After Niverville, we went south again toward Grunthal, into the wind. Then shortly before Grunthal, the other 4 riders finally caught up to us and we hooked onto the tandem and drafted. Grunthal, at 70 kms, was our first control but we didn't stay long.

I hung on to the group for the next 60 kms, but toward the end of that time, I was really struggling to keep up. While I appreciated the pull, my knees and quads were starting to get quite sore. Also, we were travelling through a fairly pretty area but I was concentrating so hard on staying in the right spot for the draft, that I wasn't able to enjoy any of it. After being dropped, again, on another of the tandem's bursts of speed, I didn't try to catch up. Dean dropped back as well because he isn't used to drafting and finds it a little challenging with his recumbent.

We caught up to the group again when all of us made a brief stop at a little campground, but the others were ready to go before Dean and I were so they took off. I was quite disappointed to discover that the water pump at this campground was broken. We've always filled our bottles there because there's nothing else between Grunthal and the border crossing - a distance of 100 kms. Just before the border crossing there is a small convenience store where we stopped to refill our bottles. I was out of liquid by the time we got there, and feeling pretty dehydrated!

We crossed the border without incident and made our way down to Roseau, Minnesota. I found that border crossing quite amusing. The first building you see when you get there is the Canadian customs building. It looks like a little peaked roof house with white siding - very friendly. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they had a welcome mat out front. Then we round the corner and there's the US customs building. On all the previous years there has been a tiny little white building - about half the size of the Canadian building, but they've been doing some construction! Now there's a huge gray concrete block building, that could be easily mistaken for a prison, surrounded with fencing and all kinds of technology. What a contrast!

We had lunch in Roseau, and set off into the wind again for about 20 kms. It was blowing so hard that I could barely manage 13 km/h. We had a brief reprieve when we turned north through the Piney border crossing, and then we were into it again for the next 70 kms.

I had planned to get water at the Piney border crossing, but when I tasted it, it was awful! I don't think my Gatorade powder could have disguised that flavor!! So I decided that I'd pick something up in Sundown, about 25 kms up the road. I figured I had enough liquid to make it there. That 25 kms took about 1.5 hours because of that wind, and by the time we rolled into Sundown I was beginning to run low on liquid. Imagine my disappointment to discover that the tiny grocery store there was closed! It is becoming harder and harder to count on small village stores to be open - there just isn't enough traffic through these places to make them viable businesses.

We took a short break there to eat something, and then pushed on, against the wind, toward Vita, another 25 or so kms down the road. Vita is a slightly larger town and we hoped that there would still be something open when we got there. I was beginning to struggle with eating along here - none of my energy bars appealed to me - and I was rationing the last bit of liquid I had to make it last. I knew if I got to Vita, and nothing was open, it would be another 17 kms before we'd reach a store which might be open, maybe.

By the time I rolled into Vita, 1.5 hours later, I was bonking so badly I didn't want anything to eat anymore and was feeling quite nauseated. Fortunately the restaurant there was open and we were able to get food and liquid. I picked my way through a chicken sandwich, a cup of hot tea to settle my stomach, and about half a bottle of pepsi. But I refilled my bottles, one with a mix of iced tea and the rest of that pepsi, and the other with water, and weakly rode off into the wind again.

17 kms down the road we reached the store and I got more iced tea to add to my bottle. We arrived there just in the nick of time - they were closing down for the night. If Vita hadn't had something open and we had somehow missed that store, we wouldn't have had been in real trouble. I am definitely going to have to carry more liquid on the 600K - I know now that I just can't count on finding much out there.

Now the route turned north and we were finally out of the wind. We flew along to Grunthal, and I began to feel quite a bit better - much more energy and more appetite. We arrived in Grunthal just before that store closed and I picked up more liquid and a bag of potato chips which hit the spot - 370 calories including my electrolytes!!

It was becoming dark so we put on our night gear and off we went to Niverville and the fair. This stretch had some more sections into the wind but I felt like I had a lot more energy to deal with it. When we got to Niverville at 11:30 pm, everything was just shutting down there too, including the fair. Hardly anyone was around! But Dean was able to get a cup of coffee at one of the stands and as we stood there, they shut the stand. I was into my hammergel by this point because I didn't feel much like eating solid food.

And then we were on the last leg of the ride back to Winnipeg. The wind was definitely from behind, and at one point I noticed that I was cruising at 31 km/h . . . and I was overrunning my lights! I've got to make some small adjustments to my lights so they shine a bit further down the road. The sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly - I really like night riding!

When we got into Winnipeg, we discovered that the place we usually stop to get our cards signed was closed! So we headed across the road to a McDonalds . . . and we were done . . . 21:35 hours after starting.

A few extra notes:

1. It has been raining a lot here and the city officials deemed it necessary to open the Red River floodway in order to protect Winnipeg ... and in so doing flooded a lot of land south of the city. There was practically nothing growing all along the way, and most of it was underwater. We rode along beside lake after lake after lake ... all of which used to be farmland.

2. Because of the amount of water out there, the mosquitoes were just vicious! Even though I had my insect repellant with me, I think I got about a dozen bites. The main concern with mosquitoes is West Nile disease. Only a few of the mosquitoes out there carry it, but you just never know if the one that's biting you is one of them!

3. The people all along the way were so friendly and nice to us! It's very interesting ... if we drove up to a restaurant in a car and sat down for a meal, no one at the other tables would talk to us, and the servers would politely take our orders and bring us food. But when we walk in in our cycling attire, it seems to make us more approachable. We had other patrons and the servers chatting with us about the ride and the route at all the places we stopped. It's great! I have to give special mention to the lady at Gruntal on our way back ... we arrived there just before she closed up. She cheerfully signed our cards and chatted with us about the ride. We went outside to eat, and then just before she finally locked up she came out and checked up on us making sure we had everything we needed. I really appreciated that.