No matter how much I tried to put a pretty bow on it, my attempt to be at the "forefront of a new craze in touring destinations," in the first part of this journal was a complete disaster.  I have nobody to blame but myself my bloody, stinking Chrysler van.

Dubuque truly was an excellent destination, but the way I got there was an embarrassment to me, to Son of Bing Bong, and to the entire bicycle touring world.  Unsurprisingly, my evil cartoon alter-ego was just fine with it.

I'm just glad I created an opportunity for myself to Cycleblaze a route to the 2ND hottest new craze in bike touring destinations.  Just as Dan Quayle was no Jack Kennedy, St. Cloud is no Dubuque.  Nevertheless, it's still a fine town to begin and end a bike tour.

My mini-redemption tour was definitely fun (FUN being my goal for any bike tour), but it was too short.  Sometimes you've got to take what you can get.

Short as the tour was, I managed to achieve a few personal records along the way:

1. Most milk consumption in a 24-hour period while on tour:  In addition to the three one-pint bottles in seven miles I wrote about, I drank a quart of the delicious stuff the night before in my St. Cloud hotel room.
2. Most cattails seen:  I now believe there are more cattails in Minnesota than there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on earth.
3. Fewest Hills:  This route was surprisingly flat.  When you ride away from the Mississippi River in Missouri, Iowa, and my part of Minnesota, you encounter hills.  I kept waiting for them here in central Minnesota, but they never came.
4. Most cyclists encountered in a single day:  Generally, I tour in places where there are very few, if any, bike tourists.  Not only that, but I hardly see any other bike riders at all.  On the last day of this tour, I saw one bike tourist, two high-speed roadies, and more than 50 casual riders.  (Thirty of those fifty were part of that group of teen-agers.)  Not mentioned in my journal was the guy coming from the other direction on the trail who glanced at my bike and said, "Nice Surly."  I looked back at him and yelled an enthusiastic "thank you."
5. Most mileage ridden on a rail trail:  This was already discussed in the narrative.

So, yeah, it was a most enjoyable three days and two nights.  They were far more enjoyable than the days and nights in the Iowa phase of this journal.

Before I close this thing out, I just have to display the Sauk Centre street art pictures I excluded from my last post.  I can't help myself.

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I could probably ramble on about my tour for at least 20 or 30 more paragraphs, but I'm going to end it now.  I've got some reading to do.

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Emily SharpSo do we get a book review like how you've done wine reviews? Can't say I have read anything by Sinclair Lewis.
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3 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Emily SharpI do kind of miss doing the wine reviews, but all good things must come to an end. Book reviews seem like a good next step in my bike touring career. Thanks for the idea.
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3 months ago

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