Interesting how your perspective changes when you're viewing the world from a bicycle...
You stop in places you would NEVER experience EVER like Mazama, Republic and Ione, Washington.
Or Chester, Malta, Circle and Wibaux, Montana.
Or how about Napoleon ND, (pop 732) where we met Lacey, the owner of Mabel’s Coffee Shop (Mabel was Lacey’s grandmother). There we learned that
“Cupcakes are just muffins that believed in miracles.”
Or Courtney, our server at The White Maid in Napoleon (high school senior whose family owns a farm about 30 miles south) and there we learned:
“Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.”
Your day is made up of little things:
The morning check list:
bike light, SPOT satellite, chamois butter (lots), sunscreen, water bottles, electrolytes, pepper spray (for mean nasty dogs), snacks…
Lube our chains, pump up our tires…
In the beginning it felt clumsy, now it’s almost automatic (although once in awhile we forget to turn on the SPOT and man do we hear about it! You guys are watching us!)
We click into our pedals and then…since we’re headed east, we’re riding into glorious sunrises. Watching a day and a town wake up as we pedal past…
You notice the smell of fresh cut hay
Hear the screech of a hawk as it grabs a snake
Delight in a herd of horses that decides to run with us for awhile.
Cheer when we get the engineer to blow the train whistle as he passes us.
Giggle as 5 noisy cranes in Minnesota take flight
Rescue a turtle from the middle of the road (good karma)
Jump in Chisago Lake
We’ve become experts in road quality…chip seal, tar seams, gravel, pot holes and the ever dreaded rumble strips.
A stretch of concrete road in Minnesota gets the highest marks (for roads) so far. As Rob mentioned, as we get further east we’re taking advantage of the Rails to Trails bike paths which ROCK!
As with all adventures, there are many delights, many surprises and a few WTFs…more on that in another blog.
Today as we rolled into Midland, Michigan, we’re just shy of 2300 miles…really?????
Nothin' puts a bigger smile on my face than these posts. 2300 miles??!! Holy crap! Keep rockin', darlins! PS Idea: I'm at the Old House in France right not. Pais and Dottie say they will come see me next summer. Why don't y'all come on over, too, and bike all over La Belle France? :)
Although I was with you adventurers for only a short time I did experience some memory building moments. I would like to add a couple to your list.
1) The Rustica Eatery and Tavern. Morehead, MN (across the river from Fargo) Best food I had in my eight day stint and our server, Sawyer, was delightful and engaging and intelligent. The whole staff was great and the happy hour appetizer specials were amazing.
2) The "haunted hotel". The Palmer House in Sauk Centre, MN. Steep staircase, No elevator. And plenty of ghost stories in the 1901 railroad hotel. The wireless sucked but that may have been divine interference on the third floor.
3) North Dakota, where the 18 wheel grain…
While all the blog posts have been great, I think this one is the winner. I'm not sure I know what chamois butter is, but I assume it goes somewhere that chain lube and tire pumping doesn't (except in a real pinch). And you probably already know this, but, when you pick up a turtle to get it out of the road (or for any other reason), hold it by its shell and OFF TO YOUR SIDE; otherwise, you're gonna get a crotch-full of turtle spray! 3 days and I get to see all your fine asses; can't wait!!