Day 28: Easterlies, Grain Bins, God's Country, Mega-Moo

Day 28:  Thursday July 3rd, 2014.
Dickinson, ND to New Salem, ND.  75.3 miles.

Back on the road and feeling a bit energetic after a nice day of rest, I road North out of the campground to Old Highway 10. As I turned right to head East, my day, my plan for progress and my destination would be redefined. Hitting me in the face were 10-15 mph winds from the East, with 20 mph gusts. The winds in the days prior to reaching Dickinson in record time had made a complete reversal. This was going to be a challenging day that would feel as though I was riding uphill for the next 75 miles. 

As I rode out of town and back into farmland, there was very little traffic. Most of the oil boom activity was to the West of Dickinson. The miles went by slowly. The landscape has been dissected into perfect squares, each square was 1 square mile, with the borders of these squares defined by the roads.  The U.S. Public Land Survey System, otherwise known as the Township and Range system, left a lasting imprint on the land from the time it was established in the area. For me, it meant that I didn't need mile markers to know where I was, or how far I had gone.  Each time I passed an intersecting road, I knew I had advanced another mile.

A few miles outside of the town of Richardton (pop. 529), I passed a monastery.

Surrounded by beautiful landscaping, it was perched on the edge of a hill that had expansive sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. 

Then, as I approached Richardton, I could see the dual steeples of a large church sticking out prominently above the tree canopy of the surrounding town. 

Entering the town, the railroad tracks were on the right and the quaint homes that were full of character were on the left. 

I made a left turn to get a close-up view of what seemed to be an out-of-place massive cathedral for such a small town.  It was St. Mary's church, built in 1909. 

When I rode up to the front, a woman headed inside saw me taking pictures and said, "You know, it's even more beautiful inside. You should come in and take a look."  Wearing bike shorts and a jersey, I thanked her and told her that I wasn't dressed for it. But, she insisted. The inside was amazing, and a marble plaque at the entrance told a bit of the history of the church in Latin. 

I then went to the local bar for lunch (the only business serving food in town on this Thursday). While there, I chatted with a few of the locals, two gentlemen in their 70's at the end of the bar. One of them told me that his Grandfather helped build the church in town. 

The other talked about the town. He said that mostly spring wheat is grown in the area, and flax seed. "It's about a 90% chance that the flax seed you see in stores in the U.S. comes from this region.", he boasted.  His son ran a grain-seed cleaning plant near town. I asked him about the rows upon rows of large storage tanks on the other side of the road next to the train tracks. "Are those for the oil boom?", I asked naively. He replied, "No, those are grain bins."  However, he explained that the family that owns the business manufacturing those bins in Richardton sent their sons off to engineering school. When the sons came back, they redesigned the bins, double-reinforcing them to hold the weight of sand so that they could be used in the fracking process. Since that time, the business has exploded with orders, explaining the huge accumulation of freshly-manufactured bins across the street that are waiting to be shipped out to fill orders. 

I pushed on from Richardton into the wind, stopping several miles later under a bridge overpass to take a break. With the wind sweeping off the fields and into my face all day, my allergies were roaring.  I don't normally take Benadryl during the day due to the drowsiness it brings on. But, I couldn't resist. The last 15-20 miles of my ride were on the I-94, as the old frontage road turns to dirt and gravel. The shoulders were wide and the road smooth.

I arrived at my destination of New Salem right at sunset, with a fantastic view of the silhouette of the famous giant cow on the hill overlooking the town. 

It was the eve of the 4th of July, and the view from my tent in the city park included a multitude of fireworks illuminating the night sky, set off by the local town folks.