Day 30: Hay!, Heat, Humidity, Huge Hail

Day 30: Saturday July 5th, 2014.

Bismarck, ND to Napoleon, ND.  69.6 miles. 

As I woke up this morning, I could feel that it was going to be a hot, humid day. Winds were out of the South, transporting moisture into the region, and I could feel it.  My routine had me waking up later, and by the time I rolled out of the campground, it was 11:30 am. I would be riding through some of the hottest hours of the day. This routine is not going to work long-term, and I was due for a schedule change as I headed into warmer, more humid climates. 

From Bismarck, I headed Southeast out of town. My route had me on a set of roads that were oriented East or South, weaving back and forth between those two bearings. Each time I turn on the road headed South, the wind slowed me down. 

I made a fairly short but decent climb up and out of the Missouri River floodplain. I then rode along the edge of the floodplain for a bit, with fantastic views of the river valley. 

Rolled up hay bales were common on the landscape, and they added to a picturesque scene as the sun glinted off their arched backs. 

After about 10 miles, I began to encounter fields of corn and sunflower. 

These were definitely more humid-area crops, a sign that I was headed into a region where heat, humidity, thunderstorms, and mosquitoes would be commonly encountered in Summer. And, the South winds I was encountering today, and the moisture they bring, is the very weather pattern that makes this all possible here. 

A look at the map will reveal a long stretch in the southerly direction from the town of Moffit at the North end (with no services) to the town of Hazelton at the South end. This would prove to be one of the most challenging stretches I have done. There were a few hills, ups and downs. But, the most difficult part was by far the heat and the south winds that stole my momentum, acting as if someone grabbed onto your t-shirt at your back and pulled as you were trying to run away. 

I captured my view in the photo below while on this stretch of Highway 83. 

My hands were on the lowest part of my handlebars, bent over, with my head down, staring at the asphalt as it blurred beneath me. I was trying to minimize my wind resistance. It only helped slightly!

While on this road, the heat activated the tar used to seal the joints and cracks in the road. It was bubbling up in places. As I rode over these joints, I could sometimes hear a popping sound as my tire hit a tar bubble. They were impossible to avoid entirely. The tar was accumulating in the grooves of my tire tread.  Sticky, my rolling tires sounded like a paint roller running along a wall without enough paint on it. Then, as my tires would make contact with any loose gravel on the road, the gravel would stick to the tires, roll up away from the pavement, and scrape against the inside of my fenders. The sound was awful. 

Finally, I see a bit of relief ahead. A lone tree close enough to the road to cast a shadow onto the pavement. I stopped to rest, having a snack, drinking lots of water, while watching the cows across the street. They were seeking their own form of relief from the heat, their tails slapping the water surface and swinging up like a wet mop onto their backs. 

I finally made it through that stretch of highway 83, reaching Hazelton and the gas station at the corner of town. I was never so excited in my life to see a gas station. Like many gas stations in small towns, it was the restaurant, and market, all-in-one. I immediately started off with a 44 ounce Pepsi full of ice. Second course, a soft-serve chocolate ice cream cone, washed down with a 32 ounce ice-cold Gatorade. Refreshing!  Then came the main course, after about 20 minutes, a foot-long turkey sandwich accompanied by a 24-ounce ice cold bottled water. 

I ran into two other touring cyclists here, both in their 60's, riding to Wisconsin, as wilted as I was from the heat and southerly winds. They were going to stay in Hazelton. Knowing that my route went east from here, and not into the winds, I decided to push on a bit further to the town of Napoleon.

The evening segment of my Eastward ride was pleasant. Along the way, the courderoy fields of corn, soybean, and wheat were dotted with piles of large rocks, debris from the last continental glacier that extended over this region, deposited here as the ice sheet melted and retreated. 

Sometimes, I would just see one lone rock, massive in size, too big for the farmer to move, a stark reminder of the dramatic changes that have taken place on this landscape over recent geologic time. 

As I got close to my destination of Napoleon, a field of bright yellow illuminated by the sun provided dramatic contrast to the otherwise green surroundings. 

In the last stretch before town, I dropped down to a series of lakes, fairly large in size, with the water tower in Napoleon visible on the distant Eastern shore. 

As I pulled into town, the digital sign at the bank red 95°F at 7:30 PM. The quaint town was full of character and friendly locals. I ate dinner at The Downtowner, a bar and grill on the main drag with fantastic food at very inexpensive prices.

It was Saturday night, and it felt like most of the town was celebrating their day off in this bar with good-natured fun and laughter, most of them fairly lubricated of course. I enjoyed speaking with several of the locals.

One man, a truck driver hauling cattle that lived in town with his wife and kids, aware that I was camping and that a thunderstorm was approaching, wrote his phone number down on the back of a matchbook cover and told me, "If it gets ugly out there, call me and I'll come pick you up; You can stay in our guest room."  

Another happy guy, part of a larger group of people having fun, spoke to me of my trip. When he found out that I was from San Diego, he got very excited as he had spent some time in my home town in the past. As I was leaving the bar later, while the jukebox was blaring, the same guy stood up and yelled out as I headed to the door, "Goodbye San Diego!", and everyone cheered.  It was fun!

At the base of the water tower in town, just 2 blocks from The Downtowner, the city park provided a campground with full services for $10.

Unlike the thunderstorm that moved through New Salem a few days ago, the one approaching Napoleon was severe. The National Weather Service has issued warnings, and there were reports of 1 to 2 inch diameter hail occurring in the nearby towns to the West.  Fortunately, the bar had a Wi-Fi signal, and I was able to access weather data before retiring to the campground. The NWS thunderstorm warning was impressive. 

But, even more alarming was the image shown on my high-definition radar application on my phone. The red and purple on this radar image is an result of the largest objects reflecting the radar signal in the storm, specifically large hail. 

Fortunately, I was located at the blue dot, South of the area of greatest concern.  Some of the towns nearby, including a few that I would ride through the next day, weren't so lucky.