July 15, 1998 - Fargo - Otter Tail Lake

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 78.84 Miles

TIME: 6:30 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 18.1 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny the entire day. A strong tailwind with a little side wind in the end.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Very bumpy in the beginning but the afternoon was great. Not too many cars where there wasn't a shoulder but where there was traffic, the shoulder was great.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Perfectly flat in the beginning turning to large rolling hills in the end. Overall a very easy ride.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I got up at 7:00 and learned that breakfast had been ready for a while before I had gotten up. I quickly put on some clothes and went out to blueberry pancakes, sausage, eggs, and orange juice. It was the best breakfast of the trip yet and the best part was that we didn't have to go to a cafe to get it. After eating, I packed up and left to go to the post office with a few other people so that Matt could mail his wheel back to the shop that had sold it to him since he had had 8 broken spokes in only a few weeks. The post office didn't have a box to fit it so we went back to the bike shop and waited there for about 45 minutes for other people to get their bikes fixed. Finally we were ready to go around 11:45 after leaving the church at 10:00. We rode for a few miles and found some people who had stopped at a place to get some ice cream. I stopped and bought a type of milk shake. It was more like a blizzard since it was too hard to use a straw. It was great to have a cold drink on a hot day like it was. After this, we finally got going for the first time. We rode the next 20 miles at a minimum of 20 miles an hour. From this point on, I rode with Matt and Tom. We stopped at a small town for lunch where we met up with the SAG. Dan had been able to get Subway to donate 11 foot long sandwiches which were very filling. After this quick lunch and a picture at a statue of a prairie chicken(Picture64), we took off again to finish the ride. From this point on we only stopped one time which was at a small convenience store to get a bottle of Fruitopia. It was the first time that I had had it and it was some of the best juice that I had ever had. Right before this stop, some of the most beautiful scenery started. We had lakes every mile on both sides but along with this, we also had many rolling hills that were a shock after the flat land that we had had earlier. The rest of the ride was just the same with lakes and a great tailwind for most of the time. At the very end, the road turned and forced us to have a side wind which was a big shock after we were used to going so fast. We arrived at the campground and I bought 4 flavored ice bars for 40 cents. We bought every one that they had and still wished for more. They put some more in the freezer so that we could have them later at night. Soon afterward, the SAG arrived and we unloaded it and put up our tents. (It was a perfect night to sleep --- except for the bugs!) After this, I put on my bathing suit and jumped into the lake where I stayed for about an hour. The cool water felt great after such a hot day. We had a few chicken fights in the water and then went back to get ready for dinner. We had a great dinner of rice with beans and chicken. I then went back to the store and bought 4 more flavored ice bars. After this, I cleaned my plate and ate part of a giant donut which had a creme filling. It was really nice to have desert, especially a good one. I packed up my rain fly for the night since I knew that we wouldn't have any rain and we would have more air if we took it off. I climbed in and finally went to sleep around 11:00 with perfect temperatures.

TRIP ROUTE:
Take country route 525 not 94 for 20 miles into Barnsville. Get on 9 south for 20 more miles until Country Route 10 E. Pass through Elizabeth. CR10 becomes CR1. CR1 becomes CR72. Stay south of Otter Tail lake take 72 to 78 and left at 78. After 2 miles Woodland Beach resort will be on left.