MN to ND

Western Minnesota is more interesting and hilly than I expected. I'm now in Fargo at the Holiday Inn Express doing laundry and resting up for the push across the plains. Sending a shout out to all Lions Clubs--thank you for building these little picnic shelters and parks and such things in small towns!

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Paul Bunyan Days in Akeley, MN

The Paul Bunyan Trail and the Heartland Trail today were even more lovely than yesterday. The clouds today were amazing!



At the end of the day when I rode into Akeley, I heard music and saw a crowd and discovered it was Paul Bunyan Days, the big fest of the year! The upside: Lions Club fish fry and sharing the table with a lovely family there.





The downside of the fest: the party is continuing at the Akeley City Park Campground even now with firecrackers, roaring Harleys and ATVs, etc., but the campground is lovely!

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A Lovely Day on the Paul Bunyan Trail

The Paul Bunyan Trail is the best bicycle trail I've been on so far.... smooth paved, well-marked, and with little towns spaced about every 10 miles or so along it. And the weather was perfect, too. And I met four or five different friendly people to just chat with while riding or at the little bicycle rest stops in these towns. All in all very pleasant in every way and I would absolutely recommend this area to anyone planning a bicycle vacation. Tonight I'm camping on the banks of the Mississippi, just south of Pine River, MN. The river at this point is quite small .... I could possibly wade across it or maybe swim one or two strokes. Mosquitos (and ticks) continue to be a bother, but I think that's built in to camping!

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Lots of different stuff!

Fear of heights would not be good for climbing the observation tower at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, but the views were good.



The scenery was much more interesting today, and I saw a bear and a bald eagle!



At the end of the day, I met Ken, Cathi, and Paul who are making a canoe trip. The campsite at Crow Wing State Park is so full of mosquitos that they were going to go to Olive Garden in a nearby town to eat, and they let me tag along.... it was delicious and fun.

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One Direction

Today was the most monotonous day so far, although it may be a good preparation for the Great Plains. All day long straight ahead on perfectly straight roads in one direction (today it was north), with little variation in scenery. I also got chased by several dogs. And, there are so many mosquitos at the campground tonight that I can hear them humming outside the tent ... it sounds like the traffic hum from a busy highway except higher pitched. On the upside, my instant Starbucks Via Vanilla Latte (parting gift of Cathy Bender) was entirely delicious this morning.

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The End of the Mississippi

After following the Mississippi most of the day today and crossing it several times (it is very small up here!), I turned straight north towards the end of the day.



The most interesting part of today was riding for probably about half a mile on a rickety boardwalk over a marsh.



A late lunch at Daddy O's in Elk River was the kitschiest part of the trip so far, but the locally-made root beer was truly good.



As I write this in my tent, I'm hearing a lot more animal noises in the night tonight than ever before.... hmmmm.... it is strange!

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Minneapolis Rocks!

Before I got stuck!

Downtown Minneapolis

A great day of visiting with Cathy and Jeff and making my first visit to Minneapolis!

I couldn't quite make it to the top of the intermediate wall at the REI store today, but maybe tomorrow will try again.

A tour of downtown Minneapolis and the Stone Arch Bridge Festival was more relaxing!  There was an amazing little wild bit of park down by the river right downtown that we explored when we got tired of looking at the art-vendors' stalls.

The Stone Arch Bridge

The Wood Lake Nature Center had tons of wildlife visible even in the middle of the afternoon on a lovely 2-mile loop of a trail.  This marsh used to be more of a regular lake until in the 1960's they accidentally partially drained it while constructing a highway--it was later designated as a nature preserve and has a beautifully restored area of various habitats including woods, wetlands and prairies.

Wood Lake Nature Center

Painted Turtle on Log at Wood Lake

Mall of America

After all that outdoors stuff, I felt that my first visit to Minneapolis would not be complete without a trip to the Mall of America.  It was incredible, especially the amusement park in the center and the Lego store!


Besides all this, we went to the food co-op and I stocked up on groceries in preparation for my departure on Monday.