and maybe all five.  I’ll get several ballparks, and if I don’t cut out the Texas leg, I’ll also get Kansas City on the way home and will have all but one that I need—San Francisco.  That will be for 2022.

I’ll expect to be gone for somewhere between 1 ½ and either 2 ½ or 3 1/2 weeks.  Yes, flexibility is the rule of the day.  Except there’s one thing that I’m not flexible on.  Except in the car, on my bike and at my friends’ homes and in the hotel room, I will wear a mask.  And use Chlorox wipes and hand sanitizer liberally.  No flexibility on that.

There may be another post when I get to Minnesota, but if not there, definitely next Sunday night from Fargo, ND to report on (and have pictures) from my first state ride.

Thanks for reading.  And stay safe!

To Go or Not to Go. That is the Question.

 

No pictures for this one!

Next Wednesday (August 11) I am supposed to leave on my “road trip” to get the last five states I need to finish off my goal of riding in all 50 states.  But for the last two weeks I have been going back and forth between looking forward to the trip and getting ready to cancel it all.  Why?  Rising Covid cases,  “breakthrough” infections, and a concern that it’s now been over six months since I was vaccinated.

I think it’s pretty clear that the risk of getting Covid, albeit probably with mild symptoms, is increasing although still very low.  If I was simply going on this trip, riding in my car, going out and biking, and staying away from indoor restaurants, I probably wouldn’t be having the doubts that I am.  But I am also, as part of my parallel quest to see ballgames in all 30 active major league stadiums planning to go to games in Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas and Kansas City.  That puts me in crowds where the risk of contracting the virus increases.   I will absolutely feel the need to wear a mask whenever I’m at a ballpark (I wore one when I went to a game with my daughter Julie at Nats Park here in DC on Tuesday night).  I think I’ll feel . safe, although ballparks are clearly locations where the risk of getting infected is higher than on the bike or in the car.

I had already determined that my last two bicycle stops—St. George, Utah and Henderson, Nevada—were places where the percentage of those vaccinated was lower and the number of new infections was higher than I’d like.  So I’ve rearranged the western end of the trip.  I figured that once I left Glenwood Springs, where I would bike on the paved path through Glenwood Canyon, I’d head northwest toward the Salt Lake City area, doing a short ride in West Wendover, Nevada, just across the Utah/Nevada border and then go stay in Ogden, Utah where I’d ride down the bike trail the next day toward Salt Lake City to complete the 50 states.  As far as I decide to go I can then come back up to Ogden on the Front Runner commuter train which allows bicycles on board.  With the 50 state goal achieved, I’d head to Dallas, having to pass up the two night stay I had planned for Tucson.

But the other day I saw that Glenwood Canyon is closed, along with I-70 through the Canyon for getting to Glenwood Springs due to a major mudslide.  The closures are for an “indefinite” period.  I talked to the visitors bureau in Glenwood Springs which said the closures could be from three days to three weeks.  I will call tomorrow and find out what it looks like.  If getting to or from Glenwood is going to be too difficult, I may have to do yet another re-route.  Or I might just decide to only go as far as Denver, do a much less desireable ride in the Denver area, and then come home, leaving Utah, Nevada and three ballparks for next year. 

Monday is the day I have to make a final decision.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.  Stay tuned!

Bruce