2018, Day 3: Northern Hospitality

Today, Mom and Dad arrived in Williston, ND, where they plan on spending a few nights while Dad bikes in the vicinity. The hotel where they had booked a stay didn't have an elevator, which is a pain for Mom's knees. They asked if there were open rooms on the first floor, but the only ones available were smaller and didn't have a king bed, so they decided to go with the third-floor room. The real trouble was lugging all of the luggage, ice chest, equipment, walker, etc. up two flights of stairs, which Dad had to handle alone. Upon arriving in the room, they unpacked, then discovered in short-order that the A/C was broken. Repairman attempted, but was unable, to fix it. So, Mom and Dad were re-located to a smaller, main-floor room with two queen beds rather than a king. Commence re-packing and re-lugging all of the luggage, ice chests, equipment, walker, etc., after which the hotel required three attempts to get the right keys to the room to let them in. After all that effort, mom and dad were refunded a whopping $10 for their troubles. Dinner involved a mixup about the food quality at Hardees, resulting in another disappointing experience. Gee, North Dakota sure is swell!

On the plus side, dad made great progress today. From his journal:

"Beautiful day for a ride. Mid to high 60’s most of the day; overcast; frequent sprinkles but nothing more. A rain squall passed in front of us, leaving the last five miles wet road, so I got a little spotted from road mud at the end. The first 30 miles was fairly flat, the last 20 was like a roller coaster. After finishing, we drove on to Williston, ND to the hotel we will be staying in for three nights. My first time ever in North Dakota. Tomorrow’s terrain will be more roller coaster. We’ll see how my legs hold up. By the way, passing milepost 600 was kind of euphoric. I crossed into Montana three years and 650 miles ago. Just another 30 or so miles and I will finally ride out the other side. 50.13 Miles today, in 4:49:45. Including rest stops, averaged just over 10 mph."

On to the riding in North Dakota tomorrow, and Montana can be checked off the list! Way to go, Dad!