Sunday June 12th: Bismark North Dakota

Beautiful weather day - started in the 40's and quickly topped off around 78 degrees. Was nice to be able to ride without the extra gear. Logged just shy of 650 miles from Shelby Montana to Bismarck North Dakota. We drove Route 2 - nice road, long straight aways, up and down small hilly sections. Very little traffic - speed limit 75 mph - we saw antelope (both alive & dead on the side of the road). Before turning off Route 2 to 13 South, we stopped at the local diner to have lunch. As it is the only restaurant open in town on Sunday, it was packed and we had to wait at the door for a table. As we stood there waiting for a table to open, an elderly local man who was sitting alone offered us to join him at his. He shared with us that he had owned Harley's back in the day - his first was when he graduated from college sometime in the 50's and he bought the second some years later. We talked about his life's travels and work experience for close to an hour. He told us that he had a business in California for over 35 years installing Corian countertops before he retired back to to his home town of Wolf Point. Just before we all finished our lunch, he pulled out a pen that he had made out of Corian - and gave it to Donnie as a gift. We offered to pay for his lunch, but he flatly refused - he followed us out to the bike and chatted for at least another 15 minutes before he left. Just one more example of the amazing people that we have met along this great adventure. The rest of the trip was riddled with constantly changing landscapes - we drove through flat agricultural lands (yes including those wind gusts again), miles and miles of livestock free range areas, and rocky multi-colored areas that look like the pictures we've all seen of the moon scape. Great day overall - hoping to get out and infront of the storms the Weather Channel says are on their way to the great lakes region. D&C