I broke camp just after sunrise (which was a nonevent thanks to overcast skies) and hit the road heading north with a cool tailwind. Whoever said it was all going to be headwinds is a party pooper.

I stopped at the first roadside eatery for breakfast. I bought the Trucker’s Special. 

It was more than I could eat but I didn’t care.

Back on the road I was clipping along pretty well. In Red Wing I passed one of the Red Wing shoe factories and a 3M plant. Both places are looking for people if you don’t mind living in an iceberg six months out of the year.

I could have opted to cross the river back to Wisconsin to continue on the Adventure Cycling route but I chose the supposedly shorter route that The Google offered in Minnesota.

Google is not bad but it doesn’t know about road closures. I must have gone through five closures, one with a long detour.

In Hasting I started following a bike route and ended up, with some help from a dog walker, at a mill with a waterfall.

After that I decided to follow the roads according to a Google Maps. My phone ran out of power so I took a lunch break to plug in.

The last 20 miles were a slog with way too many turns and ominous storm clouds. From time to time it sprinkled which raised my anxiety level. For two hours I never seemed to get closer to St Paul. It was like it had an invisible force field around it.

I finally pulled up at my friend Kathy’s house. I am trying to decide whether to take tomorrow off. Once I leave I will probably follow Adventure Cycling’s route out of town. It’s longer but I won’t have the stress of navigating urban streets. Also it goes by an REI where I can get my tent pole restrung.

71 miles today today.

1,569 for the tour so far.