HEAD WEST YOUNG MAN

All is well. Made it to Fargo ND around 1pm this afternoon. Before getting to the CIS I stopped by a bike shop for a tune up. The next bike shop is a little over 300 miles away so I wanted to make sure my bike is in tip-top shape. Tomorrow the real cycling test begins. Over the past few days I've been subject to a good head wind. This will intensify over the next couple weeks. I will change my riding habits to getting up early to beat some of the wind and heat and I will carry more water and food than what I've done to this point. The towns are few and far between for the next 600 miles.

A few stats:

Route miles complete: 2435
Miles peddled: 2244.82
Miles ahead of schedule: 555.8
Days ahead of schedule: 8.5
83.9 route miles / 77.4 miles peddled per day
Last time I shaved: May 25th

Last night was the first time I had a difficult time finding a place to stay. I passed at least 10 campgrounds that were full and all of the motels/hotels were booked. I should have known better. I was traveling in a lake resort area near Pelican Rapids. To make things worse the last 25-30 miles that I peddled was in a steady rain. No fun at all. Finally I sweet talked my way into a campground that was booked. I convinced the owner to allow me to pitch my tent behind his storage shed. All's well that ends well. I set up my new tent in the rain and once I got the fly on...the tent held up nicely in the rain.

Thank you Kenny for visiting me in Dyersville IA.

...And thank you to the following for visiting me in La Crosse: Dean, Bill, Pat & Todd from PH. Bob, Michelle, & Bryan from Rochester. And Tracy from BRF. Your visit meant a lot to me. In fact, it meant so much to me that the 4 days afterwards I rode 429.33 miles! I was inspired.

This will be the last entry for awhile. Remember...If you haven't heard anything...nothing bad has happened.

If it wasn't difficult...more people would do it. Jamie