Eastern North Dakota

From Duluth we headed to Bemidji, MN--the first town on the Mississippi and home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox. Exploring the town with Lauren, I bought a cheap harmonica to practice on long rides. It goes along in my back pocket every day . From there Route 2 took us into North Dakota. This is where our love hate relationship started with Route 2, leaning towards the ladder, but enjoying every second. Eastern North Dakota is flat and windy. The terrain can be nice with some marshes, a talkative hawk, and wind farms, but the wind was the character builder. 88 miles to Crookston, 120 miles to Devil's Lake, 60 miles to Rugby, 65 miles to Minot. All with headwinds. We made it. Interesting little towns. Devil's Lake was an awesome accomplishment. The endorphines that came in those last 15 miles were unreal--just loving it. Rugby is the geographical center of North America. We ate at a diner there and joked about ordering the seafood on the menu--farthest possible place to be from an ocean in the continent. A few minor falls--chain reaction fall over Sydny who bumped off the pavement. I landed over her with no injuries, she broke her helmet and a few scrapes but no big deal. Theo crossed tires in front of me and went down. I hit his bike but stayed up. Luckily it was a cold day and his 4 layers protected him from any injury. Took a quick turn in Minot on a puddle and slid out but left with nothing more than an inch hole in my rain jacket. Through a tough stretch but stronger than ever and ready for the west.