Minot, North Dakota - First of all, if you haven't yet, scroll down and check out the photos I just posted.

Second, I will admit that when several people told me North Dakota is "beautiful," I took it with a grain of salt. But so far, I have to admit that they're right. It somehow manages to come across as more attractive than Montana, even though it's largely the same landscape. For one thing, I'm no longer paralleling the railroad tracks, which means no more grain elevators everywhere - which, though interesting to look at, are not what I'd call picturesque.

Also, there seems to be more variety to the landscape. It's actually quite hilly, with gentle undulations spreading across the landscape in every direction. There seem to be more blazing yellow fields of wheat to set off the green of the landscape. And there have been some wonderful stretches of road along the top of the bluffs over Lake Sakakawea (aka Sacagawea, they just spell it differently here) that made me feel like I was zooming along highway 1 overlooking the blue of the Pacific.

There have also been some really, really flat parts, of course, and some really, really straight parts. Which is part of why I've been making such great time lately.

For those wondering, with a flat road and minimal wind, I've been going at 16 mph or so; with the wind at my back, 18 or more. With the wind howling in my face in Montana I was down to 12 mph on some stretches. As I've been riding at least 6 hours a day, the miles are starting to add up; I've gone around 1,650 at last count. That includes two days (out of the last four, in fact) where I went over 130 miles.

This is all much faster than I expected, to be honest, which is why I'm hoping to slow myself down, at least a bit. I'm taking a day off here in Minot, which at 40,000 people is actually the largest town I've been through yet, though it sems to be largely a depressing maze of box stores and strip malls. I'll be in Fargo in three to four days and may take another day off then. And I've got friends and relatives to visit in Minnesota and/or Illinois and/or Indiana and/or Ohio, so there are plenty of chances to stop and chill out along the way.

I'm trying not to rush things, but at the same time the sooner I get to Bar Harbor (I estimate mid-August at the rate I'm going) the more options I have for what I want to do after that, as far as maybe continuing into Canada, or just riding to Massachusetts, or just getting back to Alaska early. We'll see. I have to kep reminding myself that this trip is about the journey, not the destination.