Canada 2016 - Fargo and Moorhead, MN

Saturday - July 23
Since we were only moving across town and didn't have to check out until 11, we started our day with the penultimate stage of the Tour, a mountain stage in the rain....we could empathize with the rain part. We will miss the last stage since we will be on the train tomorrow.

Susan and Donna had several delightful conversations.....yesterday and today.

We only had 4 miles to go but there was a thunderstorm on the horizon in the early afternoon.

Our route took us past many of these big older homes. This one is now a law office.

We decided to check out the Amtrak station before we checked in since we were a little early. This is NOT the train station.

The old station has been converted into a really wonderful bike shop!

The Farmer's Market was being held in the parking lot next door.

Dad Chris and son, Jack, were packing up their farmer's market treasures as we talked about our journey and ways to do some bike touring with kids.

We especially like Grace's helmet and could imagine our granddaughters would love it too!

Mom, Jolene, and Grace heading home so they can hopefully beat the rain. Chris and Jack weren't far behind.

Our room was on the 6th floor. We did get checked in before the storm but got a little wet on our way back from lunch.

At 2:30, the sun came out again so we went on a little excursion. 

We crossed the Red River into Moorhead, Minnesota to find this replica of a Norwegian church in a beautiful park along the river. It is called Hopperstad Stave Church.

Our route back to North Dakota

Fargo has a bikeshare program and this is one of the stations. The tower in the background is the bike shop.

Great Northern Bicycle Co. did a great job of utilizing so much of the old train stuff. 

Every corner of Broadway, the main downtown street, had one of these towers on it. Three sides have the picture and the 4th side gives the Fargo history commemorated by the picture.

The Cathedral of St. Mary

We didn't know it ahead of time but it just happens to be the site of the Year of Mercy Holy Door for this diocese. Our home parish was visiting the Holy Door at the Grotto in Portland this very same afternoon so we were with them in spirit. :)

Now we just need to find dinner.  Fargo's downtown has plenty of restaurants.

Since our train leaves at 3:25 am, we plan to get up at midnight to give ourselves plenty of time to box the bikes. Fortunately, the hotel room has really dark curtains because we are going to bed before sunset. So far the train is running on time.

End of week 5
This journey is almost over.
Cumulative bike miles =  1,514
We will add 30 more getting home from the Amtrak station.
And yes, it did look that flat.
It was only that darned headwind that made it feel like we were going uphill!

Canada 2016 - Hillsboro to Fargo

Friday - July 22
Nice vegetable garden behind the motel.

Blue sky and a slight tailwind as we get started.

Just had to get one more picture is this pretty morning light as we head back to Hwy. 81.

Hwy. 81 and Interstate 29 are really close together most of the way to Fargo. That is the 2nd wind turbine blade we've seen go by. We knew the blades are big but  it looked so huge horizontal at ground level.

We are really glad to have this road option today as there is a construction project on 29 that has all the traffic in the northbound lanes.

Always sad to see one of these memorials.

Bet the tractor drivers love these telephone poles.

A couple of minutes ago we had a discussion about which way to get to the lunch spot in Harwood. We took Doug's version.......oh well ;)

Wet hair will help with the evaporative cooling (85F with a real feel of 95F now)

This field has grown wheat every year for 135 years and has been a research plot for 125 years.

Grant found us at an intersection and offered to lead us to the motel since he was headed the same direction and wanted to hear about our trip. He works for the university in crop science so we talked agriculture/forestry too.

We have reached our final destination for this trip so finding this in the motel seemed so appropriate. We celebrated with a totally decadent Cookie Ice Cream Sundae at the Green Mill.

Canada 2016 - Grand Forks to Hillsboro

Thursday - July 21
Heard some thunder some time last night but it is all clear this morning.

The elevator was a busy place this morning. No rush this morning though. We got on the road at 8:15, an hour later than yesterday.

 It was sunny and 63F, with no wind at all.

Today we plan to follow Highway 81 south. We were standing at this intersection trying to decide which way to get there when this local cyclist stopped to ask if we needed help. He gave us the best route out of town. We forgot to ask his name but loved the route he sent us on.

Grand Forks is a 2 water tower town. It is so flat that we could still see the one at the north edge of town. We rode through a lot of newer suburbs with wonderful bike/ped facilities.

Sugar beets and really dark Red River Valley soil.

Some of the crop damage from Tuesday night's storm.

Some of the shelter belts are a little worse for wear too.

Not much of a shoulder but not very much traffic either.

We assumed all those overpasses the last couple of day were connecting paved roads. Turns out most of them are only paved on the overpass itself.

There is a detour sign on Highway 81 at Buxton that said the road was closed to all but local traffic. We figured it was a bridge issue and bikes don't float very well so we took the detour. What a lot of pipe!!

Going back on Highway 29 for a few miles. 

It did up our max speed for the day :)

Are we already in Oregon???? We are still getting used to the idea that we are back in the United States.

This sign at the south end of the detour was more specific and confirmed our suspicions 

The Rahr Malting Company

And a little farther down the road, American Crystal Sugar....must be where all those sugar beets are going. Bet this road is REALLY busy during the harvest season.

Our destination for the day and it is only 12:30. What a difference the wind makes!

The county court house.

These were in a pot on the front steps

This Veteran's Memorial is next to the court house. Everyone from the area who has in the military is listed.

Doug counted 91 people with the last name of Hanson.

The Hillsboro Heritage Park reflects the major role of agriculture in the area.

All his friends flew off when we walked up but we guess he found us interesting so stuck around just long enough for Donna to carefully lift the camera.

The motel hallway was filled with artistic sayings but this one seemed the most appropriate given the amount of rain we have seen on this tour.