62 miles

Last night I tried to sleep in my hammock again, but it suddenly became very windy again, and I was flapping and swaying everywhere. If that wasn’t enough to keep me awake, hearing the sickly tree beside me creaking and moaning in the wind was putting images of dying crushed by a dead limb into my mind. Not very restful. Finally I bit the bullet and just took the whole thing down, moved to a more open area on the ground, and was able to sleep, probably a mere 4 hours until the sun came up.

 Today was easier than yesterday, mentally, but not the weather. It was 92° and cloudless which means that we were in full sun for the entire day. We found a place with a fountain machine and filled our Hydro packs with ice, and we put ice chips in the bandanas we had tied around our necks, which did offer a little relief. We saw the biker from yesterday and his wife, driving their support van. I forgot his name. They are from Michigan.

I spent most of the ride paying close attention to my body position on the bike. I’ve noticed that I hunch my back more when I’m tired, so I kept my focus on how my hips were, and it seemed to help the overall comfort of everything else, too. It helped me to stay present. The wind was still crazy today, but after reframing it as an inextricable part of everything that exists yesterday, it took on a slightly new character in my mind. 

As we were passing through the town of Mandan, we noticed a lot of people parking along the roadside. We soon came to find out that a rodeo was scheduled to begin within an hour, and families were arriving in their cowboy hats. It was like something out of a dream—I have never really yearned for a rodeo experience, but since we left Montana I have been rodeo-curious. It seems like a quintessential wild west type of experience to have, at least once. To stumble into one this closely and with such perfect timing felt like fate. 

To thoroughly add to this feeling of serendipity, as we approached the ticket counter to buy our tickets, a lady who was noticeably (almost shockingly) much cleaner than I was walked right up to me and stood awkwardly close and said almost conspiratorially, “Are you going to the rodeo?” She was all quiet and serious. I answered “Uhh, yeah I guess so?” And she quickly handed me a ticket and said “We had an extra, someone in our group didn’t show up. It’s yours.” Her demeanor was hilariously like she was engaging in some kind of shady drug deal. It was so weird and awesome. She just disappeared after that, like some kind of benevolent rodeo phantom. Amazing.

The rodeo itself was kind of stressful. It was fun to be immersed in the aesthetic and hear the accents and the music and everything, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was just bracing myself to see a guy get stomped in the face by an obviously distressed horse the whole time, and I didn’t like imagining how it felt for any of the animals. Cowboys, though…I can see the appeal. 

After we left the rodeo, we passed Salem Sue, the biggest statue of a holstein cow in New Salem. She is quite big.

We decided to get a hotel and have a rest day tomorrow when we reach Bismarck.