Chris Nadovich's 2009 Transamerica Bike Tour.

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Pelican Rapids

Thanks to the ornithological geniuses (bird brains) who have helped us identify some of the species of winged critters we have been seeing. Particularly surprising was seeing so many pelicans, but the bird experts have assured us that we shouldn't be surprised, American White Pelicans are plentiful in this region.

That's good. But hold on to your plumage. Today I think we've spotted what certainly must be a heretofore unknown species of pelican. I think we should call it the American White-Water Pelican, as we've only seen it near river rapids. In fact, we have observed some of these birds get to be really big. Could this be one of the largest birds in North America -- maybe the world?

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As The Crow Flies

I've added two numbers to the top of the blog. They are the great circle distances from our start point on the beach in Pacific City, and the remaining distance to Atlantic City (to Tennessee Avenue, to be precise). Is the Greater Pittsburgh still there?

These are great circle, so called "as the crow flies" distances based on the spherical law of cosines (not the haversine formula). It's interesting to note that today we are 1301 miles from Pacific City, but my bike computer says I've ridden 1876 miles. So our zigging and zagging has cost us about a 44% distance overhead relative to the shortest path on a spherical earth.

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So Done With Fargo, ND

We've had our rest and are anxious to get moving again. Fargo, as Gary say, hasn't even been "wealming". We've cleaned our bikes, done some laundry, napped, and eaten our way twice around through the desert menu at Applebee's. It's a sad statement when the best sit-down meal we can find in a city is at a chain restaurant.

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