Day 39 - Fargo to Williston, ND

Total miles biked: 10
Total miles traveled: 400
Total miles biked to date: 1993

My best friend Nicole and her friend Gretchen want to ride 9 

days with me in Montana.  The only way in which do meet them on a certain date in a certain town was to advance ahead 400 miles.  I thought skipping over North Dakota would be the best choice because of the boring scenery, lack of people, lack of towns, and the well known winds (which 

would not be in my favor).
I boarded the train at 4:00am after the long night with the boys in Fargo.  I got a good 4 hour nap in on the train.  I made a poor choice and ate breakfast on the train.  I highly recommend avoiding this because of the cost and poor quality (gross!).  

I, of course, made some friends and chatted it up with many different characters on the train and arrived in Williston, ND by 11:30pm.  Amtrak made me break down my bike and put it in a box and when I arrived to Williston I was SO proud of myself because I put my bike back together all by myself!  My couchsurfing host, Micah, for the evening got off work at 5:00 so I entertained myself until then.  I ate lunch, ran some errands and then headed to the library.  As I was typing my blog I looked over my shoulder and saw a guys in his 20's in bike clothes hopping on a computer.  We looked at each other and knew, I asked him, "Are you bike touring?"  I finally found another person (Nick is his name) just as crazy as I am biking in the wrong direction on the northern tier route in a bit of a harsh season with the cold weather.  We had such a hard time containing our excitement to meet a fellow touring cyclists the librarian had to reprimand us for our loud voices.  Nick had planned to camp at the city pavilion and I invited with (with permission) to stay with me at Micah's house.  We finished our business at the library and headed over to Micah's house.  Micah, Nick and I cruised to the grocery store to pick up some food and I cooked up a yummy coconut curry dinner for the three of us.  The three of us chatted, shared stories, and laughed all night.  It was such a relief to meet someone else who knew exactly what I have been through and to have shared so many similar experiences.  It brought me such pleasure to learn that just as many people provided the same hospitality to Nick as I had experienced.  Sadly Nick was headed for Wyoming and our routes split directions only 3 miles from Williston so I did not pick up a new bike partner.