Yup, another day of struggling. At least the rain was scattered today, so we did not spend the whole day soaked!

It was pouring when we woke up, so we rested and waited out the storm. Roger kept watch out the window, to let us know when mother nature was ready to take a break. We did not leave Cooperstown until almost 1pm.

At least TJ could spend the time with his new buddy.

We set out against an 18mph head wind. We were dead against this wind for the vast majority of the day. Even on 2 percent downhills, we had to pedal hard. We plodded along at 7mph on the flats....pathetic. Lucky for us, we had a short day planned. Unfortunately, this was supposed to be a restful day. It turned out to be very tiring.

Roger was napping at every available oppertunity. It was nice of him to help me with the routing troubles last night, but now I feel a bit guilty for keeping him up.

Chuckwagon said it best, North Dakota is not so much a state any more, as it is more of a Great Lake. Their is water along the roads, in every field, and in every place it could possibly stand. Some fields even have farm equipment sticking out of the water.

This is all farm equipment.

Water was right up to the road in places, with many roads having orange flags at intersections to signify that the road was somehow damaged or dangerous.

The sky always looked ready to shower, and we had some brief rain...but nothing major. We saw rain in the distance in several directions all day.

In Binford, Laura found a beetle she was quite impressed by.

Katie wrote some postcards at the Binford Cafe as we waited for our food. She wants to send them soon. TJ and I were taking score on our beard growing contest. You guys can judge the current progress.

I enjoyed a Binford Burger. Lets just say it was huge.

After lunch, we plugged away again against the wind for another 18 miles until Pekin. The town is a bit smaller than most of our overnight towns, so we had to make our own dinner. Luckily, we had planned on camping in the park but the town has an amazing hotel! Fifty bucks gets you a room with several bedrooms, kitchen, and living room. Sweet!

38 miles (707 total)