Day 26. Williston, then Lunds Landing

We headed off for Williston. This was expected to be a bright spot of opportunity: Bike Shop, Food, Lunch. No bike shop. We tried what was indicated on the map. It was supposed to be in the Coast to Coast store - but that has shutdown. A local lady told us of another. We found the sign, but it too was now a pet store. We spent an hour looking and riding around.

We found a nice local deli to cool our heels in for a while. Then on to Lunds Landing in the middle of nowhere North Dakota.

Lunds Landing is actually rather nice. It is on the immense Lake Sakakawea. They have several cabins with wood decks and walways wandering all over. Even a couple of Tepees you can rent. We opted for camping which was free. Though we did sample the Juneberry pie. Juneberries grow locally and this place features them. These round purple berries are not particularly sweet or tart. It was a good pie.

Coming into Lunds Landing was very interesting. Though we had tail winds, the hills were steep, and frequent. Then we found ourselves in a pocket of thunderstorms, surrounded on three sides. One fellow actually stopped his truck to warn us of the NOAA weather warning for the storm just south of us. I was moving fast and dropping hail. Now that's incentive to ramp up our speed. We were still about 4 miles from Lund's Landing. As we were approaching Lunds Landing there was a wall of white-gray precipitation just past where I though the turn was. We made it without getting wet.

I noticed a couple days earlier that there was distinct break in the weather pattern between the north and south side of the Missouri river. I have long heard things in Texas like the weather doesn't move past the red river. Rivers can have a real effect though it would seem not to reach up into the atmosphere. Well check out this picture. The divide you see is where the Missouri runs. For a few days I have seen where there is more storm activity and different types of cluds on one side of the river compared to the other, with the weather on the north side being better - good for us.


~Pete