#acaNoTier Circle to Wibaux, 79 miles | Thunder

Riding Stats

Accommodations

Route Tracker

From Tom:

As we looked out the tent at 5:30am this morning and saw dark clouds approaching, we jumped out of our sleeping bags and hustled through our morning chores. We jumped on our bikes and headed east towards our destination of Wibaux, 77 miles. At about mile 10 the skies surrounded us with winds, thunder and lightening. Although there was no shelter we pulled off to the side of the road, got prepped for rain, and found a place to sit to let the lightening pass. Ten minutes later we were on our way riding in a light shower until we reached Lindsay.

After visiting with Ed in the Co-op over a cup of coffee, we were back on our way east. The sun was back out and the tailwind was 10mph with a slight downhill into Glendive 25 miles away. We pulled into Glendive one hour later. Several times I looked at my Garmin and saw 27mph 😁👍.

Needless to say, this was a Nirvana for bike riding. So here we are 11am with 49 miles under our belt. Yes a century ride was definitely on our mind and we pulled out the map to check on potential camping/hotels in 50 miles. We would need to ride an additional 70 more miles to have a place to stay the night. Not out of the question since we were feeling so good.

On we went after a snack for another 25 miles to our original destination of Wibaux feeling so good. That feeling quickly disappeared after 5 miles. We merged on to a major highway (I-94), which was actually really nice, then we exited to a frontage road for 12 miles. How do I describe this road?

Chip and seal, major cracks every few yards that sent shocks up your hands/elbows/shoulders every time you road over one. The wind had disappeared and I looked at my Garmin and it read a temperature of 103 degrees. Yes a very, very long 12 miles and the 100 mile century ride left my mind as well as my positive attitude.

When we arrived to the next town, Wibaux We rolled into Wibaux I definitely needed a Snickers Bar. We roll into the Tastee Hut and Deb orders a 12” pepperoni pizza/lemonade and I a 12” chicken, pineapple pizza with Rhubarb Milkshake (yum, yum). With our tummy’s totally satisfied, we headed to our campground to set up our tent, shower and get organized.

We met another Northern Tier thru-biker camping at the site, Paul from New Zealand. He filled us in on all his adventures of mountain climbing, hiking and bicycle touring. He has done four long tours with his longest circumnavigating the United States. It took him 10 months. His route: LA to SanDiego to Key West to Virginia to the Transamerica route to Oregon and 101 back down to LA. Adding to Tom and Deb’s bucket list???? Time will tell.

Finally, needing to catch up on our blogs we found a brewery (Beaver Creek Brewery) and said we aren’t leaving until we are all caught up on our blogs 😁

Cheers 🍺