ND LADIES RUN

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Day 4 - Well, today we need to head back home. Our choices to cross the Missouri River are either Bismarck ND or Mobridge SD. We decide to go through Mobridge. That means I have about 130 miles to prepare myself for crossing the bridge. In case you don't know, I am terribly afraid of bridges. But I'm sure I will make it. As I see the bridge come in to view I start taking deep breaths and telling myself I can do this. If not me, there is no one else to get my bike over to the east side.

As I am crossing the bridge I keep my eyes focused on the other side and DO NOT check out the water below. Whew, I made it. Victory for me.

We need to make a gas stop so, here it is. We meet up with a group of gals we have met before from Lisbon at the gas station. Our tummies are telling us lunch is needed for we all go across the street and have lunch together.

With lunch done, our tummies full and the time passing by we decided we better get on our way. We split up with the gals from Lisbon and take Highway 1804 north out of Mobridge. If you haven't been on it, 1804 is a scenic highway along the Missouri River. A few hills and curves. A new expierence for me. The views were great. The only obstacle was a friendly cow that wandered on to the road.

Our plan was to stop in Polluck, SD for gas. We were out of luck. We head to Hague, ND where we had to stop of a cold refreshment. Nice little bar, but again no gas station. The locals think we may have some luck in Ashley. On the road again. A quick drive through Ashley, we find no gas. We are pretty sure we can make it to Ellendale. So, on the road again. Sure enough we find a gas station open in Ellendale. Besides gas, we also find some ice cream. While relaxing for a few minutes, some other lady bikers pull in, they did find a card reader pump in Ashley.

It has been a long day and we still have a ways to go. We decide we better stop in Oakes and top the tanks off or we won't make it back to Horace. This last part of the ride was a killer. My knees hurt so bad. My thought was to stop in Kindred and have the guys come and get us. We did stop outside of Kindred. Just to get off the bikes and stretch a bit.

The County Road 17 sign looked so good. Just a few more miles and we will be home. 842.9 miles total.

I made it. My first solo trip and I had a blast. Next year the Run is in Watford City, ND. We already plan to go.

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