August 2017 – Biking 100

North Dakota #28

North Dakota August 25 – August 30, 2017 100 miles

We left Bellevue, Nebraska and hit the road for Jamestown, ND. First we hit a Sam’s to get gas and some supplies. There were tornado warnings north of us so we were nervously watching the skies. We traveled through some high winds and rain, lots of lightning. When we headed west from Watertown, SD we saw some odd looking clouds. We googled and found out they were called Mammatus clouds which are associated with severe thunderstorms.

Mammatus Clouds seen after nasty thunderstorm in South Dakota.

Passed many lakes, wide open spaces and cattle farms in South Dakota. Arrived in Jamestown, North Dakota about 10:30PM, lots of RV’s already in residence. Quiet night with a bit of rain late.

Bugs , oh the bugs. Hazard of traveling at night in the Dakotas.

Traveled to Mandan, North Dakota to stay at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Awesome park, great camping on the Missouri River. We practically had the park to ourselves on Monday and Tuesday.

Heart River running into Missouri River, seen from bike trail. Campsite just south of here.

We were able to do 75 miles of biking from our campsite. We rode the trail in the park to the Lewis and Clark Legacy Trail, Millenium Trail and the Bismark Trails. Bismark is a beautiful, bike friendly town. We rode along the Missouri River through beautiful parks and east of the river past soccer fields, baseball diamonds and a huge indoor, outdoor archery center. There was a walking target range with 14 target stations. Did I mention the hills – yes, we climbed hills. Made us stronger!!

Fort Lincoln’s most notable resident was Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. He and his wife Libbie lived here for 3 years. Custer and the 7th Cavalry rode out of here on May 17, 1876 to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

We left Fort Lincoln behind on Wednesday August 29, 2017 and headed for Medora, North Dakota. Hoped to stay in Roosevelt National Park but settled for private campsite in town. That is why we have internet and we are able to make this post. Yay!!

Plan to finish our 100 here in Medora if we can mange the hills. More to come later.

We did finish our North Dakota 100 miles near Medora on Thursday August 30, 2017. Jennifer at Dakota Cyclery was a huge help in getting us on a route to finish our 100. We had thought we may try and ride some of the Maah Daah Hey Trail but after talking with Jennifer we decided our bikes were not made for that technical of a trail.

We road a small portion of the scenic trail in Roosevelt National Park and the rest of our ride was through some of the Badlands on Route 10 west of Medora. It was a lonesome highway – hills and wind. We both agreed we had never ridden for such a long distance in the sustained winds we experienced today. Badlands indeed!!
Plains Hog Nose Snake – found by Flo.
Fort Abraham Lincoln Park Trail
Lewis and Clark Legacy Trail
Millenium Trail
Bismark Trails
Roosevelt National Park
Route 10 west of Medora

Nebraska #27

Nebraska August 23 – 25, 2017 and September 24, 2017 102 miles

We finally got on the road after many delays. Heading for Omaha, Nebraska area. We spent our first two nights on the road in Wal-Mart camping areas. The second night was at a Wal-Mart in Grimes, Iowa. Just a short distance from Saylorville Lake, where we did some biking last September. Very quiet restful night.

Iowa to Nebraska – cross this bridge and will cost you $6.00. View from campground.

We arrived at Haworth Park Campground in Bellevue, Nebraska early in the day. No frills camping along the Missouri River. We are near Offutt Air Force Base and we can hear their Reveille and Taps played at the beginning and end of the day. Reminded us of the time spent on Fort Bragg visiting Erik and his family.

We were able to get in a 30 mile bike ride the first day on the Bellevue Loop and Keystone Trail. We road through corn fields along the Papillion Creek. I thought it was a bit windy until we road today – it was really blowing. Not the most scenic trails but all cement and well maintained. We saw lots of beautiful butterflies, had grasshoppers hitting our legs, chest and face. Many jets flying overhead from the Air Force Base.

Part of Lewis and Clark Interpretive Art Wall.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Art Wall was in Haworth Park. It was made as a part of the 200th commemoration of the historic journey of the Corps of Discovery. Children from the ten states along the expedition route were asked to illustrate the people, events, and discoveries the Corp encountered. Each section looks like a quilt with small blocks of drawings by the children. Awesome to see!

Tomorrow we head for Bismark, North Dakota. We hope to revisit Nebraska later this fall to finish our 100 miles.

BACK TO NEBRASKA – September 23 -25, 2017

We made it back to Nebraska after finishing in Kansas. We actually thought it would be much cooler, but it was 95 degrees when we arrived in Lincoln. Found a nice campground, Camp A-way, in Lincoln. It was full of Nebraska Cornhuskers in town for Saturdays game.

Sunday we got up early to ride hoping to beat the heat. While Lincoln was not our first choice to ride (the trail we hoped to ride was in bad shape) they have a really nice trail system. Where one trail ended another began. We were able to ride 35 miles through beautiful parks and along the river which was just beautiful near the University.

We arrived back at our car and had the bikes loaded just as a huge rain storm came through. Waited at the campground for the weather to clear and then set out from there for another ride. We only needed 15 more miles to complete our 100 and wanted to get it done as the weather report for Monday said: rain, rain and more rain. We ended the day with 51 miles and got back to the motorhome before the rain started.

Billy Wolf Trail. Good use for an old bike.

We left Lincoln in a pouring rain on Monday and headed for Arkansas to visit the Pittmans and meet Felippi, their exchange student from Brazil.

Antelope Valley Trail
Billy Wolff Trail
Roper Park
Superior Park Trail

North Carolina #26

North Carolina March 7 – March 9, 2017 101 miles

We rode some of our initial North Carolina miles with some of our favorite people on post at Fort Bragg. This was in December 2014 – Best rides ever!

Our favorite riding companions – Inga, Helena and Paul.

Back to 2017 – we left Denver, NC for Jordon Lake Crosswinds Campground, state campground. Really nice place to stay and just a short distance from American Tobacco Trail, our next ride. It was a beautiful long ride and very isolated until we were near Durham. Trail heads were the nicest we’ve seen. We really enjoyed this ride – rail trail sometimes high above valley, tall pine forests. Perfect weather. All together awesome.

The next day we road the Neuse River Trail. We will always remember this trail because we crossed 32 bridges and that was one way. We may have lost count at some point, but that was a lot of bridges. The trail ended at a large dam where we had lunch and enjoyed watching fly fishermen. We saw a beaver on the trail. I had never seen a beaver in the wild. 36 miles yesterday and 35 miles today.

Third day of riding in North Carolina and we headed for Lake Johnson to ride the Walnut Creek Trail. There were some really brutal hills at the start of this trail, then some construction which had us searching for the correct way to go. Not our favorite trail – Around Johnson Lake it was beautiful, other areas a little sketchy and a pretty ride near NC State campus. A lady in the parking lot saw our OSU flag and gave us a buckeye. She was excited to see Buckeye fans.

Finished our NC 100 miles near Lake Johnson.

We had hoped to head for Ohio but the weather was not cooperating. The cold weather was coming pretty far south so we decided to go to South Carolina. We stayed at Ocean Lakes south of Myrtle Beach. We spent 9 days here waiting for a break in the weather. We love the beach so it was not a hardship.

Who knew we could fit so much food in a bike bag.

Smith Lake Trail – Fort Bragg
American Tobacco Trail
Neuse River Trail
Walnut Creek – Johnson Lake

South Carolina #25

South Carolina February 28 – March 3, 2017 101 miles

We had such a good time on Tybee Island that we were a bit reluctant to leave but we had our sites set on our South Carolina 100. The first trail we have planned is the Spanish Moss Trail. Found a trail head in Port Royale and enjoyed a wonderful ride past rivers, marshes and mud flats. It was a good sampling of the low country. The trail traveled past the Marine Air Base in Beaufort. While passing the end of the air field several fighter jets flew over. I have never experienced anything like this before – it was an awesome sight, the sound was overwhelming – I was in tears. Speechless!!

We planned to camp at Hunting State Park, but were told by a jogger that it had been closed since being damaged in hurricane Matthew. Apparently Beaufort was one of the hardest hit areas! So, we headed for Edisto Island – we had been here years ago with the kids and my mom and dad. Arrived after dark and found there was no camping on beach due to hurricane damage but we were able to find a campsite at Liv-Oak Campground. No phone, no internet, no satellite. No problem!

We awoke to a beautiful campground. We rode our bikes on a dirt trail and across boardwalks into town. Walked on the beach, road through Wyndham timeshare which was only 30% open due to hurricane Matthew damage. We stopped at Dockside for a beer, a place we’d had dinner many years ago. Next stop was Fins for Bam Bam shrimp and another beer! We certainly wouldn’t get many miles under our tires if we only rode around these beach towns. It was fun and relaxing though.

Left Edisto Island and headed for Charleston area to ride West Ashley Greenway – a nice trail through pine forests and mud flats. Most of the trail was gravel, some smooth, some not so smooth.

We stayed at a Wal-Mart on James Island and found a bike shop just down the road. Lenny purchased a new Giant Cypress with front suspension. We headed for James Island County Park to test his new ride. This park is for bikers and dog lovers. They have a huge off the leash dog park with a lake for dogs to swim. Flo loved it and we loved the biking. We checked on camping but it was over our budget so we cooked our dinner in the park and headed for Summerville.

We rode the Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville. The trail head was at a soccer complex – yes, soccer day in America. We did enjoy watching the soccer games while getting ready to ride. The trail followed a canal and was smooth and flat, a good trail for Lenny testing his new blue bike.

We headed for Traveler’s Rest (cool name for a town) to ride the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Traveler’s Rest is a nice little town with some nice eateries and outfitters for hiking and kayaking. We rode along the Reedy River, past Furman University and Falls Park in Greenville. Falls Park was a pleasant surprise – nice view of Reedy Falls. There were restaurants overlooking the park and the falls – very busy with Sunday strollers. It’s well worth the trip to Greenville to see this beautiful area!

On our return I dropped by new water bottle (purchased on the Silver Comet Trail). Lenny climbed down an embankment and under a bridge to retrieve it. Had to drop it on a bridge!

From Traveler’s Rest we headed for Denver, NC to meet up with our niece Natalie. We had a good Mexican meal and then she introduced us to Cookout. They have fantastic shakes – any flavor you can think of.

Enjoying a shake at Cookout with Natalie.

Spanish Moss Trail – Port Royale
Edisto Island
West Ashley Greenway
James Island
Sawmill Branch Trail – Summerville
Swamp Rabbit Trail

Georgia #24

Georgia February 20 – 26, 2017 106 miles

We left the Chief Ladiga Campground in Alabama in the rain and drove in rain most of way to Rockmart, GA. We found a campsite close to the Silver Comet Trail. We road a bit of this trail earlier because the Chief Ladiga Trail ends at the western end of the Silver Comet Trail on the Alabama/Georgia state line.

State line – Western end of Silver Comet Trail

We road three days on the Silver Comet. The western section passed through cattle farms, a wildlife habitat area, and areas of tall pine stands. There were some long climbs at about mile 45. The view from the top was awesome – once we caught our breath. The middle section was a beautiful ride through tall pines, farmland. We loved riding on trail high above the valley. This was a classic rail trail – long grades up and long grades down.

Trail Sign – Atlanta to east and Rockmart to west. Further west Anniston, Alabama

The last day we rode was the eastern end, closer to Atlanta. The trail was much busier – many more intersections but still beautiful ride among tall pines. We stopped at Silver Comet Bicycles right on trail and purchased some water bottles. After our ride we stopped at Performance Bikes in Marietta. I needed some new gloves and Lenny has a new bike on his mind. We have over 3700 miles on our bikes!

We headed for a Wal-Mart in Forsythe, GA to spend night on way to Savannah. We planned to stay at visitors center in Savannah for the night. It was a challenging adventure getting there, with the narrow streets and low hanging moss covered trees. A good place to spend the night ($8.00) and centrally located.

The next day we were off to Tybee Island for a couple days. “Sisters on the Fly”, an outdoor women’s group, was having an event at the campground. We really enjoyed seeing their old vintage trailers

Example of Vintage trailers. “Sisters on the Fly”

We had a great time on Tybee – toured the island on our bikes, and found some good places to have a beer and peel and eat shrimp. We walked the beach, investigated the tide pools and visited a couple of the shops selling works by local artists. Mary Kay Andrews, an author who lives on Tybee, was at Seaside Sisters when we stopped in. I have read some of her books – good beach reads, so I purchased “Summer Rental” and had her autograph it. That was cool!!

Silver Comet Trail
Tybee Island

Alabama #23

Alabama – February 19th – 20th 101 miles

We traveled through four states yesterday. We left Arkansas drove to Tennessee then to Mississippi and finally Alabama to ride the Chief Ladiga Trail. This trail travels from Anniston, AL to the Georgia state line where it connects to the Silver Comet Trail. The Silver Comet Trail goes all the way to Atlanta.

We spent our first night in Alabama at a Wal-Mart in Oxford. It was an interesting night, people asking for money and a women with 2 children wanting a tour of our motorhome. We had a quiet night once the townies with loud engines called it a night. Good Wi-Fi from nearby hotel.

After our long travel day yesterday we got a late start from the trail head in Anniston. We had a good ride through small towns and quiet countryside. Trail was not busy especially for a Sunday. We traveled out 15 miles which was about the half way mark of the trail. We arrived back at the motorhome about 5 PM and headed for Chief Ladiga Campground.

Getting to the Chief Ladiga Campground was a real adventure. It was dark, narrow roads, some dirt and a bridge out. Lenny had to turn the motorhome around on a very dark and narrow road. Lenny drove and I prayed. We finally found the correct road, still dark and narrow. When we arrived at the campground there was a narrow bridge crossing a stream which we would not have crossed if another camper had not told us it was safe. We found a fire pit and picnic table and leveled the motorhome for the night. Charlie, the owner, who seemed to be a real character stopped by with his dog, Sugar, to welcome us. The next morning we awoke to find ourselves in a beautiful valley surrounded by the southern Appalachians. Directly out our front window was Terrapin Creek. Flo loved this campground – she could run free with Sugar and swim in the creek.

Chief Ladiga Campground along Terrapin Creek. Rustic camping

We took a short ride in the morning to the Georgia state line. This end of the trail is much more scenic. We saw fields of flowers and a large beaver dam. The trail followed the mountains most of the way – sometimes wide valleys, other times narrow – farms, green meadows and areas of logging.

We returned to camp and had a relaxing afternoon – reading for me and napping for Lenny. A large flock of sandhill cranes landed in the field near our campsite. Lenny and Flo saw them take flight in the morning. Awesome site.

We visited Alabama in early January. Camped at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL- almost 500 campsites. There was a network of bike trails directly outside the campground. Very scenic trails, tall pines and bayou. Weather was cool but really comfortable for riding. It was 1 1/2 miles from our motorhome to end of campsite and start of bike trails.

One of my favorite pictures of Old Glory, along Fort Morgan Trail.

We ended up leaving Alabama because of the weather and headed for New Orleans. We finished our Alabama 100 on the Chief Ladiga Trail.

Backcountry Trail
Cotton Bayou
Rosemary Dunes
Twin Bridges
Coyote Crossing
Fort Morgan Trail
Chief Ladiga Trail

Arkansas #22

Arkansas February 12 – 18, 2017 – 112 miles

We headed for Arkansas on February 8th after our ride on the Pedego electric bikes. It is a 1280 mile trek to Fort Smith, Arkansas where we plan to be on Sunday February 12th to watch a double header at University of Arkansas Fort Smith.

Doing the friendly WalMart overnight stops on our way east. We took a side trip to the Grand Canyon. It was a beautiful day, only needed a light jacket. They had snow a week or so ago and there were drifts still melting in the sun. We were able to use their dump station. Many changes here since our visit 35 or more years ago. It is an incredible sight, but there is nothing like seeing for the first time.

This is our third trip to Arkansas with our bikes and have not yet finished our 100 miles. We love being in Arkansas as it is home to the Pittmans!

The Pittmans – This is why we love Arkansas.

We made our first ride in Arkansas in April 2016 on the Razorback Regional Greenway from Bentonville to Rogers. Traveling past Crystal Bridges and the beautiful gardens there was a highlight of this part of the trail. It was prom time and there were many couples having photos taken along the trail and in the gardens.

We returned to Arkansas in October 2016 and camped in the Pittman’s driveway. The best camp hosts ever!! We rode the Lake Fayetteville Trail and the southern portion of the Razorback Greenway. It was a very cool day, wore jackets and gloves the entire time. Rainy weather prevented us from riding the Little Rock area until our return trip at this time.

We left the Pittman “camping area” on Valentine’s Day. April gave us brownies and bacon for our Valentine breakfast. Yum!! We headed for Little Rock where we had appointment for an oil change. It rained all day!

We camped at Maumelle Park which is a Corp of Engineers campground. It was only a short pedal down the road to the Arkansas River Trail. We spent 3 nights here. It was very quiet, low key place, right on the river. The weather cleared so we were able to ride 2 days on the trail.

We were able to ride on the road a short distance to Two Rivers Park and the start of the Arkansas River Trail. The trail signs said Arkansas River Trail, “Rollin and Strollin”. There were four bridges on the trail. Two Rivers Park Bridge is beautiful and one we could see from the highway on our way to campground. The Big Dam Bridge was really awesome and a highlight of this trail.

Big Dam Bridge - Arkansas River Trail — Big Dam Bridge -Aakansas River Trail

This bridge is 90 feet above the Arkansas River, spanning 4,226 feet. It is the longest pedestrian bridge in North America that has not been previously used by trains or motor vehicles. It is a good climb getting up and over from both sides. Beautiful views of river. On way back to camp we stopped at local café for a late lunch of cat fish. Gotta try the local favorites.

We have Alabama in our sights but need to stop for a ride along the Mississippi River. We stopped in Memphis, TN and rode the Big River Crossing. This is a pedestrian and bicycle bridge from Memphis, TN to West Memphis in Arkansas. Views from bridge were beautiful but really very busy with walkers, joggers, strollers and tourists. That completes our Arkansas and Tennessee rides along the Mississippi River.

View from Big River Crossing - Pyramid building is Bass Pro Shop and Ducks Unlimited — View from Big River Crossing- Pyramid is Bass Pro Shop

Razorback Regional Greenway
Lake Fayetteville Trail
Arkansas River Trail
Big River Crossing