I left the hotel about 08:15 and immediately noticed there was not a headwind- in fact, I had a light tailwind! My first tailwind of the ride! During the day it varied from about 5-15 mph but it was always a quartering to a full tailwind! It took me under 4 hours to ride the 67 miles to Chester! The road had some gentle ups and downs which made for a very pleasant ride. I think the small hills are the distal small folds associated with the Rockies. Like when you shove a blanket- you get big folds proximally and small folds distally. I also dropped down about 900 feet of elevation over the ride. I saw mainly wheat but also one other crop which I documented photographically- perhaps someone following this blog can identify it for me. I am stopping at all the historical markers. The marker describing the Baker massacre gave me pause- that was a rough time in US history… And the trains! Trains go by constantly and they are 1-2 miles long! Most have two locomotives up front and two at the rear of the train. Some are mixed car types, some are all grain cars and some are all oil cars-presumably coming from the Bakken in North Dakota. Daily mileage: 67, trip miles: 925
Wheat fields! One day I hope to see sorghum, and even corn!
And this is what it looks like up close:
The new mystery crop:
This shows the gently undulating road:
The Baker massscre:
Dave Bikes America 
Hey Dave, I noticed you added 10 days for your birthday ride, from day 16 to day 27. Maybe you went through a time warp? Does it seems like 10 additional days? Trying to keep the score keeper honest. Love you, Nancy
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blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } Nah, you must have misread it- look again
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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Mike looked it up and believes it is buckwheat, related to the rhubarb family. The picture he found has green plants with small white flowers…
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I like buckwheat! I ate it frequently in Sakhalin
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Dave, you are doing great! To feel like I am there with you experiencing this, I found a 12 pack sampler mixed case of Deschutes at Specs and have been enjoying them. You are in my old stomping grounds…veer due north soon and go to Regina Canada for a detour…it will be flat!!!
Keep going. Well done so far
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Thanks Mike- I’m going to pass up the detour this time but, I’m not passing up any of your Deschutes beers!
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I’m confused by my inability to respond to the blog but Mike gets it right the first time. Dave, you are the subject of our lunch time talks. We are both amazed and baffled by your journey. Keep rolling. We are seeing parts of the country we have never seen through your post.
P.s. Happy belated birthday.
Julia B.
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I keep checking up on you each afternoon and love the pictures and comments.
Happy Belated Birthday…Roger
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Thanks Roger!
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