Woke up at 0630, not feeling the greatest, didn't sleep well, or at least not long enough due to the smoker's party outside my window, but a deal is a deal so I was packing up the bike at 0745, determined to be ready to go at 0800 sharp!

Heading south east-ish out of Williston we headed towards a darkening sky. The highway was somewhat Dystopian with archaic rusty pump jacks running on either side each with a flare stack, some with smallish flames others with huge plumes of fire. I try to avoid driving at night whenever possible, but that drive must be surreal, lit on either side with fire. There was a flare stack every 1000' or so for at least a couple of miles.

The sky ahead was very dark, with a thin layer of Orange running along the horizon. As we drove under the dark clouds I wasn't completly convinced they were rain clouds though, seemed more like smoke. It was also quite chilly, in fact Bill, who is in my mirrors 99.99% of the time uncharacteristically roared up beside me to signal he wanted to pull over. Quite startling actually!

I thought at first he wanted to put on his rain suit, but all he wanted was to add another layer. I was shivering, but knew that hotter times were ahead so I stayed with my current clothing level. We took off again and drove out from underneath the dark clouds within the hour without a drop of moisture.

We drove to Minot, ND, one of ND biggest cities, then took a diagonal road, hwy 52 South & East. I was right at the end of my fuel range, but figured there would be a gas station on 52, but when we merged onto the highway all we saw was corn. Adhering to my rule of always moving forward, and never going back we continued headlong. 350 kms indicated came and went with nothing but rows of corn on either side. At 371.1 km on my trip odo The Rocket spluttered and started backfiring.

I immediately pulled over and shut down. There is nothing to be gained by running completely out of gas, in fact it can cause air lock in the fuel injectors making restarting very difficult. But why am I so calm about this scenario unfolding? It is because I know Bill has a 5 gallon gas can in his trunk. I know he bought it in Dease Lake in 2016 (not Dat Lake.....see, still funny!) after our adventures on the Cassier Highway.

I empty 90% of the fuel into my bike, Bill takes a splash to ensure his range and we set off, only to find a gas station maybe 5 minutes down the road. We fill up and replenish the gas can, have a rest and carry on, none the worse for wear.

Riding conditions were outstanding but I was feeling kinda crappy. Without going into excrutiating detail let's just say I am usually on time like a German Railroad, but since my schedule had changed, well, my schedule had changed.

We made an unscheduled stop to TCB, then another one down the road. On the second unscheduled stop I compounded the delay with a navigation error upon departure. We came in from the West but left headed North. I was stubbornly adhering to the never go back policy but there were 3 things weighing on my mind; 1) The Sun was behind us when we should have been headed South. 2) We were heading towards Jamestown, but there were no signs indicating the remaining mileage. 3) I plotted the gas station in my mind and realized we had left at a 90 degree angle to our arrival.

I pulled over to consult with Bill and he concurred with the nav error. We turned around, drove the 5 minutes back to the scene of the crime and took the correct turn getting back on track.

Having left at 0800 we were going to stick to the stop at 1500 plan. At 1445 we were in Jamestown, ND so we stopped for the night, only haven driven about 460 km, showing 475 indicated with my nav error. There were a couple of mo'tels in a row and we selected one, but they didn't have all of the rooms ready. We were so early!

My eagle eyes spotted an advert for a Lounge on a mo'tel sign next door so we went over there instead. Only after checking in did we find out that Lounge doesn't open on Sundays! Ha, joke on us! But things have a way of working out, Bill, as I may have mentioned before, is a Tequila Aficionado and he struggles to find good quality Tequila in the bars we frequent.

He'll always ask for the 'Top Shelf' Tequila but be told they have Patron or Cabo Wabo. Bill's tender Tequila sensibilities make him crinkle his nose at these. Well, he was in for a treat tonight as when we exited the mo'tel lobby to move the bikes, there was a Mexican restaurant across the pasrking lot. He got to enjoy his Anejo's and Resposados and Reserva de la Familia's to his hearts content, plus an enormous Burrito I would have bet he wouldn't have finished, but he did.

I don't like Mexican food, I had wings and beer.

Suitably sated and only slightly wobbly we retired for the evening.

Day Four

Williston, ND to Jamestown, ND

475 kms