Day 53: Pelican Rapids, MN to Fargo, ND: A mailbag video & 2 Fargo Videos

By Michael Riscica / August 8, 2007

Wednesday August 8, 2007, 60 miles (96 km) – Total so far: 2,669 miles (4,296 km)
59.67 miles 4:26 pedal time 13.4 avg speed, Yeah!


Click Here to Visit The Table of Contents
Click Here to Visit Previous Page: Day 52: Parkers Prairie, MN to Pelican Rapids, MN, The places we sleep video
Click Here to Visit The Next Page: Day 54: Fargo, ND to Page, ND, Sunflower Video

Last night we drank too much beer the floor also drank too much beer. We didn’t really make any attempt to get up early. Going to sleep with a few beers under the belt is really the only time I truly sleep well.

Jamie woke up at 8am, edited some video and then went back to sleep for a few hours.

At breakfast I watched some old dude check out our bikes then walk in the diner and sit down right in front of us and stare at us while we ate. I got really pissed; I was cranky and just wanted to be left alone. Then when he was ready to leave he asked us where we are going and we said Fargo and then he just started rambling off directions from here to Fargo. So annoying. Jamie talked again about making the video of people giving us directions that we didn’t ask for. But it would be really hard to capture all that footage.

Jamie and I went to the library and I uploaded a few journal entries. Jamie uploaded some crap but I don’t think anything worked out for him. We stayed in the library for a half hour and then just decided to get outta there. I was anxious to get outta this town I wanna get to Fargo and see chuck.  I miss that guy. We hit the road around noon.

## 53m1 ## ## 53m2 ##

All day long we had the best tailwind. We were flying. Mike Riscica missed a turn and it took Jamie a mile to finally catch up to him to tell him he screwed up. After we got back on the trail I felt this pinch on my ankle. I looked down and I saw this bee on my sock, I wiped him off but it was too late.

## bee ##

We stopped so I could take care of my bee sting. I put on some of that bee sting stuff from the first aid kit. While I took care of my bee sting Jamie photographed Bee’s. Mike Riscica is falling apart. First I banged up my head and now I got stung by a bee. I don’t wanna know what’s next.

## 53m5 ## ## 53m3 ##

We stopped in the middle of our tailwind to read some letters for the mailbag:
http://www.teamnortherntier2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/mailbag.html

We would also like to thank everything that has left us a comment or a joke lately in the guestbook. Hearing from anyone who’s reading this crap really makes our day! It really breaks up the days and gives us something to look forward to. The guestbook is at the top of the page or you could just follow this link:  http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/guestbook/?o=R116&doc_id=1890&v=Z9

After receiving all our ‘letters’ we noticed there was all these shoes/boots on top of the posts for the fences. The shoes and boots went for about 3 miles down the road. It was quite strange. Jamie took a bunch of video footage but then we debated about making a video about it. And decided not to.

## 53m9 ##

When we rode into Hawley we found this cute little subway tucked away on a busy road. Mary Scheele gave us gift cards when we were in Fort Atkinson so we used them here. The nice people working there, made our sandwiches just like they looked in the picture. It was the best subway I have ever been to. We talked to chuck at subway. He was in Fargo and we were 20 miles away. The airline lost his bags, but they didn’t lose his bike. So he’s going to go take his bike to get assembled. I told him to make some friends because we have nowhere to stay tonight.

## 53m10 ## ## 53m11 ##

After lunch Jamie and I had a great tailwind and our own freshly paved 2 lane highway for about 10 miles. All the way to Fargo we were really flying. The Northern Tier took us off route 10 to get off the busy roads but we didn’t care. We were really anxious to get to Fargo.

## 53m14 ## ## 53m15 ## ## 53m16 ## ## 53m18 ##

When we got into Fargo, we were both wicked excited. Jamie kept thanking all the civilians for letting him in Fargo.

Everyone was really friendly and welcoming to North Dakota. Here’s a video of us entering Fargo: http://www.teamnortherntier2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/moorehead-to-fargo.html

53m20 ##

Chuck texted me and told us he was at Atomic Coffee, so we rode through town yelling his name and eventually we found him. He greeted us outside and we sat there for a while catching up on lost time. While we were sitting out front, some old timer noticed my rear tire was flat. Atomic Coffee had Wi-Fi and I wanted to get some journal stuff done. The old men sitting out front kept asking me stupid questions about the bike trip so eventually I went inside to hang out with chuck and get some journal work done.

It feels great seeing chuck again. While I was doing the journal hanging out a different old man came inside every 20-30 minutes to tell me that I had a flat tire and I wasn’t going to get very far with a tire like that.

We all drank lots of tea at atomic coffee and it was starting to rain. Jamie went to put his laptop back in the case and one of the old men sitting outside (Who had been sitting there talking about our bike trip for the past 2 hours) tried to tell him that our laptop case isn’t waterproof and all our gear was going to get soaked because they don’t have plastic bags on them. Jamie got really pissed cause when did this jerk become the gear expert?

We had nowhere to stay in Fargo. Jamie got some tips about parks from the trust fund homeless kid who was hanging out with the old men who wouldn’t stop talking about us. We debated calling some of the people on the warm showers list but it was getting late, starting to rain, I had a flat tire and we were all getting cranky cause we needed to eat.

We all went to the pub next door and got burritos. After we finished eating the rain stopped I figured it was time I should change that flat tire everyone’s been talking about for the past 3 hours.

## 53m24 ##

3 minutes into changing the flat tire the trust fund homeless kid came up to me and said ‘You’re still changing that flat tire?’ So annoying. Everyone in Fargo is driving me crazy about my flat tire! While I was patching the tube, Larry the town bike mechanic came over and introduced himself. I told Larry I called the shop a few hours ago and we were planning on taking our bikes in tomorrow morning to get checked out before we embark on North Dakota. Larry was really cool we hung out and talked bikes while I patched my tube.

## 53m23 ##

While we were hanging out on the street this guy Adam came up to us and asked if we’ve been keeping an internet blog because his mom has been following us across the country. Adam called his mom Jackie and told her he found us in town.

She said since we had nowhere to stay she would pay for us to get a room at the Howard Johnson in the middle of town. The video is here:  http://www.teamnortherntier2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/place-to-stay-in-fargo-nd.html

Jackie drove over to Fargo from Moorhead. She was really excited to meet us. She found our journal from the Turtle Tour. She is friends with someone who’s related to Larry or Tom and somehow got started reading our journal. She’s been reading all summer and has really been enjoying our journal said helping us with a motel room is the least she could do.

## 53m26 ##

Jackie checked us into the motel. She had us all glowing because we were ready to sleep in the parking garage to get outta the rain. Jackie didn’t hang out long because she works at the hospital and had to be at work very early in the morning. Before she left we all got a big hug from her. What a sweet women.

## 53m27 ##

At the motel we all exhausted. Today was a real long day, none of us wanted to really go back out? We showered, washed clothes, used the Wi-Fi and ac and went to sleep with a big smile.

    Click Here to Visit The Table of Contents
Click Here to Visit Previous Page: Day 51: Rice, MN to Parkers Prairie, MN, 3 Videos from the bar
Click Here to Visit The Next Page: Day 53: Pelican Rapids, MN to Fargo, ND: A mailbag video & 2 Fargo Video

About the author

Michael Riscica

Hey, I’m Michael Riscica and I live in Portland, Oregon with my Labrador Retriever. When I’m off the bike, I make my living as a Licensed Architect and also write a architecture blog at YoungArchitect.com.

I took my first bike tour in 2003 when I rode from Boston to New York City, and at that time I learned about cycling across America. My life was forever changed. I have successfully ridden and blogged about Coast2Coast bike rides during the summers of 2005, 2007and now 2016.

Thanks for following along. I would love to connect with you on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Linked In! Also check out my new project Young Architect Gear, designing architecturally themed gifts and products.

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