Hidden gems

Glen Ullin to Dickinson, North Dakota Thursday, July 29, 2021

This will be my final day on the Adventure Cycling Lewis and Clark Trail, and it gave me a sweet sendoff. Bittersweet, I guess, since I will not be following their routes again for some time. I woke up early, saw I had a favorable wind and temperature, and indulged myself by getting a couple of more hours of sleep. Made myself a sumptuous breakfast at this charming inn, chatted with the elderly couple (the husband is celebrating his 92nd birthday today) and set off into a lovely day. The landscape was muted but grand in that “big sky” kind of way. Like all of the great plains states, North Dakota tilts almost imperceptibly upward as you go west, so today I climbed a fair amount but never felt any significant hills.

My first rest stop was in the tiny town of Hebron, and I was initially concerned that everything was closed, but tucked around the corner was a repair shop/general store that had everything I wanted. It even had a little bonus, the Google Street View car was parked there, I had never seen one before. The checkout person was happy, apparently Hebron had not had a Google update since 2011.

I just checked Google Maps and the Street View has not updated yet, I wonder if he captured my bicycle parked outside the repair shop.

I had to download my free audiobook before the end of the month, so I chose The Journey of Crazy Horse, which turned out to be just the thing for this landscape. Narrated by the author Joseph Marshall, a Lakota native, his soothing tones told the story of this great man honestly, flaws and all, I could almost picture him riding through these amber waves of grain.

My lunch stop was in Richardton, and again I despaired of finding anything open, but a passerby directed me to Suzy’s Stash, which looked like a sewing shop. Sure enough, stashed in the back was a great little lunch counter. Their TaterTots stew was a welcome change from the usual convenience store fare.

My final stop at Dickinson did not look good at first, I had to deal with 2 miles of very rough construction, pulling off the road every five minutes to let the backlog of cars go by, and the town seemed to offer nothing but the usual dreary fast food joints. I heard some music playing, however, and followed it to a little street fair they have there every Thursday, with lots of food trucks.

I made the happy choice of Dog Gone Good, run by a lovely family from Clovis, California, who had moved here in hopes of finding better job prospects, associated with the oil boom. That boom had busted, but the daughter is trained in human services and is quite optimistic about finding another job. Her husband could make a great burger and fries, still not the healthiest meal but much fresher and tastier than I could’ve gotten at the usual joints. The music and conversation were a real bonus.

Altogether, a joyous day, but I look at the next few days with some trepidation. I’ll be heading due south from the North Dakota highpoint to the Black Hills, on uncertain roads and some unavoidable dirt; because of the Sturgis motorcycle rally I have reserved a whole week of lodging in advance, having been warned that rooms are almost impossible to find that week. The forecast is for seasonable temperatures in the 80s to low 90s, but I see that the prevailing winds this time of year are out of the south, and I have no room for error, these reservations are nonrefundable. There will be one 75 mile day, there was nothing in between. Fingers crossed.

Distance 53 miles, 4,587 total. Time 9 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,192 feet

©️ 2021 Scott Luria