About the weather

Mother Nature hasn't been as nice to us lately. We've made our way through Minnesota and are close to the North Dakota border, and Fargo. The bike routes in Minnesota, converted rail to trail, were great and would be even better if they reached all the way from coast to coast. The Paul Bunyan State Trail was a long, fairly direct path from Brainerd to Bemiji in Minnesota. After the trail we stopped in Lake Itasca State Park where the Mississippi River begins.

We got rained on once on the Paul Bunyan State Trail, and a few more times after that. Two of those times were at night, and the other two in the day. At night we hide in the tent, and durring the day we take shelter when we can or ride through the rain if it's light. Thunder storms are quite spectacular and scary. 

All storms aside, the real issue with the weather we've faced has been the wind. Yesterday and today have been nothing but wind and we've biked half our normal distance each day. It's really hard to not think "this sucks!" But we just put it in low gear and pedal away.

On a lighter note, we biked 95 miles in one day last week, Minnesota is beautiful and natural, and here are some obligatory nature photos, signs, and one of me.

Mid-west cats

It's difficult to make myself sit down and write about what's going on sometimes. Some days we just bike all day till the sun starts to sink, and camp. Other days are so eventful, that i wouldn't want to stop and write for fear of missing out. 

I'll start with the now. We've biked over 1200 miles, and counting, in three and a half weeks. We're two days into Minnesota, staying in a cyclists-only bunkhouse. Our next short term goal is Fargo, North Dakota. 

My legs are kicking into high gear, and pedaling all day is feeling less like a chore. The hills are getting easier to zip up, my aches are subsiding. You'd be surprised that what's hurt the most are my hands and wrists. 

The roads are calmer and less traveled in northern Wisconsin and into Minnesota, compared to the lower part of Michigan. We've encountered a few bike paths on our route as well as a couple by suggestions of other cyclists, and one that wasn't complete or on the map, but was ridable for at least five miles. I'm excited about a trail we'll reach in the next few days that's well over 100 miles of bike path, called Paul Bunyan State Trail. It's in Minnesota, before we get to Fargo. 

We've started to encounter more locals after crossing into Wisconsin. Either people in Wisconsin are more hospitable than folks in Michigan, or maybe we seem more approachable as seasoned touring cyclists (pat on the back), but we are no longer surprised when a car pulls over to say hi and ask where we're going. Don't worry, i still remember the stranger talk, or "stranger-danger", but there are nice people in the world too. There's the good old reliable "did you need directions?" person, as well as the "is everything ok?" But the best one so far was more along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Jeff Soandso, and I'd like to offer you to go with my wife and I to our cabin on the lake. We'll make you supper, you can swim, and you can tell me about your travels." Nate and I both liked the idea, and Jeff seemed genuine, so we went with it. We had a wonderful time with Jeff and Terri. Both are well traveled biologists, and everyone seemed to be getting along fine. Nate and I swam, we had a meal of grilled venison, wild rice (actually wild, harvested from the area), and asparagus. We sweat for days in the sauna, and had a nice rest.

The following day we biked 75 miles, a good day for us.