Monday at a glance
Miles	44.7
Mph	14.9
Max Speed	22.7
Route	Velva to Towner via Karlsruhe.
Wind	10 mph from the east, a headwind initially, and then a side wind.
Temperature	lower 60s to upper 60s
Elapsed Time	2:59:03
Clock Time	7:00 - 10:22

6 Mon Aug. We left Velva at 7, again in clouds. It wasn't supposed to rain, and hence again the rain gear was in our bags, on the truck. It started spitting before we got to the other side of town, which wasn't very far. We rode in sprinkles off and on for many miles. The road did accumulate enough so the wheels were spraying, but we were never feeling soaked.

Almost right away we started leapfrogging with another cyclist. Dad and I are pretty steady with our cadence, so this fellow was pushing harder and backing off as needed. We joked with him a bit with each passing. Another fellow latched onto us a bit later, but he inexplicably dropped off the back after a few minutes.

We hit the first rest stop out in the middle of no where, and noticed a few tents had been put up. While waiting for the outhouse (yup, a genuine outhouse), I overheard that the group of kids was from Minot, about 40 miles away. They had been told they needed to have things set up by 6am. They didn't relish the thought of getting up early in Minot and making that deadline, so came up with a better plan of spending the night at the rest stop in tents! They were set up by 6, and the first rider appeared at 6:10.

Back to our arrival however, as we were parking the tandem in a bike rack, the leap frogger came over to get a better look at it. It was nice to get acquainted with him (from Beulah) and put a name to him (Johnson) the rest of the week. The drafter also came over and introduced himself (from Seattle) and thanked us for the pull. He said he was having some knee problems, and that's what forced him to drop back suddenly. We appreciated getting to meet him face to face rather than just in our rearview mirrors.

From there, it was heading east again into a stiff wind, with the occasional sprinkles. We eventually turned north, and east, and north again. On this final stretch, we saw a paceline spread across the entire northbound lane of traffic (a side wind preventing single file) steaming up behind us. As they passed, I recognized the leader--Shawn. I first met him ten years earlier, and we've compared notes ever since. I greeted him with a "Hi Shawn!" as they passed, but he didn't break stride. And then they were gone.

Not too far from Towner, a couple of other cyclists rode with us most of the remaining miles. We'd seen them on many rides before, and in talking about it, they said they were two of the four they knew of who have been on every CANDISC ride. Well, I guess that answered why they looked so familiar!

Towner, the cattle capital of North Dakota. The last couple of miles into town was again east, and into the wind. There might have been some uphill there too. And it might have been sprinkling a little too. And it might have been more than a couple of miles. At least the sun wasn't beating down on us. Camping was in the city park, pretty close to the main road (US2). We claimed our territory and as we were putting up the tent, the sun came out a little bit. The warmth was appreciated.

Showers were at the high school a few blocks away. I ran into Shawn in the locker room and he asked if I'd been riding a red tandem. He said it registered a bit too late that it was Dad and myself to respond. I was also sporting a ponytail, unlike previous years (a Locks of Love project with my teenage daughter), so that threw him a little too.

Next on the usual agenda--find food. We didn't see anything set up in the park (nor did we look very hard), so set off on foot downtown. We heard rave reviews from folks who'd just eaten at the local cafe, the Ranch House Restaurant. It was threatening to sprinkle again so we stepped inside to a full house. The tables were full so we grabbed a couple of stools at the counter rather than wait. But we ended up waiting anyway.

The counter was at the hub of activity by the kitchen. We noticed our server had a CANDISC band on, along with another server. Turns out they were the brother and niece (Alan and Sarah--father and daughter) of the Ranch House's owner. They'd gotten roped into helping out as soon as they'd ridden into town.

We had a lonnnng wait, and figured out a few more family connections--the head cook was a cousin of Sarah's, and his sister Dawn was also waiting tables (and trying to get out of there by 4), and.... The dishwasher though was a local kid just there to earn money. He got a reprieve from washing dishes to join us at the counter while he folded napkins around silverware. He was a sophomore, eager for football, and eager to get out of Towner and join the military. Meanwhile, a plate of doughnuts had been placed near us on the counter and we joked with Allan and Sarah about just helping ourselves. They looked at them enviously too, not having even had a chance to eat before starting work.

We eventually got our food (and it sure hit the spot), ate, and left so others could take our spots. It had rained while we were indoors, and we came back to the tent to discover we hadn't tucked the tarp under the tent as completely as we should have. Oooops. It had caught water and funneled it under the tent. Hence, we had some wet stuff, including the tent floor, that needed drying. We got that going, and then I headed out on the afternoon's tour, while Dad volunteered to stay behind and move things around as needed to maximize the drying speed.

The tour I went on was of the state forestry nursery just north of Towner. (And in a rush to get to the bus, I forgot to bring my camera.) The nursery resides on a quarter section of land and at any given time is growing six to eight million trees of varying ages, most three years or less. 1.2 million trees are sold annually, with North Dakota destinations given priority over interstate sales. The most common uses include shelter belts, living snow fences, and other conservation plantings. A sampling of the trees grown include Black Hills spruce, Colorado spruce, Eastern red cedar, Rocky Mountain juniper, Scotch pine, Juneberry, Aspen, Bur oak, etc. Trees are sold either as bare root or in containers.

We got to see seedlings and container trees in the nursery, and the beds out in the fields. Each bed contains about 8,000 trees in five closely spaced rows. Trees are labeled for sale by the number of years as seedlings and the number of years in the beds, e.g. 2-2 for two years as seedlings and two in the beds.

We also were taken through the equipment buildings where they process the trees, and where the farm equipment is housed. The machinery is quite specific to the tasks, e.g. the planter which requires five people riding on it to put the seedlings into the "planting wheels," and the harvester to scoop them out of the beds.

Seeds are picked locally, ensuring that the trees are North Dakota-hardy. A cherry picker is used to get up to where the pine cones are. All in all, it was quite an informative tour.

Supper that evening was catered in the park by the Ranch House Restaurant--pork sandwiches. We took a round about way of getting there, heading out to US2 so we could get a better look at the horizon, and hence the storms that were developing along it. They were impressive, and we hoped they stayed away. Next on the loop we were on was the Village, three sizes of identical tents, perhaps a couple dozen in total. Johnson was sitting in the grass near one, so we stopped and got the scoop. The tents were something new for CANDISC--an outside company offering rent-a-tent for a week. They set up and tore down tents, provided hot coffee in the morning, picked up bags by the tent doors, and left them there at the next stop. An air mattress and chair were included with each tent. It was catering to those who wanted to ride on CANDISC, but "were afraid to camp." Well, more just not wanting to deal with the logistics. The cost was perhaps half that of motels, also with the advantage of still being a part of the CANDISC community.

We finally made it to the chow line and saw some familiar faces serving the food. Allan and Sarah were not among them, so they were apparently officially back on CANDISC. The entertainment afterward was Ryan Taylor, a local rancher and poet and speaker and trick roper. After taking in his show, Dad and I headed to the local Cenex to top off the evening with ice cream bars!

Miscellaneous note: Pictured to the left is the McHenry County Court House. Besides being a cool-looking building in my opinion, its historical significance is that my baby sister became legally adopted there back in 1968. I was supposedly there at the time, but have no recollection of it! Note that the tree to the right is the 6 millionth tree whose signage is pictured above. Also mentioned on the sign is Governor Art Link of that era, a native of my home town of Alexander.