In the blog entry for yesterday (5-21) that I posted this morning, I promised to let you know after breakfast whether I decided to visit the Salem Sue giant Holstein that towers “large and in charge” over New Salem. I had a great breakfast (thanks to Mitch Grade, one of the owners of the Metropolitan Hotel–more about him shortly) and was all fired up to climb the hill to say hello to Sue, but then it turned out I missed the entrance to the park where she stands. By the time I realized this, I was already a mile or two down the road, and decided I would forgo visiting her on this trip. There was no signage providing directions to Sue on the south side of the park I was on, and I assume that all the signage was laid out for auto traffic on the north side, which faces I-94, about a mile north of where I was. I know it will disappoint some of you that I didn’t get a close look at Sue, but I did see her from a distance, and I hope that I will at least get partial credit for that.

I had a nice chat with Mitch Grade (pronounced “Gray-Dee”) before and after breakfast, and learned that Raymond Grade, who my room was named after and who I wrote about yesterday, was his grandfather. Mitch told me his grandfather lived independently his whole life. He worked at a hospital and was still employed there at the time of his death in 2020 at age 91. He died from a fall while he was at work. Raymond’s wife, who was also deaf, passed away in 2012. Mitch said they wanted to honor Raymond by naming one of the hotel rooms “Raymond Hall,” and I told Mitch it was an honor for me to be in that room.

Here is Mitch behind the counter at the hotel coffee shop, where he told me he could make whatever I wanted for breakfast.

Mitch gave me a tour of the building, which included this old basement tunnel connected to a coal chute on the street level.

Mitch also showed me the furnace, which today continues to operate using coal but is in the process of being converted to natural gas.

Mitch also showed me a room he provides at the hotel for the use of a local food bank. I had thought that food insecurity was a problem faced only by large urban areas, not a very rural area like New Salem, but Mitch told me their local food bank helps provide food for 130 families.

The Adventure Cycling maps I am using took me on a 13-mile stretch of Interstate 94 today.

Here is what the interstate looks like from an overpass I crossed just before biking onto the entrance ramp.

In the photos below, you can see that to avoid the “rumble strips” on the shoulder of the interstate, I needed to ride on a strip of smooth pavement that was only 18″ wide, and in some cases only about 12″. Needless to say, this required constant attentiveness to the road. And since I was watching the road surface so closely, I couldn’t help noticing cryptic markings painted on the road at what appeared to be regular intervals. I never could figure out what they meant. Perhaps one of you know?

My destination today was Glen Ullin, North Dakota (pop. 807), where I am staying at the Broken Spoke Motel and Bunkhouse. “Broken spoke” is hardly an auspicious name for a guy on a bike, but there were no other options for lodging in Glen Ullin.

My ride today was only about 25 miles, which is a good thing–for several reasons. First, spending a few hours on the bike on back-to-back days is reminding me that I got a bit out of shape over the winter. I’m due to ride 50 miles tomorrow, to Dickinson, N.D., and will get an early start because I know I won’t be setting any records for speed.

The second reason I was glad to have had a shorter distance today is that my front derailleur isn’t working right. It won’t reliably get me down into my lowest third of my gears, which is a problem on the steeper hills. This appears to be the result of moving the derailleur cables around to accommodate my handlebar bag when I left Bismarck yesterday.

Lance at Lance’s Cyclery was kind enough to text me a photo showing a proposed fix, which involved loosening one of the screws on the derailleur. I know some of you are equipment geeks and thought you might appreciate his photo. I tried this out this morning before leaving New Salem, but it didn’t do the trick. So, I will do my best to survive tomorrow’s trip to Dickinson, where I will have the derailleur adjusted at a bike shop. I will also need to buy a new odometer (very helpful in figuring out distances on my map), since mine fell off and was lost somewhere on today’s stretch of I-94.