Lightning Round: Most memorable road name
Jamie - Cow Drink a lot Rd. 
Eddie - Chicken in the Woods Rd. 
Witt - Turtle Flambo Rd.
Jade - Dump Rd. 
Webster - Elm St. (every town ever)
Gabby - Shortcut Rd.
Oliver - 21 3/4 Rd. 
Reid - Regina Rd. 

Charlie Thompson, father of Webster Thompson, graced us with his presence for like 24 hours. He showed up in a shiny silver Dodge Charger mid morning yesterday and then peaced out mid afternoon today. We had a blast with him which made us all the more excited for his support week, week 7. Last night after buying us all ice cream at some funky drive in place in Crandon, WI he showed up with a bag of goodies! Jacob got laundry soap because of how bad is clothes tend to reek, Oliver got lip balm for the ladies, Reid got some intersteding Lavender concoction because he likes weird concoctions, and everyone got some yummy ginger candies. Thanks, sir!

Today we woke up in Amery, WI to a beautiful breakfast at The Amery Family Restaurant. Eventually we were escorted out of town by our hosts from the local VFW and American Legion (Thank you Bob and OJ). We were expecting yet another flat and easy day. Instead we found rolling hills upon rolling hills. Our 109 mile day seemed to take many many more than seven hours, and seeing the colorful waterslides at the Hayward KOA was a great relief. To my utter disappointment we neither went mini golfing nor went down the waterslides. We ended up cleaning each and everyone of our bikes instead. So every bike is beautiful and is ready for another 18 days on our stallions. 

Oliver 

Sidenote: S/O to Ashley Berg from the Hayward, WI Dairy Queen... The free cones rocked!

Today we had to officially say goodbye to our new-ish friends doing their own cross country bike trip from the University of Connecticut. We met them many many days ago officially on Loup Loup Pass, one of our easier climbs in the cascades. Both of our groups were making the climb at the same time, but the major difference was that we were fully supported and they were self supported. We ran into them a few more times during our biking escapades and will miss them dearly. Have fun going under the lakes UConn friends. Follow their blog at (https://coast2coastforacure.wordpress.com). That aside, we woke up this morning at 5am in Alice's Attic (we love you Alice. Thanks for the massages) to Jade's beautiful voice wooing us all out of bed like sailors to a siren. We set off in the cold to our last day in the great state of Minnesota, which actually, contrary to popular belief, has more than 10,000 lakes. We were kindly accepted into Tori's barn to eat lunch (thanks Tori you're the bomb) in a shady spot for lunch then set off for our final stretch into Osceola, where we were led to a bike path and made our final push into Amery.

Much love,

Webster (the tallest one)

(Follow me on insta @web_thompson)

Today we got to experience 90 miles of Minnesota's great trail system "Rails to Trails". Years ago, when the railroad tracks were taken out they paved the old bed and transformed it into a now well-known bike path. There are two perks of riding on a path originally intended for trains: 1) trains can't handle any inclines over like a 1% grade and 2) trains also can't take sharp turns. These two perks mean that the 90 miles we rode on the trail system were beautifully flat, straight, and for the most part displayed flawless pavement. It was the ultimate red carpet of Minnesota. 

I talked about the perks of the trail, but one negative stood out to me in particular... the literal curtains of mosquitos or gnats or whatever the heck they were. Ever since we crossed the border into the state of Minnesota the density of nasty insects has greatly increased. At one point on the trail today we would literally ride through dense clouds of these insects. The best strategy we came up with is closing all face holes and exhaling super aggressively. We still ended up with bugs in our cavities, but not near as many as we would have without using said strategy. 

123  miles later, with tired and worn out attitudes, we turned the county highway corner to be greeted by Miles (this week's support) holding up a cutesy homemade sign displaying "Alice's Attic". Our accommodations for the night were in a dolled up hayloft in this angel of a women named Alice's barn. Not only did we get the neat opportunity of sleeping in the loft of a traditional barn, but Alice greeted us with lots planned for the evening. After showers she led Gabby and I upstairs and surprised us with free massages! Two very talented masseuses from nearby towns were right there in Alice's Attic with ready hands all for us. It felt like a mother's sweet love. After our massages we gorged ourselves in potluck style food provided by the local high school's honor society. A group of 7 girls our age from the school joined us for the evening. We enjoyed getting to know them and of course the food they provided - Thanks ladies! After dinner finished up, the music (live!) began, and the barn dance that Alice had planned picked up. We all learned how to 2-step and a couple of us learned a few other more complicated dances. The country style barn dance was so much fun. Good people, Good times, etc, etc

Check it out:  http://www.alicesattic.com/index.html


After everyone left for the night, two girls from Royalton, Minnesota stuck around and then escorted us to the local Dairy Queen. We love our night time snacky runs - DQ being top of the favorites list. We messed around in front of a stunning sunset in Royalton for a while and then made way full speed ahead to our sleeping bags in Alice's Attic. Early wakeup tomorrow for another 120+ miles ride! Wisconsin tomorrow! 

xoxo,
JT 

When we finish eating, we eat some more...

Today we ate:
Hotel breakfast
snacks from bakery & cafe
lunch at the Fergus Falls veterans home (& dessert!)
Subway for an afternoon meal
HUGE halfway meal at Bello Cucina in downtown, Fergus Falls
cookies from Karen for dessert

mmh.

In other news...
We're officially halfway in miles and days!!!
We have officially reached our fundraising goal of $100,000!!!
123 mile ride tomorrow - early start!!

xoxo,
JT 

We looked ahead and saw that today was the longest day (mileage wise) on our agenda. For three reasons we decided to do things a little different and leave at 5:30am this morning. The three reasons being 1) 125 mile day 2) an event at 6pm at our destination and 3) sadly, potential for a headwind. I was so proud of the flock this morning because we managed to wake up, pack up camp, eat breakfast, and depart by sunrise. All of this was done in 50 minutes. Well done, flock. 

Like I said, we departed by sunrise and with breaks every 30 miles, we somehow managed to glide through 90 miles before lunch time. The way we powered through the 90 miles really showed how far we have come strength wise as cyclists. Just a week ago, let alone in early June, we would undoubtedly struggle to push through 50 miles before lunch time. (or....feeding hour) 

By the time we landed to mark our lunch territory we all were feeling aches and pains in all sorts of places. We made ourselves comfy on the concrete under the awning of the only "convenient store" in the middle of no where North Dakota for miles and miles and miles. Not to worry, though, the "store" was for sale and didn't look like it had been open for quite some time. I feel like over time on the bike trip, we are able to reach comfy levels way easier absolutely anywhere. 

Getting up and putting myself back on my bike after an hour of rest was probably the most difficult part of today. We somehow managed to push for about 20 more miles before a break. We sat in the shade of someone's yard for a bit and then got up to tackle the final 13 miles. This is when things got painful... The headwind picked up and did everything it possibly could to hold us to a 13mph pace for way longer than I would've liked. The headwind sucked, but I have to say once we were done and laying in the shade the breeze was heaven on earth. 

We caved today, and instead of camping in the city park we were treated to the nicest Super 8 hotel in Libson, North Dakota. Thanks, parents.

For dinner we headed over to the veterans rest home to wish the vets a Happy Fourth of July! We made conversation with the retired vets, ate some good cookies (& maybe ice cream sandwiches too), and got to see the beautiful new facilities Libson has to offer these veterans. When bingo hour rolled in we took that as our queue to head out and hit up the local grocery store for night time snacks. 

To celebrate the Fourth, we're invited to attend the town's firework display at the fairgrounds. Although if we were to lay in a horizontal position we would undoubtedly fall into a deep snooze within seconds for the next 8 hours, we are going to go watch the explosives! 

Happy Fourth of July!

xoxo,
JT

Lightning Round: Favorite biking songs
Jamie: Nicki Minaj
Webster: Chance the Rapper
Oliver: Chance the Rapper
Jacob: Meek Mill
Gabby: Hound dog by Elvis Presley 
Jade: Dragonforce 

We have conquered the Cascades, and Rocked the Rockies, all with the promise that we will have at least 1000 miles of flat, boring farm land. This pancaked agriculture might seem like a bore, but after plenty of incline and scenery in Glacier, we were all pretty excited about some easy miles. After almost a week through Eastern Montana, and North Dakota, I may confidently say that while the area is flatter than previous terrain, I would not count rolling hills, some over a mile long as flat. The rolling hills would not be a problem if we did not average over 114 miles a week, but knowing the cause we’re riding for, the days seem like a breeze. 

Reid

We left a bit earlier than yesterday in an effort to finish the day earlier. After a quick cold breakfast at 6am we flew through a quick 30 miles on rolling hills. We have been on and off of I-94 all day. We were hesitant to ride on an interstate but the first few 10 mile stretches on the freeway weren't bad at all.... It was when we got to the last 18 miles of our day when it got a little bit sketchy. Whose idea was it to change rumble strips from an appropriate width lining the outside of the shoulder to rumble strips that span the entire width of the shoulder!? Dodging the absurdly large and frequent rumble strips to avoid vibrating our teeth out of their sockets, we all almost steered right off the road more than once. In addition, there were snakes EVERYWHERE. We have learned that snakes her love the little cavities created by the rumble strips. 

Today at lunch the sag driver (my lovely father) chose a seemingly abandoned dirt road off of the main highway to pull off. We figured this location would be perfect and out of everyones way for a strict 60 min lunch break (yes, we time it for the sake of efficiency). About 37 minutes into our lunch hour a class NoDak farmer pulls up in this frighteningly large mower/tractor thing waiting to turn in on the road where our calorie loaded buffet table was set up. Awkward. 

Speaking of frighteningly large mower/tractor things, Jamie and I have decided that some of the farm equipment out here is absolutely terrifying. There is this one machine (I mean, monster) that has these HUGE skinny wheels that suspend it way higher than any form of equipment should ever be suspended. When it rolls down the road it actually looks like some freak species of mechanical monster crawling across the asphalt. It's SO scary. 



One negative we have run into the past few days is smokey conditions. Smoke from wildfires in Alberta is blowing down into North Dakota absolutely coating our air with nasty smoke making it hard for us athsmatics to do the whole lung usage thing. Yuck! On the bright side, it keeps the day's temperature a lot lower. 

xoxo,
JT

Lightning round: best part of today?
Jamie - "discovering my new catch line..."
Jacob - "that sandwich I had"
Jade - "the 40 mile stretch on highway 10 on pavement that felt like marble flooring"
Reid - "it got flat"

Today was strangely grueling considering the fact that we thought we had finally made it into the flats. It started early, since we were trying to get ahead of the heat, but sadly, the headwind we experienced before the rest day hadn't turned around. After getting 80 miles done before lunch at a semi-sluggish pace, we stopped at a small restaurant for a delicious lunch. The most eventful parts of my day happened soon after this. About 20ft out of our lunch stop, my rear tube blew up with my second flat of the trip. Downtrodden, I returned to the van to change my flat tire to find a 3 inch nail embedded in my tire. I took this with a grain of salt, and just changed my tire and tube. While pumping, a loud pop sounded from my wheel, and all the air quickly left my tube. Realizing I got a pinch flat,
I took a deep breath and replaced my tube again. This time it inflated fine, so we set of again. About 100ft later, my tire made a strange noise, followed by a gunshot sound with my tire exploding inside out similar to Reid's days before. I changed my tube for the third and final time, then we moved in to our final miles of the day with prayers for no more flats in mind. 

Much love from your suddenly very experienced tire changer,
Webster

One last 90 mile push before a well earned rest day! We were up late last night taking a road trip to Malta, MT to track down the nearest Dairy Queen for a night time snack run, so we agreed on departing a little bit later than the previous day. 

We left around 7:30am after eating a nutritious breakfast of fry bread and maple butter (Thanks, Dodson!)  and pushed the mileage into Malta, MT in a double pace line. It felt like we were flying after yesterday's painful 13mph into the headwind. We held good pace until right before our first long rest break when the wind picked up again. Yuck! The wind stayed with us for the rest of the day AGAIN. 

At our first rest stop we see our sag vehicle pulled into some random driveway on the side of the road and a table set up with our favorite fueling snacks in some farmers tractor shed! Curt Spurzem had made friends with Farmer Jerry who generously let us borrow the shade of his shed for our snack break. I never really appreciated the luxury of shade until riding hundreds of miles in Eastern Montana. 

Speaking of hundreds of miles, we have been on highway 2 (known as the "high line") for the most time we have spent on one single road. In the past few days I have watched as mile marker 300, 400, AND 500 have sailed by! I do not doubt we will see mile marker 600 shortly as well. 

My parents showed up this afternoon! They are on support for this week - it was great to sprint up to them on the side of the road for a short meet & greet before finishing up the ride into Glasgow, Montana for REST DAY!!!!!! 

When we were about 23 miles out of Glasgow, we all were feeling a bit antsy from being in the exact same pace line for the past 300 miles or so. Reid then decided to hold a personal time trial for himself and race himself all the way into Glasgow. We gave him the challenge to do it in 1hr 10min into the headwind. As driven and competitive as Reid is, he accepted the challenge and took off listening to 2009 pop hits. Moments later, Oliver decided he was going to race Reid so he took off after him. Later we learned that Oliver drafted off of Reid, riding inches from his rear tire, for almost 45 minutes before Reid even noticed Oliver was there. Classic Wade. 

Once in Glasgow for the night we were pleasantly surprised with the privilege of staying at a hotel. A real hotel with showers and beds and TV's and little coffee makers and beds and did I mention beds? 

For dinner we went to the Glasgow VFW where the mayor of Glasgow graciously hosted a small sloppy joe potluck for us. We met with several veterans and exchanged introductions and stories over dinner. It has been a great experience meeting with different veterans along the way. It's a whole new level of meaningful when these people give genuine thanks to us. 

Now... REST DAY!!!!!!!!!!!