Wes Malinchock
I pretty much live for the break days on bike trips. After a week, or in this case ten days, of spending six hours a day on the bike it feels great to take a day off to rest and prepare for the next leg of the trip. This time we decided to take a day off in Bismarck, North Dakota. We normally like to take days off in smaller towns but we found a nice and cheap place to rent for our day off so we even got to spend our time off inside!
I got to sleep in this morning and take it easy as I enjoyed not having to pack up my things or be anywhere in particular. After getting up, I walked through the suburbs of Bismarck to grab some breakfast and groceries. Luckily our place came with a washer and dryer so we also got to do some much needed laundry! After we were all done with our separate morning routines we took a look ahead at our maps and planned out the road ahead to our next break day somewhere along the Wisconsin border in seven or eight days. We also planned our escape route out of the city tomorrow to get back on the Adventure Cycling route.
North Dakota Heritage Center and Museum
Later in the day Brian and I visited the North Dakota Heritage Center and Museum. It was a lot of fun to learn a little more about the state we had biked half way through already. My favorite parts were learning about the native peoples who live here, seeing the fossils that have been found in areas we biked through, and learning about the nuclear missile silos spread throughout the state. It does feel kind of strange breaking our daily routine of biking, and sometimes it gets a little boring just hanging around. However, I know tomorrow our legs will be much better for it and we can take on the next leg of the trip and start looking forward to the next break day!