Let them eat cake.

I hope you've got your map out and keeping track of our short cut. Our last stop was Bemidji, MN. From there it's a short 35 miles to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. I have crossed Ole Miss thousands of times. It's a muddy flowing river. Average span about 1/2 mile. Today I walked across the river. It was about a foot deep and crystal clear and 12' wide. I wanted to cross it with the bike but I'm pretty sure someone might have got a bit upset. The weather was a beautiful 73° until we got to Fargo where it started to rain. Nothing bad just enough to make things chilly. We called it a night in Jamestown. The bike, trailer and I are having discussions at speeds under 10mph but we have come to an agreement. I set the sag properly and it stops acting up. The speed limit in some places is 80mph. The loaded trailer is pulling just fine at that speed.
 

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For you left coasters Schneider eggs are construction barrels. You know they're ready to hatch when you knock them over and find 2 dirt bags.

Any idea why they're called Schneider eggs? Is it a reference to the trucking company? (I'm asking because Schneider is a big client of my other company.)
 
Average span about 1/2 mile.

We live in Chicago, but our familes are in NE and SD, so we cross the Ol' Mississip at least a few times a year. We made a game for our kids when they were young to count how many times they could spell Mississippi while crossing it. A couple of weeks ago, we went to NE over Memorial Day weekend and our now 24 year old daughter was with us. As we hit the bridge I heard "m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i" repeatedly coming—feircely—from the back seat. I looked back to see her counting on her fingers.

When we were walking across it, some years ago, in the same spot as Paul, the kids complained that they could only spell it once while crossing there.
 
Any idea why they're called Schneider eggs? Is it a reference to the trucking company? (I'm asking because Schneider is a big client of my other company.)
We started our driving careers with Schneider in 1992. Yes the reference was about them. Back then they had their trucks governed at 55 mph.
 
397 miles today Jamestown to Dickinson then to Sturgis. Yes there was a shorter route. But there was a massive rain storm along that route. North Dakota has recieved alot of rain and everything is lush and green. It has made a trip I was dreading into a beautiful ride. Just rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see. A little cool all day. Started at 78° and dropped to 73° where it stayed most of the day. So far just over 1200 miles.
 
397 miles today Jamestown to Dickinson then to Sturgis. Yes there was a shorter route. But there was a massive rain storm along that route. North Dakota has recieved alot of rain and everything is lush and green. It has made a trip I was dreading into a beautiful ride. Just rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see. A little cool all day. Started at 78° and dropped to 73° where it stayed most of the day. So far just over 1200 miles.
Bloody beautiful, thanks for taking us along.
Massive thunderstorms, lighting and temps dropping from 85 to 60 in minutes flat. This is hands down my fav part of the year, no matter where I am.
Keep the reports coming
 
North Dakota has recieved alot of rain and everything is lush and green.
It's hard to imagine ND in a state of greeness. I've driven Hwy 2 more times than I care to remember, and always brown, brown, brown. Hopefully I will get to see it in a couple of weeks as I drive to Touratech.
 
Today finds us at Sturgis BMW. Got the service done. The GSA got it's 36k driveshaft. Upon inspection Sharon's RS driveshaft failed so she got one too. Got out of there around 2pm made it to Hardin, MT. 300 miles left. Everything is still really green.
 
Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles can find their way from Des Monies, IA to Choteau, MT in 1200 miles. But we have discovered a short cut that comes in just over 1800 miles. It has been a great ride. Monday's high of 94° in St. Paul was the highest temp. The lowest was this morning at 54°. If you put all the rain storms we hit together. Maybe 20 minutes of light rain. Not enough to warrant gearing up for.
The color for this trip was green. From IA, MN, ND, SD, WY, and MT they all have had plenty of rainfall. Thus tall lush green grass. Our ride today brought us from Hardin, MT to Choteau with a stop in Rod's hometown of White Sulphur springs, MT then north through Neihart. An awesome twisty section of road. With a stop at wally world then onto Choteau.
 

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@Paul Great, now I need to schedule in the Red Ants Pants music festival.
The days are just packed....
Appreciate the updates, keep 'em coming!
 
Rod's hometown of White Sulphur springs, MT then north through Neihart.

I've been on that stretch of 89 countless times, going up into the national forests in the Little Belts with my grandpa in a1960's beatup tan Ford pickup. The bed held two small and one large McCulloch chainsaws. It was where any tree on the ground was firewood for the winter. On the way back, the pickup's suspension would be bottomed out, and the bed filled with 12" cross sections of pine trees...bound for grandpa's wood barn. Also, lots of trips with my parents to "the big city" of Great Falls for stuff not available in WSS.

Please keep the updates coming...absolutely loving traveling with you two!
 
So we made it. Our shortcut was 1800+ miles. The wedding/ family reunion was awesome. We're going to see where the bikes take us next. But here's a pic of the cake.
Amazing what you can fit into panniers! ;) The cake looks amazing!! Well done Sharon!

When we lived in Tokyo, for Thanksgiving all the Americans would assemble at the house/apartment of whomever had the largest oven (99% of homes in Japan don't have ovens). For several years, it was ours. One year a couple rode their tandem bicycle (illegal in Japan) for about 1.5 hours across Tokyo with a roasted turkey, wrapped in quite a few bath towels for insulation, in their panniers. It arrived warm and juicy!
 
Today we continue on with new direction. Just a short day from Choteau, MT to Lolo, Mt. Tomorrow we put the trailer to a true test. US12 from Lolo, MT to Kooskie, ID then south to McCall. Some great twistie roads. Canadian wildfires are flooding Montana with smoke. So pics would not be good.
 
We had a special treat on Lolo pass. We stopped at the top to look around and stretch. A gal asked if we just stopped or stopped for a reason. Apparently the Camas flower only blooms for 4 days up there. And we got lucky.
 

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