This day may go down as one of my most memorable days of the summer (for good or bad)!


I began my day like any other driving day - I’d packed a book and food for the lunch stop and with the trailer packed, I was ready to go...until I tried to back up. As we soon discovered, our van decided to get itself stuck in PARK. The day before, the same thing had happened. After waiting for an hour for AAA, the van was then towed to Minot and was “fixed”, or so we thought. Unable to shift the van, I decided to run over to the local Chrysler dealership to see if they could help...keep in mind, this town was tiny! They were extremely nice and sent their mechanic out. He preceded to take apart the ENTIRE steering wheel. Baffled, he somehow rigged the thing so that in order to shift into drive, you first had to turn the keys slightly up (but not on), into neutral, then turn the engine on, then shift to drive. Kind of crazy but it worked and I went on my way.


Because of the morning van troubles, the lunch stop wasn’t until mile 50 in a small park. I was amazed by how flexible everyone was with the change of plans, no complaints!


The drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park was beautiful and I found myself jealous of everyone biking. The entrance was at the bottom of a massive hill that overlooked the entire landscape. The campsite was 5 miles from the entrance and many riders were actually stopped by dozens of bison blocking the road. It’s not like you could just go up to one of the them with your bike and nudge it away...


A few of us went back into town to find ice and coal for dinner. Others set up tents and explored the park. After a great dinner, Eric taught us how to make bananas with melted chocolate and marsh-mellows. Some people biked up the hill to watch the sunset. The night seemed to be the perfect night to camp...until the storm...


Around 2:30 in the morning I woke up to our tent literally collapsing around us. The rain was pouring, lightning everywhere, 30 mph gusts of wind. It had to have been the most intense storm I have ever experienced! We manage to escape the tent and flee to the girls bathroom. Funniest site I have ever seen. 15 people crammed in to a tiny bathroom, drenched, and cracking up at the craziness of it all. An hour later, we managed to spread ourselves out between the two bathrooms and decide the only solution is to sleep on the floor. What a night!


I would like to add that aside from our tents being in a rather sad state, everyone woke up the next morning ready to bike in good spirits. After that night, I was so proud to be on this team. If we can get through Hurricane Theodore, we can get through anything!


- Joy