another beautiful morning in paradise. a bit chilly, 46 deg. i started out wearing the long sleeve shirt for the first time, plus the jacket.
grand forks is located on the red river. the red river flows north into canada. i guess it drains into hudson bay, but it does not go into the mississippi basin. two years ago when the dakotas got so much snow, the red river flooded and wiped out much of the minnesota side, i understand. leaving town, i went along the river levee, crossed on a pedestrian/bike bridge, rode a little along the levee on the minnesota side, then up onto the plain beyond.
mornings are almost always the most pleasant time to ride. relatively cool, still feeling fresh and not tired or sore. by afternoon the heat is up, i'm usually starting to get tired having ridden 50 or so miles, and body parts are getting sore: butt, hands, and lower back. today was no different. there was a bit of a northerly wind that got worse as the day went on, but i started out spinning south and southeast, so the wind was mostly with me.
and it was a good feeling to be in the east again. by evening i would be literally east of the mississippi. though i wasn't quite yet, it felt that way. the plains were flat as can be, planted withncrops as far as you could see. corn, beans, wheat, and what i finally figured out were beets. crookston, the first town along the way, had a sugar plant. and a nice little downtown, but without a restaurant. so i rolled on, finally reaching fertile, mn. yes, that is right, 'fertile' is the name of the town, population 850. La la's was the name of the restaurant in the small downtown. finally, back to small towns with local restaurants. of course, it is still a long empty stretch between towns, filled with fields. i turned east at that point, and never did hit another town in the next 60 miles. i have high hopes as i continue to move toward more populous areas.
after a little while, i started hitting rolling hills and minnesota's famous lakes. i was climbing out of the red river valley and moving into the mississippi river basin. 125 mi. and i reached the days destination: lake itasca, the head waters of the mississippi. and in that last 15 mi stretch, i saw a bald eagle, several big hawks, an egrett, and a couple of white long necked geese. i think i'm hearing loons call out on the lake as i write this. of course, i don't really know what a loon sounds like, but i can imagine it sounds just like that.
i'm camping tonight in the state park, in sort of a make shift spot. they were all full, but they're not supposed to turn away cyclists. tomorrow i ride east 20 mi to pick up the paul bunyan trail, a 110 mi. rails to trails that heads south toward minneapolis st paul. i don't realize just how far north i am till i look at a map and realize i have to ride south just to get at the same latitude as green bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment