I'm A Kid Again

September 7, 2024

St. Cloud, Minnesota

This routine of driving my bloody stinking Chrysler van to the starting points of my tours is getting a little boring. On the other hand, it's also quick, easy, and convenient when you don't have a lot of time, yet you want to tour at least a little distance from home.

In this case, St. Cloud is an hour-and-a-half drive at 70 m.p.h. on Interstate 94. Assuming my math is correct, which is questionable, my bloody stinking Chrysler van saved me two long days of cycling, which is half the time I have available for this mini-tour.

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As I wrote on the last page, I lived in St. Cloud when I was 7-8 years old. I don't remember much about those years, but the things I do remember are surprisingly vivid. I'll share a few of those memories with words and pictures. I'll also share some of the new stuff I discovered while riding around the city.

But first, a paragraph about St. Cloud itself. The city was founded in 1856 and has a population of 68,881 according to the 2020 census. As I recall, it only had about 35,000 people when I lived there in the mid-1960s.

By comparison, Dubuque, Iowa was founded in 1834 and has only 59,667 people according to the 2020 census. As I recall, it had at least that many people in 1968. I can't explain it, but Dubuque seemed bigger than St. Cloud. And Dubuque definitely looked like it was more than just 22 years older than St. Cloud.

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It used to go against my free-spirited bike touring instincts to make a reservation in advance, but I must admit I've been doing that more and more lately. This time I made a reservation at a pretty nice hotel in downtown St. Cloud. Incredibly, I even paid $25 extra for the privilege of being able to check in early.

After checking in and checking out my room, I pulled my bike out of my bloody stinking Chrysler van and began my exploration. At first, nothing looked familiar.

St. Germaine is the main street through the old downtown area. A jet is streaking above to check it out.

I've written a bit of poetry. I'd like to think of myself as The Gnarly Bard.

Any old-looking building with pillars has got to be important. This one is the Granite County Courthouse.

No exploration of a city is complete without a picture of a Catholic cathedral. (Plus, it has pillars.)

Lake George. I definitely remember this lake near the downtown area. It used to have pedal boats for rent. Pedaling on a small lake is good practice for pedaling a bike.

I take quite a few photos when I'm on a bike tour. I don't take hundreds of them, but sometimes I take up to 20 or 25. I don't cull them down much though. If I took a picture, I must have done it for a reason. So, heck yeah, I'm going to post it.

I almost deleted the next picture. Thank goodness I looked a little closer and came to my senses.

The contrail seemed cool when I took this picture. When I added it to this post, I looked at it and wondered, "What was I thinking?" Then I remembered. There is a small plane about to cross below the contrail.

I was successful in finding my grade school because all I had to do was Google "St. Cloud Washington Elementary." The duplex my mom and dad rented back then was a little harder to find because I didn't know the address. I'll share some of those memories with words and pictures

G-2 is smiling because I told him this is the cul de sac where I lived a long, long time ago.

My mom, dad, and two brothers lived on the 1118 side of this building. My brothers and some friends used to throw baseballs over the roof of the 1116 side to practice catching fly balls. One day I accidentally threw a baseball into one of the windows. My folks made me confess to the next-door neighbors and offer to pay for the damage.

My best friend lived in the house to the left. His family moved to St. Cloud from California at about the same time as my family moved there from Michigan. I still remember that they had a Volkswagen mini-bus, which they parked in the back of that driveway. I thought those vehicles were pretty cool then, but I think they are even cooler now.

It's true that St. Cloud is a larger city than it was when I was a third-grader, but while navigating my way from old house to my old grade school, I could not believe my folks allowed me to walk seven blocks to school every day. There are some pretty busy streets to cross.

And today, I noticed the neighborhoods weren't the same as I remember them. They were a little run down. At one intersection there was a party going on. My nose detected the distinct smell of marijuana.

Google said the Washington School was "closed permanently." The building still stands, but I think it might be a low income residence now.

Probably my favorite memory of Washington Grade School was running around this lot for a full mile. It had something to do with earning a Presidential Award for physical fitness. I was a small kid for my age, and I hated finishing second to a tall kid with long legs.

Back in the 60's, I did not know, nor did I care about St. Cloud State University. Today, I wanted to check it out. Next to natural wonders and Catholic churches, college campuses are one of my favorite things to visit.

This selfie of me with the St. Cloud State University Husky didn't turn out as great as I hoped it would be.

To my rescue came a St. Cloud State University student who offered to take a picture with more perspective. I kept an eye on her, lest she try to run off with my phone.

From outside the fence, I could see women's soccer games don't fill Husky Stadium.

Now, this is something interesting. A few seconds after taking the above picture, I heard the announcer say "At the break, the score is St. Cloud State Huskies, One. Northern Michigan Wildcats, Zero."

If you read my U.P. journal from June of this year, you'll know I am a Northern Michigan University alumnus. I also like to think of myself as a wildcat. I hope my alma mater comes back in the second half.

Throughout the day, I was using my Google Maps app to navigate this strange city. My trusty paper maps from 2010 weren't quite up to speed.

In Minnesota, hockey rates above all other sports. My son played hockey, so I got into it a little bit. That's how I know about Herb Brooks--the Minnesota hero who coached the 1980 U.S. hockey team to an Olympic gold medal. Herb started his hockey coaching career right here at St. Cloud State.

Do you believe in miracles? That's the big catch phrase. Herb's U.S. hockey team beat the heavily favored Russian team, but was it really a MIRACLE? To me, a miracle would be something like me riding my bike to Mars.

The best thing about St. Cloud State is that it's situated on the banks of the great Mississippi River.

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