Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Fargo, ND 0 Miles

The days seem much longer in Fargo. It was still daylight last night until after 9:00, and it was daylight way before 6:00 this AM. My roommates and I were out of the hotel early looking for a good cup of coffee and something to eat which we found at The Moxie Java on Broadway. That huge muffin carried me until mid afternoon. Jean and I rode out Broadway and eventually found ourselves on a great bike path along the Red River. We could easily see where the water had receded after recent flooding. In 1979 this river had its worst flood and actually covered the Veterans Memorial Bridge (the largest of several bridges that cross the Red River). The bridge had to be rebuilt.

The entire complement of riders met this afternoon for our first get acquainted meeting. During this time we introduced ourselves and heard from the guides about what to expect concerning our meals, SAG support, motels, etc., and most importantly, cycling safety tips. I’ve heard the same spiel every year, but the refresher talk is always appreciated.

My Fargo friend, Ann Glass, picked several of us up after the meeting and graciously showed us around this lovely town. We really enjoyed the Viking Museum where we saw an exact replica of a Viking ship. This vessel was built by a local man in the 80’s and sailed through the Great Lakes to New York and on across the Atlantic to Norway by a fourteen member crew, including the daughter of the shipbuilder. It was just beautiful and mind boggling to visualize the crew rowing this ship! . . . Ann stayed for dinner as Janet Bee’s guest (another friend from Meandering MS in ‘07).

Dinner tonight at the hotel was a smorgasbord of delicious items including green salads, fresh fruit, cold salmon, wild rice salad, broccoli in cream sauce, shrimp (huge) and pasta, real mashed potatoes, prime rib and cheesecake. UMMM what a nice sendoff meal.