7-11-10 Day 36: Minot, ND to Stanley, ND: 60 miles in 4:43 hours. Rt 2 west the whole day.
Man, I was one tired pup from the ride yesterday. Got up really late compared to the last couple of weeks – at a recreational 6:30 AM. I decided to just get in a great night of sleep and try to recover from the heat and the distance from my Bismarck to Minot ride. Got packed and hit a gas station for a couple of muffins and a coffee and was rolling by 8 AM. Plan was to see what the weather presented and then see how I felt for my day’s itinerary. Well, the wind was light and out of the northwest and my legs felt like lifeless stumps, so I was pretty sure that I’d just lay up and shoot for Stanley rather than do a massive 130-mile grunt and go for Williston. Now there are a couple of towns west of Stanley, but they’re pretty small little guys, and still would make the for at least a 90-mile day. So I really had it in my head to shoot for a light day to Stanley where there are more amenities. Got rolling and found that the cross headwind was not really too bad, as I could at least maintain a 12-13 mph pace. Traffic on Rt 2 was pretty light this Sunday morning so I was just kind of enjoying the mellow day. This was a really flat section of landscape, with occasional rollers that I had to do in the middle ring out of the saddle. But nothing really long and gnarly. I’m now pretty used to this kind of massive landscape where you can see down the road 10-30 miles. It’s pretty wild to see like a water tower of a town and then take 40 min to an hour to ride there.
Now I did have a pretty good climb – about 1.5 miles – at the Rt 2/Rt 52 split, but again, nothing that really worked me too hard. It was just a steady out of the saddle in the middle ring. Once I got through Berthold I started to see the impact of this big oil boom up here. There were derricks and completed wells along the side of the road and these speedy oil tankers zooming east and west along Rt 2. Luckily I have this massive one-lane wide berm to ride on so I feel real comfortable with the trucks. And most of the road is in excellent shape with my berm as nice as a regular asphalt highway.
I’d been told by the gang back in Bismarck that this oil boom has had a major impact on the small towns in the area. Most all of the efficiency motels are booked 24-7 by the oil people, the truckers, the well workers and damned near everyone involved in the industry. Good for the economy, bad for the people traveling through the area. Even the campgrounds are filled with oil people living in campers and RV’s. I’m told the towns and cities are scared to go into a building boom to satisfy the influx of new oil people because this happened once before and then the oil industry out here went bust, and the area was left with all the new building and no new people to occupy them. Burned once and now shy to build again, so there’s a massive housing shortage out here in this northwest quadrant of ND.
So I had a good head’s up that I could be in dire straights when looking for any place to stay anywhere between Minot and Williston. Anyway, the weather was just fabulous because a cold front had moved in last night and the morning temps were in the upper 50’s. Forecast was for mid 70’s for the day – great for cycling. So I was not worried about the later than usual start today. My cross headwind was actually quite mild and no where near as big an issue as the prior week of cycling into the wind. So part of me wanted to just shoot for the town of Ray, about 36 miles west of Stanley. As I rode I hemmed and hawed about bagging it in Stanley or shooting for Ray. But whatever the case, I still had to consider the possibility of where I’d stay what with the oil people sucking up all the lodging spots. Must have decided I’d go for Ray two or three times – on the total flats when I was cooking along into the cross headwind at 14 mph. Then I’d think twice and reconsider on the long gradual climbs where my legs felt like cement stumps and get my mind made up to just go for an easy day and bag it in Stanley, the biggest place I’d hit for the day for sure. Ray and Tioga are mere specks on the map.
As I got closer to Stanley there was a noted increase in the truck traffic and the amount of oil wells and pumps on both sides of the road. Most of the stuff looks pretty new. And I could see the water tower of Stanley from quite a distance away, so it just loomed on the horizon for a while as I pedaled on. Finally hit town at about 4:45 hrs in the ride, and a mellow 60-mile day. The town is just off of the Rt 2 thoroughfare, and I passed it with a bug up my rear end to maybe just go for Ray or Tioga, depending on how much the mileage was. So I rode up to a mileage sign: Ray – 36 miles; Tioga – 29 miles. That would give me a 96 or 89 mile day, and my legs were just beat. So I did a U-turn and rode into town. Decision made – Stanley it is. Time to look for the lone motel in town.
Rode around this little town for a bit and saw nothing. Actually it was very quiet being a Sunday afternoon. So I finally stopped and asked a gentleman loading some shingles on his pick-up at the local lumber store. Nice guy, stopped what he was doing and explained to me the oil boom and that I’d have an ice cube’s chance in hell of getting a room anywhere around here – not here, not in Ray, not in Tioga, not in Williston. Nowhere! Said even the campgrounds are full, but that they may let me just pitch a time somewhere on the premises. He called a buddy over and his friend concurred. He thought for a minute and said that he’d let me sleep in his trailer, but that it was out of town at a lake. Then he asked his friend of one of their friends has a trailer in town, and thereby called that friend.
Well, the friend didn’t exactly say yes, but invited us over so he could kind of check me out. I followed Kelly to his friend’s house, just a few blocks away. Out of the house came Arden, a 60-something year old gentleman. We shook hands and then Arden’s wife Janis came out and invited me in for lunch. Kelly left and in I went with Arden to have some lunch. Janis got out all sorts of lunch meats and breads, cookies, nuts, coke, and pbj. It was quite a spread. We ate and talked, each sharing a bit about our lives etc. Really awesome folks. Arden was totally cool with putting me up in his camper that’s located in a new building just a mile from their house outside of town. I thanked Janis with a big hug and followed Arden in his pick-up to the building. He took me down this roller coaster gravel road that paralleled Rt 2. Have to admit that the second climb had me in the middle cookie in the easiest gear and out of the saddle with my rear tire slipping in the gravel. But I made it and got to the building.
The place is brand new, and massive. He’s got his horse trailer and his 5th wheel parked in the main bay, and then several smaller areas partitioned off for office, work areas and stables. In his office is a refrig and coffee pot. Then he commenced to showing me around the place, in addition to hooking up the 120 to the 5th wheel. Said I had a computer with an air card and I was wondering if I could get cell reception our here. Well, he pulled out his cell and showed me 4 bars, and then walked me outside and pointed to a cell tower about 300 yards in back of his building. Yup, wifi in his 5th wheel!
Arden is a Vietnam war vet and a huge horseman. There are pics of him all over the office area on horses. He even leads horse packing tours in the ND Badlands. He told me that he sold off 20-some acres of his farm to the oil industry and it looks as though he was paid handsomely what with this building and all the goodies inside. So anyway, he showed me my abode and then said he had to get rolling to do some work at the house and another property of his. Told me to make myself at home and off he went, telling me that maybe he’d stop back later in the day.
I checked my computer for wifi with my aircard and dog gone if I’ve got a hardy 4 bars. Changed, and rode into town with just an empty front pannier to go food shopping. Bought some pre-made sandwiches, yogurt, and a Ben & Jerry’s for dinner at a little grocery and then got a couple of beers from a pub for later this eve, and back I rode to my little abode. Should be a really peaceful night here in the camper that’s in a building - what with pretty regular train traffic just about a half mile away. It’s the same train track line that Amtrak runs on, as I saw a Amtrak west-bound liner blasting through today as I was riding along. I just love trains, and hearing their horns is very soothing for me, especially at night. Actually I’m seriously considering taking Amtrak to go home when I finish this trip. I’d just ship my bike back on UPS or Fedex and jump on a train for a nice couple of day ride back along some of the very terrain I pedaled west on.
Tomorrow I’m shooting for Williston. Now I had just placed a call to Tammy and Tim from Bismarck. Tim had told me that I’d have a very tough time finding anywhere to stay between Minot and Williston, as he does business on the road a lot in those areas and has a devil of a time finding a place to stay. Anyway, Tim offered me the opp that if I cannot find a place to stay in Williston, that their son lives there an may put me up for an evening. Sounds like that may be my only option there what with this lodging boom out here. So I’m supposed to call Tammy back at 7 PM CST to see if it will be possible.
I’m also told that once into Montana I will not have this oil boom problem to deal with, and lodging should be easier to obtain. Hope that’s the case. So that’s the story from here in Stanley, ND. It’s actually amazing to think back to when I started this trip way the heck out in Northern Maine. And now here I am about 80-some miles from the Montana border. Talked to my dad today and told him where I was, and his response was: “You’re still in ND, damn, you’ve been in that state for a week!” I laughed and explained to him that these are some BIG states out here, and that Montana is 630 miles long, so I’d be in that state even longer! You just can’t get a true picture of the massiveness of these states until you ride a bike across them. It’s just a day at a time, and then after a week you really see your progress. You eventually fold up the tattered state map, throw it in the garbage, and then you get out the next crisp new state map and do it all over again – one state at a time.
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