It's difficult to get up in clouds and rain, and fortunately we didn't have to…get up in rain at least. The rain let up just before dawn, so we broke camp in not-soaking-wet conditions. We got our bikes from the hog stall and I decided to splash some oil on my chain so I wouldn't have to listen to it complain about the previous day's less-than-perfect conditions. As I squatted down, I frightened a wasp. It attacked my calf. Halfway through the oiling, it started raining. I gave up and we started biking. Two blocks later the rain got serious. We stopped and put on the rain gear. Half a block later my bike computer said we were cruising at 49mph. We stopped so I could cover it up and hope it'd lose its hyperactivity. Two miles later I heard the pffft, pffft, pffft of the air going out of a tire. It was raining steadily so I looked as quickly as I could and found an overhang on a building enough for the two of us and half of my bike while I fixed the flat. Not to overuse a cliché, but "I just love Mondays."

Things got better after we left Beulah (no offense intended!). My calf wasn't swelling up and it quit raining during the flat fixing. But it was still pretty damp. We turned north at Zap (287) to go pick up ND1806. North Dakota's state highway symbol is a Native American with headdress, with the highway number within the headdress. '1806' sure stretches it out! The highway on the other side of Lake Sakakawea is 1804, with the two signifying the range of years comprising the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Rest stops seemed to be somewhat of a mystery after the first one. We both had recollection of stops in Halliday (288) and Dunn Center (128), but we were lost as to where they were. (As it turned out, if we'd paid a little more attention to the daily route notes before throwing them on the baggage truck, we'd have known that local cafes were to be supported. Comments I overheard in Killdeer (722) indicated that we'd missed a really nice one in Dunn Center!) We had enough snacks along so it wasn't too much of an issue, but some "real food" would have been nice.

By the time we reached Dunn Center, the sun was actually coming through occasional gaps in the clouds. The temperature must have climbed up to 70, so I took off my raincoat. A couple of miles later, we saw a bank of clouds stretching from north to south that we'd have to go under, and it looked like they were dumping copious amounts of rain. The raincoat came back out. And less than a mile later we were into the squall. The crosswind was driving it enough so that I rode a good portion with my right eye closed, as I have a paranoia of leaving a contact lens out on the prairie. The rain was heavy at times, but fairly warm. There wasn't much to do other than pedal (squish), pedal (squish), pedal (squish).

Four or five miles into it, and a couple of miles from our destination of Killdeer, we managed to ride out of it. The pavement was quite dry, and the horizon behind us quite dark! But alas, as we turned north for the final half mile or so into Killdeer, we saw wet pavement ahead. We got caught again, and pulled into the park to see all the bags laid out under the open sky. It had been sunny when the truck pulled in at 10am! We decided to wait it out under an overhang, and we waited and waited, as more people rolled in. When it quit, a majority of us found out just how waterproof our gear was or wasn't. Dad and I fared better than many; I was thankful I'd packed most of my things in freezer bags!

The afternoon was spent trying to dry things out: haul them out of the tent when it quit raining and haul them back in when it started up again. At one point I heard that the waiting time at the laundromat for dryers was three hours. Several friendships were forged during that wait! :-)

Supper was excellent, probably the best of the week: walleye from Lake Sakakawea, caught by the Lions' Club who sponsored the meal. After supper and a walk around town, we ran into a friend of Dad's from Hazen who'd come over on his new toy--a (used) Honda Gold Wing. He came to see his wife who was on the ride, along with five others from Hazen. Bill's comment was that "they're having so much fun that I have to ride next year!"

Also on the way back, we walked into some grass on our way to check out a building, and I looked down to see about a dozen mosquitoes on my legs! And as fast as I could slap/swat them, they were right back on! I'd never seen such vicious blood suckers! And Dad wasn't affected at all as he walked along! Or he wasn't until I pointed them out. Then he started the dance too. :-)

When we got back, Art (from Alexander) flagged us down with pictures of recumbents he's built. He's made four so far, but for rides such as CANDISC takes his xxxxxxx which he bought after making the first two. Evening chores filled out what was left of the daylight. We'd made some progress on drying things out, except for shoes and gloves. And I hate putting on cold, wet shoes and gloves. But, that wouldn't be until the next day, so I didn't lose any sleep over it.