BRO QUEST 2009

North Dakota was a relatively stressful state for broquest, with some annoying headwinds, some unexpected hills, rain and gigantor mosquitos. Though we spent only around 400 miles in the state, it took us 5 full days of riding (plus the end of a day in Montana).

Though there was some BRO DRAMA, overall the state was pretty awesome.

The landscape was much prettier than people in Montana would have you believe:

The scandinavian cultural influences were an interesting touch:

The geographic center of North America was in Rugby:

And the people were all very nice. Every motorist gave us a full lane when they passed, and we got more courtesy honks and waves than we could count. People that we talked to were all interested in what we were doing, and offered helpful hints re: road conditions. We also met Luke:

While packing up our campsite in Tioga, this six year old came marching up to talk to us, unescorted by adults. His dad was an oilfield worker and his family was living in the middle of North Dakota's nascent oil boom. For a six year old he was very self-assured and articulate, and was pretty good at math, to boot.

The only puzzling thing about ND was that occasionally it appeared that someone had dropped a metric ton of roadkill onto the highway from a height of about 4000 feet--you'd be riding along for a while and then boom! GORE CARNIVAL for about a mile and a half. We even found a dead stoat (also known as an ermine or a mink) that didn't appear to have been hit by a car. Judging by its temperature (yes, of course we picked it up), it had been killed a very few minutes before we found it. Also, Pat accidentally threw it on my bicycle. THANKS PAT:

We're now taking a rest day on the ND-MN state border, going to cook up some steaks tonight and head for Bemidji (110 miles east) tomorrow. Happy fourth!