Day 28 - Le Claire IA

Miles today: 346

Miles total: 9617

Basically I just followed the Mississippi River all day, along the Great River Road. 

About halfway down I stopped at the Effigy Mounds National Monument. After checking the hiking trail map it was clear the only thing I had time for was a visit to the Little Bear Mound, but the park ranger was eager for me to take an extra 10 minutes and see to the Great Bear Mound too. “It’s the biggest mound in the park.”  There’s a nice 3D model in the visitors center depicting the whole park; here are the Little & Great Bear Mounds.

So I huff and puff my way up the trail, in all of my riding gear (about a mile long and 350 vertical feet up), and this is what I saw.

Nothing but some weedscapes.

Moving  on ...

As a regular viewer of  “American Pickers” I figured I’d stop in the Antique Archeology store in Le Claire. 

They had a few interesting things from their picks but it was mostly a collection of TV show-themed t-shirts, stickers, refrigerator magnets, coffee mugs, aprons, beer glasses, and hats.

Day 27 - River Falls WI

Miles today: 402

Miles total: 9271

Today was supposed to only be about a 300 mile ride.  But the radio mast thing was bugging me, so I went back to the KRDK TV tower to take some photos.

(The short mast next to it was a temporary antenna used after the original one collapsed when a helicopter collided with a guy wire.  The big one was rebuilt in 1997 to its original height).

Rode US10 across Minnesota, through Detroit Lakes and Little Falls to Saint Cloud, then picked up MN-95.  Crossed into Wisconsin at Osceola, then followed the Saint Croix river through Hudson to River Falls.  Had to contend with on-and-off rain for the last few hours but the temperature was fine (upper 70s).

Day 26 - Fargo ND

Miles today: 420

Miles total: 8869

Overcast skies when I left at 6:45am.  That’s a good thing when riding east over flat open ground in the morning, otherwise the sun is right in my face.  After about 100 miles on US2 I started getting into the fringes of some light rain, near Minot.  

Passed near the geographic center of North America ... sort of.  In 1928 the US Geographical Survey put the center 15 miles from Rugby ND, and in 1931 the city erected this obelisk. Supposedly if you take into account the earth’s curvature the center is actually in Center ND (ironically named because it’s the center of the county).  But Rugby has the obelisk, and that’s what matters.

To dodge some thunderstorms I zig-zagged through Devils Lake.

Headed to what was once the tallest man-made structure in the world, the KVLY TV mast. It held the record from 1963-74 and again from 1991-2010 (2063 feet).

It’s still the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere ... or so I was led to believe until an hour ago.  After I got to Fargo I learned that, in 2019, the top VHF antenna was removed and reduced its height to 1987 feet.  Heck the WBTV antenna near Charlotte taller than that!  What’s frustrating is that I saw what’s now the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere — the KRDK a antenna (2060 feet) is only a few miles from the KVLY antenna. But I didn’t stop to take a picture.

Day 25 - Williston ND

Miles today: 455

Miles total: 8449

Rode northeast out of Great Falls on US87, then back on US2 eastbound at Havre. Compared to my 2018 ride through eastern Montana on MT-200, the US2 route is way nicer, roughly following the Milk and Missouri rivers.  The again it was 25 degrees cooler this time which might bias my opinion ...

Stopped in Malta MT — and yes it’s named after that Malta.  Originally nothing but a rail siding, the town  got its name when a Great Northern Railway official spun a globe and randomly ended up pointing at Malta. 

A number of dinosaur fossils have been found in the Malta area.  There’s a small dinosaur museum there which has a cast of what is allegedly the best preserved dinosaur ever found (“Leonardo”).

Took a minor detour to see the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River.  The earthen dam is a bit underwhelming but the spillway and power plant were interesting.

Day 24 - BMW Rally

Miles today: 16

Miles total: 7994

Not much to report today ... spent the day at the national BMW motorcycle rally in Great Falls.  I’m guessing 3000 or so motorcycles showed up today. 

The rally is being held at what used to be the Northern Montana State Fairgrounds. Turns out to have a nice collection of fairly well-preserved late 1930s Art Deco buildings, constructed during the WPA.

Day 23 - Great Falls MT

Miles today: 394

Miles total: 7978

Rode north on US95 up to Ponderay, around the north side of Lake Pend Oreille, then followed the Clark Fork into Montana down to Missoula.

Saw this odd collection of old cars neatly lined up on a steep embankment.  The whole thing was about a quarter mile long. 

From Missoula took MT-200 all the way to Great Falls.

Hit one rain shower as I crossed the Continental Divide ... helped clean a weeks worth of dead bugs from my windshield. 

Day 22 - Coeur D’Alene ID

Miles today: 343

Miles total: 7584

Headed out of Seattle east on US-2 ... overcast and low 60s ... up through Steven’s Pass, then followed the whitewater of the Wenatchee River for a bit.

Stopped at the nice little faux Bavarian village of Leavenworth.

Shortly after that, between Orondo and Waterville, the mountains abruptly end and the geography turns into the dry plains of eastern Washington. Temps are now around 90.

Which then leads to coulees (trenches) formed at the end of the last ice age.

Took a slight detour north to see the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River.  A contemporary of the Hoover Dam, it’s almost 4 times as massive and produces over three times as much power (6800 MW). It’s the largest hydroelectric producer in the US. 

Day 21 - Seattle WA

Miles today: 286

Miles total: 7241

Somewhat boring ride up I-5 to Seattle.  Stopped in Olympia to see the state capitol.

Interestingly the governor’s mansion is literally right next to the capitol.  Can’t really see the house through the foliage though.

Sunset over Lake Washington, with Mt Ranier in the background.

Day 20 - Salem OR

Miles today: 337

Miles total: 6955

Though Salem is not far from Eugene, the plan was to ride due west to the coast to Florence, take US101 up the coast to Canon Beach, then loop back down to Salem via McMinnville.  The coastal part was a bust. The entire shoreline was so fogged in you could barely see the ocean. And only a small fraction of 101 actually runs along the water; the inland parts, while free of fog, were nothing special ... looked a lot like riding US64 in NC to me.  The only photos worth taking were of the some of the nice 1930s era bridges.

Went through Tillamook, passed the massive Tillamook Creamery, and stopped to take a photo of the huge WWII blimp hangar — currently the largest clear span wooden structure in the world.

Stopped at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville to see the Hughes Hercules (aka Spruce Goose).  No good way to really photograph the whole thing and get the right perspective. 

I spoke with one of the volunteers there for a bit and he told me that the big box to the right the stairway leading to the cockpit was a gigantic HEPA filter for the germaphobe Hughes. The whole cockpit was fed filtered air, and Hughes himself had his own dedicated hose (black hose drooping from the ceiling):

9-ply laminated birch fuselage skin ... and none of it has delaminated in 70 years.

From McMinnville to Salem I rode through part of the Willamette Valley, passing a number of.vineyards.  Whereas Napa seems to be dominated by big dollar estate wineries, the Willamette appears to have a lot of blue collar wineries run by farmers. And the rest of it is weeds and scrub. Not the most picturesque place. 

I will say that the Oregon State Capitol, from the outside anyway (didn’t go inside), is a terrific Art Deco structure.  I’d rank it #2 — behind Lincoln NE.