Dickinson to Amidon, North Dakota Friday, July 30,2021
My good buddy Frank sent a link to a great webcomic called xkcd (worth checking out if you’ve never seen it) when he saw where I was headed next. It’s a map of the many US towns named after more famous places.
Yup, it’s true, today’s ride took me through New England, North Dakota. Brian, who you remember got me started on this highpoint thing and has also been through here, had scoffed at it thusly: “We drove by a town called “New England” that had a sign proclaiming it Class Whatever State Football Champions in some long ago year. There were half a dozen houses, a couple of closed businesses, and there, at the end of the one main street, was the high school – looked about big enough for four rooms on each of two floors.”
So I was prepared to laugh at this incongruously-named little town I reached after battling 26 miles of uphill headwind with poor shoulders and moderate traffic, but was surprised by feeling a burst of homesickness.
All I could think of was the line “sweet New England” from the Paul Simon tune, Duncan https://youtu.be/u3_UddjEGMA
The town was a little less bleak than Brian said, and the high school was being renovated
There was a great quickstop, with a meal that really revived me, and the clerk let me have two root beers for the price of one, and got me a big cup of ice. The road out of town had a lot of construction, but one of the flagmen, Caleb, saw my predicament and gave me a Powerade and a cold bottle of water. A true Trail Angel!
The tiny town of Amidon, closest to the highpoint tomorrow, it looked like it had nothing but there was a campsite with an underground bar, Mo’s Bunker, where I had fun talking to the bartender Jodi, and two bikers, Ralph and Maynard, who told me what to expect at the upcoming Sturgis rally. All they had was fried food, not so healthy but so satisfying. I pitched my tent under the sunset, the smoke from wildfires in Canada made it once again a red rubber ball.
Sweet New England, indeed.
Distance 53 miles, 4,640 total. Time 8 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,541 feet
©️ 2021 Scott Luria
The Ends of the Earth 