Williston to New Town, ND

Miles 75.4
Ride time 4:14
Elevation gain 2415'

We started early today. Our route had been changed because of the increased the truck traffic from all of the oil and gas activity. We rode out town and took this lovely scenic stretch onto CR 6. It was a a great stretch of road and very pretty. It took us by fields of mustard and flax. We went by Springbrook Dam, which was a nice little spot that had campsites, but was pretty empty. There was little traffic.
We then got back on Highway 2. It was OK as there was a good shoulder, plus it was 2 lanes in each direction. There was lots of trucks, but they all gave us a lot of room. We had an incredible tailwind. It blew us up the hills it was so strong! We saw a couple of cyclists going the other direction who were traveling fully loaded. They did not look as happy as we did as we sailed along.
Then we had to turn on CR 8. By now the wind was howling. But for us we now had a sidewind that was gusting probably between 25-30 mph. It was hard to keep the bike on the road. It wouldn't have been so bad if the road had a shoulder for us to ride on. The shoulder was about a foot wide with a sharp downhill drop AND a rumblestrip. So we had no shoulder. What we did have was a two lane road with an endless stream of semi trucks flying by at 70 mph in each direction. It was unbelievable. Some of them honked at us as they went by. One truck started honking his horn as he crossed over onto the other side of the road, heading right for us. The message was quite clear. I told Jennifer I was not going to ride this and she agreed. Amy wanted to keep going. So Jennifer and I found a side road and got off our bikes. I called Denise who was driving the van, but then Marti drove up in the sag. We put our bikes on the roof rack and got out of there.
The road, it seems has become a major truck road in the last year due to the oil. The sherriff, the van and the sag plucked everyone else who was on the road off. The sherriff said that this road is one of the most dangerous roads in the country and that they have had many accidents on it. It was nice to be off it.
Our hotel is also a casino. Pretty grim out here. The wind is howling and the place is full of workers. The plan for tomorrow is to shuttle us back to Stanley and Highway 2. From there it will be a straight shot into Minot. We have a rest day there. I am ready for one!