On the Trail

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Just as we were wrapping up our evening in Bowlus, Minnesota, a truck came rampaging through town spraying what looked like smoke from a unit mounted in the back. It claimed to be protecting the good citizens from mosquitoes but it could have been the guberment spreading mind- and body-altering chemicals. Mike thinks he is now able to become pregnant.

The last two days of riding have been fairly uneventful. This section of riding has been 104 miles on paved bicycle trails and has made a nice change from riding with motorized traffic. Minnesota truly is the land of 10,000 lakes. We have seen perhaps 50 of them. There have been a lot of grasshoppers around that jump off the bike trails as we approach. Last night we camped at a small campground a couple of miles off the route. Our preference is to find lodging close to the route. Every mile off route adds up - 2 miles back from the campground in the morning plus 2 miles to the next campground in the evening means 4 miles of extra riding. Multiply that by 180 days and you've got 720 miles added to your trip. Whoops. Anyway. Yesterday it had to be done but it was worth it for a hot shower. The evening's entertainment was a young boy chasing a flock of geese in his John Deere electric tractor.

We made less progress than we'd hoped over the last two days due to headwinds coming up in the afternoons but still made 60 miles yesterday and 50 miles today. We will remedy the situation by taking a 25 mile shortcut tomorrow.

All the places you'll go...

Land of ten thousand lakes

Comments

  1. the Old GuyAugust 9, 2018 at 9:26 PM

    How many hours did it take to travel the 50 and 60 miles? It still seems like you are flying along to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mikeroddyAugust 12, 2018 at 4:54 PM

      Our riding average is usually pretty close to 10. It can drop below if there's tons of climbing, or go a touch higher if we're feeling good. So for 50 that means about 5 hours of riding plus several hours of breaks mixed in - maybe 8 hours start to finish.

      Delete
  2. CheriAugust 10, 2018 at 7:35 AM

    Although the riding may seem boring, there is merit to "uneventful." Grandpa is in the hospital through Saturday and we have had a share of ambulances and phone calls. Keep up the "uneventful."

    Ride safely.

    Cheri

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debbi StevensonAugust 11, 2018 at 12:57 AM

    Scary chemicals, i hope you held your breath.xx

    ReplyDelete

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