Today was another shorter day, which ended up being beneficial for more reasons than one. I took my bike to the shop to have the broken spoke fixed. While replacing the broken spoke, a second spoke on the same rim popped and was broken! While it wasn't available at this shop, I knew that a new rim with more spokes would be necessary; the sooner, the better. We left town around 9:30am, and I stopped at Painted Canyon. I learned later in the day that the rock formations here are unique, because the oldest rocks are at the surface and date back 65 million years or so. Painted Canyon is considered to be part of the Badlands. The valley extended northward as far as the eye could see with rock formations. This was a most worthwhile stop, especially on this day of shorter riding!
As I mentioned earlier, a new rear rim would be necessary for my bike. Fortunately enough, a bike shop in Dickinson had a compatible rim with more spokes than the original rim. 20 minutes later and my bike was good to go. While in Dickinson, we also had a nice lunch at a rather interesting establishment. I say interesting, because the eatery was located in what was formerly an Episcopal church (see photo below). Our food was really good a giant cookie provided the sugar rush I was looking for.
From here, the wind was consistently out of the east/southeast making our ride eastward a laboring one. Periodically, the wind would gust upwards of 30mph with sustained winds ranging from 20mph to 25mph. Prior to arriving in Richardton, our overnight town, our host recommended that we meet at, "the church" in town. While this at first was a bit ambiguous, all doubt was erased five miles before town, as two steeples were plainly visible for quite some distance. We met our host's family at the church and rolled about one block to their home. After cleaning up, our hosts provided us a wonderful dinner consisting of salad, bread, a beef and rice dish, and banana bread with tea for dessert. This wholesome meal was precisely what we needed after a full day of riding through a stubborn wind. After dinner, we chatted with the family for quite some time. Their older child was soon to be a third grader, and was mature beyond her years. She was pleasant to converse with, and she was very excited to visit with us about school, summer camp, and seeing her cousins over the summer. The younger child is still an infant, so there was less conversation to be had, understandably so. It was interesting to learn that the church we had met at was actually an abbey (Assumption Abbey). It is a Benedictine abbey of the American-Cassinese Congregation, which is affiliated with the Catholic church. Our host informed us that doors are open to visitors unless the monks are having a prayer or meditation. Once again, our short stay in Richardton was yet another reminder of the good that exists in the world around us. Tomorrow, we would ride on to Mandan/Bismarck
