Fargo, North Dakota is halfway across the country. Not only is Fargo halfway, but my wife is on a plane  flight and has promised to meet me for dinner in celebration of completing half the trip.

My small problem is getting there!

I am now in Valley City, which is a little over 60 miles away from my destination.  The bike is in good shape.  I am in good shape.  However, the rain is coming down in sheets.  I think I just spied Noah and his ark floating down the road.

Getting wet is not a problem.  I have a rain coat, rain hat and wet weather gloves.  The problem is that of the 60 miles to go, 25 miles are on gravel roads and North Dakota doesn't actually use gravel.  Instead, they use sand with some rocks.   In a heavy downpour these roads turn to oozing mud.

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I'm now in a pizza restaurant for a late lunch.  I started out from Valley City but after an hour and a half had only made it about four miles in the muck.  I turned back since at the rate I was going I wouldn't get to Fargo until midnight at the earliest plus the mud was scoring my brakes.  Soaked, cold and feeling stuck, I tried to figure out what to do.

All I needed to do was get to Wheatland, North Dakota.  From Wheatland it was about 35 miles on paved roads to Fargo.  Unfortunately, ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft were not available.  The internet did not show any taxi services but did show a bus came through once a day at 5:10 AM.  I asked the man behind the pizza counter and he said they did have a taxi service in town and directed me the 10 blocks to its location.

There I met a man named Paul, who said I was in the wrong spot.  I needed to go back into town to the senior center and ask there.  I pedaled back in the rain and noticed the senior center was the next building over from the pizza parlor.  I did as told, even though the idea of a senior center also being a taxi company was a bit strange.

The woman running the office did not think it was strange that someone wanted a taxi.  She picked up the phone and had a short conversation and then gave the phone to me.  A very old voice asked where I wanted to go and how far.  I told the person, "Wheatland, which is about 34 miles down the road."  The voice said, "that will cost you a lot, about $40."  I instantly agreed.

Five minutes later a minivan with a taxi sign showed up.  Clarence, a man in his 80s got out and helped me get the bike in the van.  As he drove me to Wheatland he explained that he used to own the taxi company in town but he could no longer work seven days a week.  So he sold the company to the senior center and drove occasionally.  The senior center wanted a taxi service because it gave freedom to the elderly in town.

As we approached Wheatland the heavens opened up again.  Clarence let me off by the side of the road.  I put my head down and slogged about 35 miles into Fargo.

As I saw the sign "Welcome to West Fargo" the rain stopped and the clouds began to part.  Half an hour later when I made it to the hotel the weather was even nice.

But the best part of the day happened 30 minutes later when my wife pulled into the parking lot and we got a chance to celebrate halfway day together.

When I was little my father and I watched a running marathon.  I was amazed that people could run 26.2 miles.  It seemed almost impossible, yet thousands of people were streaming by who were doing it.

I asked my father "how were they able to run that far?" He said if you want to run a  marathon then the first day you run around the block.  The second day you run around the block twice.  The third day run around it three times.  You just keep building up gradually and after awhile you are running long distances and able to do a marathon.

I think back to that moment often during this trip because numerous people have  expressed amazement when I explain what I am doing.  Six months ago, in February  I was pedaling each day an exercise bike for 20 minutes while reading.   This was not very strenuous stuff.  When the weather got warm enough to pedal outside I started off doing a short 10 mile loop each day and would come home exhausted.

After doing the 10 mile loops for a couple of weeks, I added on a few side streets and made the loop 12 miles.  Part of the loop included going around a golf course, Each loop around the golf course is a bit over four miles.  Once I could make it 12 miles I did two loops around the golf course, instead of one loop.  Before starting the trip I was doing so many loops around the golf course that I needed to bribe myself to keep going.

In short, pedaling across the country sounds amazing but I have heard dozens of stories of people in all stages of their life who have or who are currently pedaling very long distances. For example, in  Montana a bar owner wanted to tell me about her 80 year old uncle who had just pedaled across the state.  In North Dakota a man wanted to tell me about two men  he had breakfast with that morning.   They were pedaling across the country and both men were in their 70s.  I am telling you this because today I recited the above story multiple times.

I woke up in Bismarck, North Dakota, not really knowing what kind of day it would be.  My goal was to pedal 100 miles to Jamestown, North Dakota.  However, the weather forecast was for thunderstorms around 4 pm plus heavy rain after dark and into tomorrow.  Not only was the afternoon weather iffy, the maps showed more than half the day's ride would be on gravel roads.

On the positive side the morning's weather was supposed to be greatand there were numerous towns with motels if the ride needed to be cut short.

The morning ride of 45 miles was glorious.  The weather was perfect.  Once I left Bismarck, few cars or truck were on the road and the pavement was new and easy to pedal.  I reached my lunch spot of Steele, North Dakota around 11:30 am.

Steele had a grocery store!  While they didn't make sandwiches or salads, they did have a ready to eat BBQ beef bowl.  The store manager even heated it up in her microwave oven and gave me a plate so it would be like a real meal.  I then told her and some customers the above story when they asked how I could pedal so far.

I ate my lunch two doors down on some benches in front of a church.  The Pastor came out and invited me inside to use the bathroom and fill up my water bottles.  Yes, I had the same discussion with him.

After lunch I hit the first 8 mile stretch of gravel.  It was pretty bad.  The first 2 miles were so soft I switched into sneakers to prevent myself from crashing again.  The last 6 miles were so bouncy there were times my eyes couldn't focus because my head was being jarred so much.

After 8 punishing miles, I decided to try pedaling on the Interstate.  My goal has been to avoid the highway, but the gravel roads in North Dakota were too tough for me.  The first section of the interstate I traveled was quite pleasant.  The only issue were that some delivery service companies like Federal Express were running triple trailers.  These road trains create quite a suction force, but all the road trains stayed in the left lane when they passed me so there was a lot of space between us.

After a dozen miles, I got off at an exit with a gas station.  The clerk told me it was either the highway or gravel roads the rest of the way to Jamestown.  This was not good news, so I got back on the highway to pedal more.

A few miles later in Crystal Springs, North Dakota, I ran into a problem.  The highway, starting at that point, was under construction.  Instead of being two travel lanes and one breakdown lane it was one of each and my road train cushion disappeared with the left side travel lane blocked off with cones and signs.

They started the highway construction at a rest area.  I pulled into the rest area to contemplate my options.  The choice seemed clear.  Get back on the gravel road, at least until the construction was done, and live with the jarring. This was easy since the service station had one entrance on the highway and a back entrance onto the gravel road.

Alas, this idea did not work out.  I pedaled the gravel road for about 1 mile and then ran into a sign stating the gravel road was closed 2.5 miles ahead.  I was now semi-trapped at the rest area.  I could definitely not go forward on the gravel road and didn't want to go forward on the interstate highway.

It took a long time to find someone who would give me a lift down the road.  My saviors this time were Ben and Lisa, who were driving a pickup truck that was towing a camper.  They had just started out on a 3 month adventure.

They were going to Jamestown so they gave me a lift the whole 35+ miles.  It was a good move because there were some bridges on the interstate that were under construction and had no shoulder at all.  In Jamestown we looked at the world's largest statue of a buffalo and then parted ways.

There was still plenty of sun in the sky so I called my wife for some trip help.  The map told me it was 33 miles to the next set of hotels. My wife told me she could book me a room.  If I hustled I could make it beyond Jamestown and be in a motel before dark.

The bike and I flew the first 25 miles.  The road was great.  I felt good and there was a clear sunset deadline.  The next 5 miles were slower.  My legs were tired and I was running out of energy.  Maybe I misread the map but it turned out to be 38 miles not 33 to Valley City.  I was very slow the last 8 miles but still made it into the city before the street lights came on.

Overall, it turned out to be a great day.  The morning ride was excellent.  The people in Steele, ND were friendly and welcoming.  The late afternoon sprint was exhilarating and once again I met nice people (thanks again Ben and Lisa) who were willing to help out a stranger.  Plus the weather held off and no rain has fallen yet.

Crash! I have been pedaling a lot of miles on dirt and gravel roads on a bike made for city streets, not mountain trails.  I guess the odds of my not crashing at some point in the trip were low.   Fortunately, the crash resulted only in scrapes and a sore shoulder, nothing more.  The bike was untouched since my body cushioned the blow.

How did I end up face down in the dirt?  I left Dickinson, North Dakota relatively early in the morning.  I wanted to get a jump on the day because about 35 miles outside of Dickinson Mountain time ends and Central time begins.  This means I lose an hour off the clock.  This doesn't matter for pedaling since the sun doesn't care what time zone humans use.  However, restaurants close based on clock time.  Few places keep their kitchens open very late in this part of the world.  I found that out here you can drink from sunset to sunrise easily, but eating is a very different story.

Both my wife and I looked at the route using Google Maps.  We both agreed there appeared to be no gravel roads for the 100+ miles I had to travel that day.  The day started out glorious.  It was warm but not hot.  There was no wind and the traffic once I left Dickinson was almost non-existent.

I passed five women who were biking long distance from east to west, which made me glad that there were others on the same route doing this same madness.  I stopped in a drug store in Richardton for a quick break at the 25 mile mark.  Today looked like a relatively easy day.  The wind picked up and my speed dropped but I still made it to Glen Ullin, North Dakota in good shape for lunch at the only supermarket on the route.  I had done 55+ miles, had a full belly and lots of Gatorade.  Life was good.

A few miles outside of Glen Ullin came the unexpected and dreaded sign; "Pavement Ends."  I stopped and opened up Google Maps. It showed to continue straight ahead, onto the gravel road.  I have been on many gravel roads the last three weeks.  Up till now most roads have been consistent.  Some are hard pack or washboard the whole way.  Some are tight or loose gravel the whole way.  This road was different.  The surface kept changing.  Parts were washboard, which is a killer on the wrists, but doable.  Parts were paved with gravel thrown on top.  That is doable if you can find where tire tracks have clearer away most of the gravel.  Parts were loose gravel, which is the most dangerous because the whole road bed keeps shifting under the tires.

The worst part for me was that the gravel was unexpected.  I didn't know how long I had to go.  Simply knowing if it is 5 miles or 25 miles makes a big difference psychologically even if you still have to suffer the same amount.

This section was a bit less than 10 miles.  After about 8 miles on a moderate, but not very steep downhill, I hit a slippery patch and crashed.  The bike slid out and I landed on my left side.  Nothing broke on me or the bike.  I had some scrapes on the left elbow and knee, but no blood was flowing out.

On a deserted country back road with nothing in sight there was little to do beside have a drink of Gatorade, get back on the bike and keep pedaling.    After two more big hills I sat down and took off my cleats and switched to sneakers.  This gravel road had beaten me.  I could no longer pedal it.  I would walk the rest of the way.

I was dejected, sore and wondering how many more miles I had to suffer before the day would end.  To be a long distance cyclists you need to have an optimistic outlook and be prepared for pain.  At that moment when I put on my sneakers I lost my optimistic outlook.

More importantly, I was almost out of water.  I was down to about one quart, which in the city is a tremendous amount but if I still had miles of gravel to traverse would not be enough.

Where I sat down to swap shoes was half-way up a small hill.  If it was paved, I wouldn't even have noticed climbing the hill.  I started trudging up to the top of the hill, which was about 100 yards away.  At the top of the hill I was shocked to see a blinking traffic light ahead.  The bottom of the hill marked the end of the gravel road and the beginning of pavement.

One mile later I saw a strange sight coming toward me.  It looked like a cyclist, but the bike was a strange shape.  It turned out to be another long-distance cyclist named Ernie.  Ernie was from the Netherlands and was towing a two wheel cart filled with his gear.

Five minutes of chatting with Ernie brought back my optimism.  He said three important things.  First, there was a gas station at the top of the next hill that sold drinks.  I would be replenished shortly!

Second, he had just come from the Eastern part of North Dakota and thought it was not challenging because it was so flat.   He wanted mountains and hills!  I wanted just the opposite!  I am tired of being constantly challenged

Last, he was using the "official" paper bicycling map.  I didn't buy the maps because almost all of the information on the map beside the route is where to camp and where to find a hot shower.  The "official" route avoided the gravel section where I crashed.  It did everything else that I pedaled today.  Instead of the gravel section it told bicyclists to pedal on Interstate 94 for one exit.

In hindsight if I knew the "official route" avoided a gravel section in preference for the Interstate, I would have pedaled the gravel section anyway.  Being on gravel and potentially crashing is less scary than being beside tractor trailers doing 75 miles per hour.  I would have, however, switched to sneakers earlier if I had known the gravel road was that bad.  Wearing sneakers probably wouldn't have helped much anyway.  I fell on my left side and on that downhill I wasn't cleated, or locked into, my left side pedal. I had the ability, but not the chance, to put my foot down.

After talking to Ernie I pedaled 40 more miles to Bismarck, North Dakota.  The last five miles were on a great bike trail that wound through a golf course and then over the Missouri River.  At least this Missouri River had a bridge.  I didn't have to get wet crossing it.  The end of the ride restored my spirit.

Today (day 19; July 17, 2018) I am taking as a full rest day.  No fifty mile quick rides to the next city.  The plan is simple.  Once I finish typing this go back to bed.  Wake up and see a mindless movie, like Ant-man.  Eat dinner and go back to bed and rest up since there is still 200 miles left of pedaling in North Dakota.