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.