Different, Disgusting, Distressing & Deeply Dorky

December 11, 2022

The Snow Saga Continues

I'm going to start with a couple of thoughts that I actually thunk up last night. The first thought came to me shortly after I went to bed. It's related to the loud roar I kept hearing every three or four minutes. I sure don't remember hearing it during the previous few hours when I was busy typing my journal and lounging around. The noise was disturbing my sleep to the point where I had to get up to investigate.

At the next roar, I looked out the window. "Oh yeah, NOW I get it," I remembered. "I'm only a couple miles from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport."

I've loved the spectacle of huge jets flying overhead since I was a little kid. Now I'm a big kid and I still love it so much that I got dressed, hiked downstairs, and positioned myself for a video. Here it is:

I liked it so much that I stayed out in the cold to watch a few more planes in landing mode. Then I went back to bed and instead of visions of sugarplum fairies dancing in my head, I had jet-powered machines floating through my head.

The second thought that came to me was even weirder. After I walked through the lobby, I noticed how worn the carpet in the hallway was. Then, when I took the stairway, I noticed how nice and fresh it looked. When I exited the stairway, sure enough, the hallway carpet on the third floor had that worn out look.

My takeaway from that observation is that most people use the elevator.

************

I apologize for wasting so much of today's post on yesterday's stuff. The good news is that I am now ready to report on today's stuff. It began with the realization that I missed a great opportunity to enhance my Christmas theme with a visit to the Mall of America. Like the airport, the Mall of America was only a couple miles away from the Microtel.

The Mall of America is not only the most monstrous symbol of America's consumerism and the commercialization of Christmas, it is also Minnesota's biggest tourist attraction.

That really freaks me out, considering we also have the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Voyageur's National Park, the St. Croix and Mississippi River National Riverways, and the scenic town of Hastings.

Eventually I got over being freaked out and I rode around some residential areas of Eagan. I had hopes of finding a few over-the-top, Clark Griswold-type, Christmas decorations. I saw nothing of the kind.

The City of Eagan has 68,000 people, great bike trails and cool water towers, but it isn't the kind of place that attracts bike tourists, no matter what time of year. It's just a sterile suburb with some pretty impressive commercial and industrial buildings. I guess that's why I came here. I wanted to be the first bike tourist in bike touring history to ride from Hastings to Eagan, spend a night there, in December, and live to complain about it on an internationally famous website. Well, it might not always be in the most positive way, but I like to think of myself as a trendsetter.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! With love, from the City of Eagan.

Rosemount wasn't much better in regard to ostentatious Christmas decorations. This modest display was the best I could find.

A small lake--one of Minnesota's 10,000.

It was nice to see the sun peeking out for the first time in five days. It wasn't so nice to see the sun being obliterated by the artificial clouds at the end of the following video.

I had been making very good time up to this point. Then I veered back onto some gravel roads and bike trails and that's where I let the fun-ness take over. I stopped for pictures a little too often.

For example, I had fun taking the following picture because I had just passed a big sign that said, "THE USE OF OF ANY DEVICE TO CAPTURE IMAGES IS PROHIBITED."

The best stretch of fun came when I veered onto the bike trail through the western unit of Spring Lake County Park. I'm talking about wildlife sightings and playing in the snow.

The Dakota County Parks system has been talking about re-introducing native bison here for a few years. Just last month, it was announced that about a dozen of them were finally released into the park.

I didn't get my hopes too high though. With a few thousand acres to roam, I thought it highly unlikely that I'd see one from the bike trail. My hopes were raised a bit when I came across a couple of young women who were out walking their dogs.

"Have you seen any bison," I asked.

"Yes, we did," answered one of them.

"We actually saw quite a few," said the other one. "They're way back there," she added while pointing in the direction I was going.

I kept my eyes peeled for the next couple of miles. Sure enough, I spotted three or four of them in the distance. They were so far away that my phone couldn't zoom in enough to distinguish them from any other rises in the landscape. Sigh!

A view of the frozen Mississippi River--another example of how the view-blockers hardly block the view at all during this time of the year.

Yesterday I made a snowboy, today I made a snow angel.

I also wrote my name in the snow. (For posterity)

It took four takes, but I finally got this timed selfie of me riding away from the Mississippi River Valley.

Then I was back in Minnesota farm country.

See you tomorrow.

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 612 miles (985 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	3

Kathleen JonesYa know, I really want to meet the Feeshko. No particular reason.
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Kathleen JonesI'm afraid I can't allow that to happen. She might reveal too much about me and dispel my carefully crafted image of being a lovable buffoon.
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2 years ago

Keith KleinTo Gregory GarceauHi,
Or not.
Cheers,
Keith
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2 years ago