Today had some heavy thunderstorm forecasts for the afternoon plus the next decent stop is about 75 miles away (so about 100 miles in a day, in rain too), so we decided we'd have a half rest day. We'd been told of a swimming pool - though a swimming pool in a thunderstorm is not an obvious place to hang around but we had hopes. As it was neither the swimming pool nor the thunderstorms turned up.... We set off after a modest thunderstorm at Kindred - some rain, thunder and a hint of lightning (overnight we'd had that as well). After just three miles we met Lisa and Elmar, from Germany, cycling across the USA and also visiting their daughter in Connecticut. They were doing a customised version of the Northern Tier - necessarily. They've done a great deal of cycle touring - see their website at polarsteps (details to follow) which details many trips. They are now two ex-teachers now travelling the world. They are going west to east and heading for Fargo today. Like others they recommended the state parks of Washington State as a model of what we like - hiker/biker areas (no motorised vehicles, space for tents with no electricor water hookups), good facilities, etc. We look forward to getting there. They had just met another cyclist going westwards - he's ahead of us somewhere. We continued to Enderlin along a very straight road with just a slight undulation. Apparently North Dakota gets hilly but not until the western end near Montana. The railroad crosses and recrosses our path. This is a reminder that the railroad created these small towns - Enderlin has a tremendous railway yard - Canadian Pacific locos were operating as we arrived and crossed five or six tracks. Their proximity to our campsite doee not bode well for sleep. We noted the open swimming pool and I checked that it would be open through the afternoon. We went for the free camping for bicyclers in Pierce Park, got some food for lunch from the Dollar General and then went to swimming pool. It was locked and shut - a lady in a towel wandered over and said it should be open at this hour. Indeed it should but some unforseen event had closed it. It confirmed our sense that we only see swimming pools when they have just closed, delicious blue water rippling in the sun but out of reach.
The lady in the bath robe, called Jean, lived round the corner and checked online - no reason was given for the closure. Her garden was pretty decent - it was more than a lawn plus trees. She had a flowers patch and a veg patch - rhubarb, kohlrabi, potatoes, carrots, zucchini (Brits say courgettes) plus some herbs, noticeably dill. All this has to grow and produce in a slightly shorter time than in the UK - the 12 weeks of summer - it is often like cycling in a greenhouse - then back quite quickly to snow and cold. We're seeing the best bit of the year. Jean said the snow is not usually heavy, just a very cold dry snow. I have been admiring the occasional veg patch - usually defended against rabbits, and other varmints, so it was very nice to have a guided tour of one. She also is an accurate judge of character because she said that Guy was impatient - wanted to cycle to the tent rather than look at veg. But veg are beautiful.... Sadly we eventually returned to our tent, swimless. But we did have some fresh kohlrabi for dinner - you can eat it raw, indeed coleslaw might sensibly contain kohlrabi. The photos are of Guy demonstrating how to safely cross rail tracks (at an acute angle) and Guy, Elmar and Lisa somewhere 3 or so miles out of Kindred. We are currently here.... Reading Vanity Fair, but wondering if the missing thunderstorms will turn up overnight....