this was a good day. It rained last night, but i was quite comfortable and dry in the tent. all my gear was protected under the picnic shelter. and when i woke in the morning, the storm had moved through, the sky was a clear, crisp blue, and the sun was shining. i only had 20 mi. to go into grand forks, so i took my time, i was in no hurry. yes, that is me talking. on the way out, i stopped at the little overlook of turtle river and the 'wildlife viewinig area'. chris would have loved it, the birds were going crazy in the early morning and ignorant little me could spot 6 or 7 species without trying.
on into grand fork and i found exactly what i was looking for: an urban cafe, the urban stampede, actually. my first cafe in two weeks. located on the corner, in an old renovated building, a block from the courthouse. i proceded to sit there, update blog posts and pictures, for around 4 hours. had 2 chai lattes and 2 muffins. around 2 o'clock, i called my warmshower's host, jennifer, and headed down to her place about a mile away.
jennifer is a 39 yr old meteorologist. she works the night shift, this week 4-12, next week midnight -8. i didn't know meteorologosts worked night shifts. basically, she was putting us up, but would be at work almost the entire time. we got to talk for almost an hour, while she got ready to go to work.
there was another cyclist there, kathrin (yes, dear, i know) hoeckel. a young german woman, cycling from boston to portland, traveling solo. from munich, she specializes in education strategies for labor forces, works for an international institute in paris. she had just spent the year at harvard and was taking two months to cycle across the us before flying back to france. she had actually been to knoxville, chattanooga, and nashville in her work.
after showering, washing clothes, checking routes, etc. we ended up going to dinner. we rode the bridge over the red river into minnesota, right across from the downtown. there is a cabella's there and a group of restaurants that feed off it. the wonderful thing about riding as much as i am, is that i can eat whatever i want. we started out at the blue moose with appetizers and beer. i had two 22 oz. oatmeal stouts. hmmm. then we went to a noodle place for dinner. then we went back to the blue moose for desert. Cheesecake with raspberry sauce. then back to the house.
i slept on the couch till seven and never heard jennifer come home from work. woke up this morning to beautiful day, 46 deg and clear. packed up, had a cup of tea. i felt really relaxed, rested, and excited to be hefading into minnesota. mission accomplished. the other two women got up shortly. kathrin was ready fairly quickly. we said goodby. kathrin headed northwest, i headed southeast, and jennifer headed back to bed.
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