Day 3 Wed June 1st Duluth MN to Minot ND

Today was our longest day so far due to unexpected circumstances. 
All day long we battled very strong head winds on the 2 lane Interstate segement of our trip.  I know what you're thinking "Interstate" yuke!  Actually, it wasn't bad.  The road swelled up & down through the countryside like a roll of Charmane bouncing on the floor. Farm land kept us company, but the wind was the real challenge. Gusts up to 80 kph knocked us around all day. 

Today we learned that unlike in Canada were you can us the posted limit as a guideline, in the USA anything more 5 mph above the posted limit will get attention.  Early in the day I was leading when I noticed Peter was really falling back behind me.  I thought that I had better slow up so he could catch up.  Soon afterward I was passed by a white pickup truck with Sheriff written in large print on the doors.  Opps!   Later in the afternoon just when I decided to make up some time a car going the opposite direction turned on it's headlights.  I'm thinking that's kind of strange (the don't have Daytime Running Lights in the States) when I noticed the police cruiser right behind that car.  I had been given the official slow down headlight flick by the unmarked cruiser.  Okay I get the message.

In Rugby ND we stopped at the monument stating that Rugby is the geographic middle of North America.

Later in the afternoon we passed through some severely flooded fields. Complete farms were under water.

Once we arrived in Minot ND we eventually learned that 10,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. The National Guard had been called in to help.  Volunteers were sand bagging the shores of the local river.  Motel rooms disappeared quickly. We thought of going further West, but were told that these motels were completely booked by oil field workers.  Apparently, there is an oil boom taking place in ND because they have found a way to extract oil from shale. Great! We spent over 2 hours searching for accommodations.  Fortunately, we were referred to a B&B 167 kms away.  They had a room with two beds for the night.  (We had already turned down a Bridal Suite with a king bed)

After a quick supper & a gas tank top up, off we went.  It took us a while to find the B&B in Parshall NB.  (Their phone was off the hook during Bible Study hour.)  The good news was that the hosts & the room were great and the bike got to stay indoors.  They deserved it.   1000 kms today! (another new personal record)  The had been ridden hard had been put away wet...just like their owners.  We decided to sleep in.