Day 29- Mb2Cb Tour- Final Chapter- Weyburn to Regina, Canada

I'm here folks, at the end of the line. Regina Saskatchewan Canada.  So marks the end of the epic Mb2Cb Bicycle Tour 2012. Over the past 29 days I've touched 3 countries, pedaled through 6 states, and traveled 1800 miles. I've pedaled over countless hills, fighting the wind in my face and flying with the wind at my back. I've biked through the southern heat and the northern rain, fog, and biting cold. I've run with the big trains and with the big rigs. I've slept in nameless motels, along the roadside, under a bridge, in small town parks and in spectacular pristine wilderness areas. I've raced horses along fence lines, run with deer, and flown with Canadian geese. I have crossed paths with Gus McCrea and Woodrow Call , Charles Goodnight & Oliver Loving, Meriwether Lewis & William Clark. I have seen and I have experienced a part of our great country, perhaps as those men did.

A journey like this does not lend itself well to getting to know people. The pace is too hectic and you're never in one place very long. What I did come to know is that there are very many fine folks out there, each with their own story. I will always wonder what became of Tom, a long haul trucker from Florida that I met in Colorado, who pulled his big rig over to offer assistance when he saw me parked on the side of the road.  I had just stopped for lunch, and Tom and I shared some Slimjims, Twinkies, and some laughs.  I'll think about Jeff from the bike shop in Spearfish who, after hearing my story ,and I his, tuned up my bike for free.  I'll wonder about Gordy, in South Dakota. who lead me to the beautiful and isolated campground on the mighty Missouri River and Bev, in Fortuna, North Dakota who gave me leave to camp in the community park when I was too weary to continue on. I will always remember Greg and Patresha who fed me a meal fit for a king, prayed for me, and played me a song.

People have asked why I chose to do this tour. I wish I had some lofty purpose to lay claim to, but the truth is, I did it just for fun. It was always more of a goal than a dream. I suppose I simply wanted to know if I could do it. In a few years when I settle into the rocking chair, I'll look back on the tour and to whom ever asks, I'll say, "It was a hell of a ride".

I'd like to thank my wife Liz, my dad Raul, and my children Eric, Melanie, and Lorie for their unwavering love and support. Thanks to my friend and son-in-law, Skeets, who helped kick off the tour by riding out of Mexico and through 120 miles of West Texas with me. Also, many thanks to the Board of Directors of the Medina Community Library (aka The Best Little Library in Texas) who granted me the time off to do this tour. A better bunch of folks and bosses I've never known. Special thanks to Linda, Judy, Donna, Ressa, and especially Mary Ellen, the volunteers and staff of the library, who covered for me while I was goofing off. Special mention goes out to the students and teachers of Medina ISD who have been with me through every step of the tour. Finally I'd like to thank my sisters,  friends, friends of family and friends of friends who have posted your comments and words of support on this blog. It is difficult to describe just how much of a lift your kind words gave me. The tour would not have been nearly as much fun without you.

That's it folks. All's left to do is pack up the bike and fly home. To quote Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, "Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again".

Days 25, 26 and 27-Mb2Cb Tour-Watford to Williston to Fortuna, North Dakota

I'm indeed fortunate this evening to find myself in Fortuna, ND. This is a delightful little town, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, just 10 miles from the Canadian border. Fortuna, is very small, but is populated by folks with very big hearts. I stopped here late in the day knowing there was neither a motel nor campground anywhere close by. Bev, who runs the Border Tavern (Fortuna has 1 church and 1 bar) listened to my tour story and told me that I was welcome to pitch my tent in the community park, across the street from the Tavern. The community park is beautifully landscaped, and looks completely out of place. Obviously these kind souls like their parks, bibles, and liquor. My kind of folks!! Just outside of Fortuna I stopped at Pearson's Cafe and had the best meal I've had since the tour started and met two of the most interesting and lovely people ever. Patresha, the cook, is a native of Jamaica, and cooks up the absolute best Jamaican Jerk Chicken & Rice. Along with Greg, her husband, they cook up wonderful dishes, and they'll even sing and dedicate spirituals hymns and prayers to you. It's meeting folks like the Pearson's that make this tour such a great experience. Patresha and Greg Pearson, fine cooks, fine Christians, and even finer human beings. If you're fortunate enough to find yourself in Fortuna, ND. you must stop by Pearson's Cafe, and tell them Randy sent you.

I cannot leave North Dakota behind without commenting one last time on the oil boom currently underway. I'm from Texas, and I worked for a time in Pasadena, right in the middle of the largest concentration of oil companies on the planet, but I've never seen anything like this. Oil related activities are infused in everything. Everywhere there are gigantic RV and trailer cities, comprised of thousands of units each. These are temporary housing for the hundreds of thousands men and women working the oil industry. This place reminds me of an ant hill, after you've poked it with a stick. But instead of ants, there's thousands of big trucks running every which way. Big trucks hauling, oil, road building materials, drilling equipment, and especially earth moving heavy equipment. There's clearly a great deal of money and jobs here. The restaurants, bars, stores, motels are all doing very well. What is less obvious, is what the state, county, and city governments are doing to mitigate the damage being done to the environment. My travels through the state have shown me the good and the

Days 22, 23, 24, 25 Mb2Cb Tour Spearfish to Buffalo, SD. To Bowman, to Belfield, to Watford City, North Dakota

My apologies for not posting these past 4 days. Much has happened in that time but unfortunately I was either too tired or did not have the internet access necessary to post.

I left Spearfish 4 days ago on a chilling cold, wet, and windy day. I had been monitoring the weather and knew I was in for a rough ride. To compound the issue I was pretty sure that I would have to camp out at the end of the day, since there was only 1 small town, Buffalo, within 80 miles of Spearfish. I could find nothing online that indicated that there was a motel in Buffalo. That day, Day 22, was the toughest day of the tour so far. I pedaled for 12 hours, 6am to 6pm, all the while looking for someplace I could make camp. Pitching a tent on the cold, soggy ground, while a steady cold rain is falling, didn't much appeal to me, but what choice did I have? It was actually preferable to continue pedaling than to stop. As I continued on, I knew that I had to stop soon because the cloud cover would bring on darkness long before sunset. As much as I disliked the idea, I decided that my best bet was to try and make camp under a bridge. Not an appealing thought, but at least it would be out of the rain. By that time I had just passed 80 miles for the day and was ready to just fall over and sleep in the middle of the highway. What happened next is something that I will always look back on fondly. Just past the town of Buffalo, there was a sign that said MOTEL with an arrow. The sign was faded, and had fallen loose on one end causing the arrow to point straight down. I thought great, a motel in hell! I'll take it!! But there was a motel, the Tipperery, and it was open, and it had a green neon YES in the window. I walked into the office/lobby and stood there half frozen, like a big block of ice, dripping all over carpet. I not sure what the clerk thought when she saw me, I must have been a sight, but she gave me a room. I took a hot shower, hit the bed, and didn't stir again until 5am the next morning. Believe it or not, I was ready and looking forward to hitting the road again. If you feel that way after the nightmare of the previous day, chances are you really enjoy bicycle touring.

The weather did improve the next 3 days, though it was still quite windy and cool. I crossed into North Dakota on Day 23. South Dakota and North Dakota are called the Twin States, for reasons that escape me. SD is all hills, steams, waterfalls, quaint little towns, and lots of tourists. ND is relatively flat, with dusty lttle towns, and no tourist. What ND does have is BIG OIL, and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. The signs of big oil are everywhere. Thousands of big trucks on the road hauling composite materials to built roads into the oil patch. Every motel between Belfield and Williston, ND is booked solid, contracted out to Hailburton and other large oil companies.
Frankly it's not very attractive here. I suppose that's the price that we pay for our dependence on fossil fuels. I understand that oil means jobs, and that's the good aspect of big oil. I'm just happy all these oil companies are not in the Texas Hill Country.

I'm wrinting this post laying in my tent camped out in a C.C.C built campground just outside of Watford, ND. I will not be able to post photos because I don't think I have enough connectivity. Also I should sign off soon as my battery is running low and I don't have any way to recharge. My next post could very well come to you from Canada. I'm getting close. Bye for now.