Snuck out this morning to get a few hours in before facing the reality of packing up the rest of the house. Went north yesterday, so decided to go south today. Stayed on the Minnesota side down to Breckenridge, about 45 minutes away. (Now there’s a road that could use some stimulus money repair!) Was keeping an eye on the time as I wanted to be back by noon, but I was doing okay so I headed west on Hwy 13. Nice road, but I think I’m going to call it the “killer highway.” Had three close encounters within 14 miles. I’m not sure what was up. Was it the sun? The new road? Something about me? The time of day? I dunno, but first I was nearly taken out by a touring bike passing a car. Then the next was the most “interesting.” Stinkin’ white sedan would not get out of my lane. I slammed on the rear brake and did quite a nice skid. Still wouldn’t pull back into his lane. Mofo then decided that he was going to take my shoulder and I got to thread the needle between him and the rest of the oncoming traffic. (Once again, no adrenaline sweat. Wassup with dat?) Third time was just some old guy casually passing and once again I slammed on the brakes and came to nearly a complete stop until he pulled back in. Him I wanted to flip off. 🙂 Luckily, there was no traffic behind me so I didn’t have to worry about being rear-ended in all of these encounters. Once I got past Wyndmere, all the oncoming traffic tapered off and it was (mostly) empty roads once again. Phew!!!!! Headed on to Gwinner before making the turn north for the return trip.

From there it was a short jaunt up to Lisbon where I stopped for some gas and string cheese. Got to remember to pack string cheese, it’s a great road food. Lisbon is really pretty, nestled in a valley like it is. On the edge of the Sheyenne National Grasslands too, which is where I headed next. I have a co-worker that lives near Colfax, so I headed that direction and then slid up the North Dakota side of the river for a bit before sliding back into Minnesota for the last leg back into town. Only about 4 hours and, except for the 14 miles of playing chicken, a good ride with some pretty good sights.

One other thing that I noticed this morning is how I’ve gotten used to the wind. The winds have been 15-25 mph all weekend with gusts over 30 mph. I didn’t even notice. Well, I guess I did notice that there was a head-/tail-/cross-wind, but whatever. No longer bothers me like it did at the beginning of the summer. I was saying back then that I had better get used to it. Apparently I have.

Odometer: 4674 miles (597 for the weekend) <==I think I might make it!!!