Picture yourself a hundred years ago in the sole log cabin on a wide open prairie.  The wind is whistling through the shuttered windows and the rocking chairs on the porch are in full swing as if a nervous ghost has taken up residency.  It is a days ride in to town for supplies and today is market day.  We load up the steeds and head out.

Reality hits us like a frigid 30 mph wind in the face……oh wait, that is the reality……and so begins our day.    Though the temperature gauge said it was in the 50’s, we think the NNW wind skipped Canada and was blowing directly from the Arctic to Enderlin and hard.  Our first 30 miles had us heading ENE, so while we were not directly into the constant 20 mph winds, we were effected, nonetheless.  The 30 mph gusts and passing 18-wheelers felt like being in a washing machine.  Thankfully, for several stretches of our very straight road we were blessed with tall trees on the north side of the road,

offering some relief from the pounding wind.  Our straight stretch of road turned north and we experienced what 20 mph can do to you on a fully loaded bicycle.  For two miles we barely averaged 4 mph and limped into a stop for an early lunch and to warm up.  We lingered for a long time in Kindred, but finally had to face the music. Four more long, slow miles into the wind; sharing the drafting for minor relief.  We are sure we biked up the mountains, faster than we were biking in to this brutal wind.  Who would have thought that our right turn would offer so much relief, relatively speaking.  But the last half of our ride was a zig zag in and out of the direct hit of the wind.  Out approach into Fargo was along a flower lined bike path sprinkled with bark chips (no kidding).As hard as we looked, there was not a line of fence posts on our entire 58 mile trek into Fargo…..sorry Jim.  But we did find a buffalo, which Jerry has been wanting to see this entire trip.

Checked into a hotel, had a couple hours rest and then we were ready for Italian. We had no idea that Toscana Restaurante, only three blocks from our hotel would be the best meal we have had this entire trip.  Turns out the owner/chef is from Lucca, Italy where we stayed on last year’s trip.  It was a long, grueling day, but a Great end to a Friday.

Not sure how or when we took the pictures below, as we remember little else other than wind.

It dropped into the 40’s last night and we saw no need to start biking until it reached at least 50°.  By 8:00 the temperature gauge was struggling to get to 55°, but we headed out.  A few interesting blocks through Fargothen we crossed the Red River of the North into Minnesota.  No sign indicating our new state, but did have a beautiful veterans memorial On the bridge.A few minutes later, we were in the country.

The wind from yesterday was still blowing, but we were heading southeast, so we enjoyed the good side of it today.  No gusts and no large trucks, in fact very little traffic at all on our very flat, country road.Making good time with the wind assist, we made a stop at what looked like a cute store. Couldn’t get much info from the young clerk on how long the store had been here (longer than he’d been around), but from the looks of it, a long time. When was the last time you saw candies in a jar or shelves of “pop”.Blue skies, white clouds, pretty ponds…….and wind at your back….great day!

Stopped for lunch at a biker bar and caught Jerry hanging with the other “bikers”.  Great guys; one provided us what has already become an invaluable map.After lunch, our course started rolling a bit; something we would have really noticed if we were fighting the wind.

We had a great welcoming committee on our approach into Fergus Falls.  Lovely small town with tree lined streets and pretty homes. A Big shout out to Galen at The Country Stop (notice him waving from the lamp post)Fabulous fruit….. Thank you, it it the spot.

Reached our hotel after just reaching 60 miles.  Not a tough day, but the accumulation of miles is starting to pile up.

Dickinson, North Dakota to Fergus Falls, Minnesota

428 Miles

We had to retrace three miles to get to our “Rails to Trails” course; once again enjoying the small town as we rode through on this gorgeous 59° Sunday morning.  A rails to trails course is a pathwaycreated in place of an old rail line.  While the tracks are gone, much that grew up beside them remains.The benefits of this course are numerous, but our two favorites are low grades on any climb and quiet from the cars and trucks.  Today’s trail was filled with tall trees,

vast fields and of course, thousands of lakes (most of which are pictured below).

The morning’s clear sky allowed the camera to focus on the beautiful lakesas many as there are, each one was different.

We were surprised how few people we saw on this fabulous trail, though we did run into three month old Willow, who could not sit still for a good picture,but loved a good scratching.  We stopped for coffee at one of the crossroads, but mostly took lots of pictures of lots of lakes….beautiful day.  Biked a few miles with Mark, discussing biking and running, but he couldn’t maintain our slow pace.  As we approached our destination, we stopped at The Depot for lunch, struggling to stay in the sun for warmth to combat the cold breeze coming out of the north.

After lunch we had our picture taken with the discoverer of the New World, Ole; though most historians would tend to differ.  Though our 52 miles was not a tough ride, we will rest, Eat then sleep, Well!

It was a beautiful 62° morning with a warm sun and cool breeze.  We knew we were going to have to face that breeze later, but for the first hour and a half it was mild and off to our shoulder enough to not be a problem.  Another two mile retrace of our path from yesterday and we were back on the glorious rail line. Saw one lake on the way out of town, but definitely not as many as yesterday, but the fields and sky made up for it. Saw a darling filly comforting in her mom’s breakfast and a baby chipmunk, still too young to run from the camera.

Our bend in the trail occurred about the same time the wind picked up to about 10 to 15 mph.  It was not brutal and we had breaks when the trees lined the path. There were not a lot of small towns along our ride, but we had the unusual experience of biking through their back yards.  Remember, these home used to back up to the railway.  But each town had an impressive church this one a duplicate bird feeder and a veterans memorial. These towns have paid heavily for our wars.

Large farms and larger fields bordered our Lake Wobegon trail.

Stopped for lunch at Melrose Place we are not making this up for a light lunch of salad, sandwich, divine tortilla soup and apple pie ala mode.“We” waddled to our destination twelve miles away, our gateway marked with a bike friendly greeting.Since the finish to lunch was so tasty, thought we’d try if for dinner too.We are either going to have to bike longer than 50 miles a day, or cut back on the eating……soon!

Clouds hung low in the sky from the early morning rain, but the precipitation was done (we hoped), as we headed out of the door at 7:00.  The temperature was the same as yesterday, but the gray sky and breeze made it feel quite cool.  For the first 18 miles, we rode the rail trail and enjoyed every peaceful moment.  Flowers along the path had come out overnight from the rain, the droplets on the grass and weeds was beautiful.Crossed a covered bridge into Holdingford, the town most closely resembling Garrison Keller’s ficticious Lake Wobegon.  For years the town resented the implication, but they have obviously come to embrace the attention.The day remained cloudy, which gave a subtle hue to the fields we passed.

Our trail came to an end in Bowlus, home to Duane Bobick one of the great American heavyweights.

It is also where we met Bill, visiting his favorite waitress at the local cafe. He volunteered to tow us to the next town behind his bike, we declined.  Bowlus is a cute town, as so many of them are; this is their firestation.

We knew we had enjoyed the rails to trails, but instantly realized how spoiled we’d become, when our course turned onto the country road; the grades changed and the road was not paved for bicycles.  We still made the best of our overcast day,thankful for the coolness.  More fields, large trees and small forests, plus the occasional bull and farm frivolity.We dragged through our last 15 miles, but were encouraged when we saw this sign; if it had only been warmer, we would have taken a swim.  We refrained, knowing we still had a few miles to town.  The slight head wind and tired legs made our 63 miles tougher than it should be; but a day off is on the horizon.  Two more miles to go to cross the 2000 mile mark, hopefully halfway.

The early morning rain left the clouds just covering the sun, maintaining the cool morning for a comfortable ride. We were surprised, with all the abundance of water, open fields, boarded by forests, that the only wildlife we had seen was turkeys and they were very camera shy.  The horses and cows, however, always seemed interested in our appearance on the roads.

Eighteen miles down the road we stopped at the Bicycle Bunkhouse in Dalbo.Just a few years ago, Don (retired Army pilot) converted his hundred year old barn to house touring bikers and is extremely generous with his time and facility.  We couldn’t make an overnight stay work with our schedule, but we did stop in to meet and thank him for what he has done for the biking community. He also showed us a nice shortcut to our destination.

We continued on our country road, crossing the Rum River at least twice more;or maybe we were just going in circles looking for the Coke and lime!

Off our bike course, we traveled through a larger town complete with a MacDonald’s where we bumped into Bill and Linda, whom we had met when we had just started this ride over a month ago.  Though we have all been heading in the same direction, they have been traveling east through Canada and had just dropped back into the states.  Spent some time catching up on where we had all been and where we were heading next.  Who knows, maybe we’ll see them again in another month.

Our shortcut provided by Don, put us on rails to trails path, sandwiched between the interstate and local road, it was nice to have it to ourselves.  We were only on the trail for about ten miles, which included a quick pass through another state,

a stop at the liquor store for necessary supplies and to meet Katherine, a local biker. As we chatted the clouds began to build; we hoped we’d make it undercover before it opened up.  Our turn from the town of Forest Lake, put the building wind directly at our back; it was just what we needed to tackle the last few miles of rolling hills.

Today we are heading to visit family that we had not seen in almost twenty years, but we were quite surprised when we heard our names being called as we were crawling up one of the hills.  Tony came pedaling up behind us to lead us to his lake cabin, saving us a few miles.  The last few miles to his home was a blur as we tried to catch up on 17 years of “what’s been going on”.  As we are tucking our bikes away, the skies opened and it poured…..perfect timing!  The rain didn’t last long and allowed the rest of the afternoon to RE-LAX! Not sure either of us could have ordered anything more perfect than visiting family in this settingespecially after 74 miles.  We’ll see everyone in a couple of days,time for a day off and to catch up with family.