Hand of God

Well - I decided to head further west before going south. After looking over the maps it was clear that taking US-83 wasn't going to be as nice a ride as taking US-85 (which is marked as a scenic route most of the way from ND to SD).

So here I am in beautiful Williston, ND. I guess it's a big town for ND, but that isn't saying much as the entire state only has a little over half-a-million people.

I had another great day of riding, about 340 miles altogether. I slept in a little (which was nice) and rolled out of Grand Forks around Noon. I was on US-2 the entire day. And I found that the plain states are called that for 2 reasons, both because of the views.

But riding along this sparse landscape gave me time to think, about my life and such, but mostly about which road to take next. While tooling along I saw a sign that read "Geographical Center of North America, five miles." Sure enough there was a marker (see photo). This little marker happens to stand in the parking lot of a coffee shop (what luck) and it was around time for lunch, so I snapped this picture then took a seat at the counter for a bite to eat.

A few minutes after I sat down, a guy pulled up on a BMW motorcycle. Turns out he's a Brit touring the states for the next two months. He had come from Calgary early Monday morning and was headed east on US-2. I, of course, was headed further west. We talked a bit about riding alone, how you do stupid things (he sings to himself in his fullface helmet, says it sounds pretty good that way. I told him I talk to my bike - which I do sometimes ... but I don't expect it to answer).

It turned out we are using the same book as a reference for our trips (Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen), and he said he'd been to the Hot Springs recommended in the book, but that it had gone downhill and that I should avoid it. I've only been using the book for rough ideas about roads to drive, I'm not a fan of tourist kinds of things (little roadside shops fronting as museums and the like). I prefer to ride, for me that's what this trip is about, not so much what I can stop and see, but what I can see as I'm riding past. So I saw the Yooperland giftshop / museum as I zipped past at 65 mph. That was enough for me.

It was good to talk with someone who's doing a similar trip (he's off to Niagara Falls and back west before shipping himself and his motorbike back to England). The road is lonely. It's good, but day after day of driving these long open roads can be difficult at times.

After lunch, I rolled west again down US-2, and found myself having a little side adventure. This one would be called, "how far can you go on a tank of gas?" As the miles kept rolling by with no gas station in sight, I started to think I might actually run out of gas. I'd thought of filling up before leaving Rugby (the town that is the Geographical Center of North America), but figured I had enough to get me to the next town or the one after that, at the very least.

So now, I was about 50 miles east of Minot and I thought I wouldn't make it that far, but there were at least 3 or 4 towns before Minot where I thought I could get gas. Town after town rolled by and no gas station. The town just 6 miles before Minot, named Surrey (which might be ironic, given that I had lunch with a Brit), was my relief. I had driven 140 miles one a tank of gas, which I thought couldn't be done. When I filled up, it took just over 3 gallons. Since my fuel meter went on the fritz on the third day of this trip (it constantly reads as empty), I drive about 100 to 120 miles on a tank of gas and it takes about 2 gallons to fill it up.

Because I'm a bit of a nut, I have my manual with me on this trip, and I dug it out of my bag right there at the gas station and looked up the capacity of the fuel tank (I always thought it was 3.1 or around there). In fact, the manual states that the tank is 14 liters (which is about 3.7 gallons). So all along I've been thinking I only get about 120 miles to a tankfull, when in fact I'm getting more like 160 miles (if I drove to empty). But I'll be gassing up after lunch tomorrow for certain. There's nothing worse than worrying whether or not you'll make it to the next gas station. For 30 miles today I was imagining what I would take with me on my hike to find gas (water, some Nature Valley bars I have in my saddlebags, a rag to cover my head, cell phone). I figured someone would have picked me up (then again, if you've seen what I look like when I ride, maybe not). In the end I'm glad not to have run out of fuel, that would have sucked.

After that adventure, I made Williston without much more fuss. But the town was having a little electrical problem and the hotel only had some rooms with power (that's alright, I told the girl at the counter, I only need one room). The power fluctuated a bit and knocked my laptop out twice (I don't have a battery for this old thing - I really ought to buy a new one, but I hate spending money when the one I have works fine ... as long as I can plug it in.), but in the end they got it straightened out and power has been steady for 3 hours now.

Right after I got settled in the room, the skies darkened, the wind picked up and there was a great downpour that lasted about 20 minutes. Afterwards, I saw a rainbow and thought, "I haven't seen a rainbow since I was a kid" (I wonder why that is?). Later it rained again and there's been silent lightening all evening (some of it very dramatic). Tomorrow there's a slight chance of a thunderstorm, but I'll have my raingear handy, if need be.

The one thing I have to remember from now on is to eat dinner then get a room. I tend to get the room first, shower, boot up the computer and transfer the day's photos, muck about with my gear and the maps, and before I know it all the restaurants are closed and I'm eating crap for dinner (last night it was McDonald's, tonight it was a bad chicken salad sandwich from the M&H (local 7-11 type store). It was mostly mayonnaise with lettuce and celery bits on what they called a croissant. Tomorrow night I'm treating myself to a steak dinner in Rapid City, SD or thereabouts. Then I'll get a room and do all the rest. Dinner, then a room ... dinner, then a room ...

Last thing - I was thinking today that I come from a place (NYC) where there are more people than miles. Out here ... out west, where the reverse is true, where the sky dominates the scenery, and as narrow shafts of light strike through the clouds, so that it seems as if the clouds are touching the earth far out in front of you, it makes you think. And that's what I love about this trip ... it makes me think.