We want to get to Saint Paul fairly early today so we get an early start, showing up for breakfast at the hotel restaurant when it opens at 7. It's pretty empty when we arrive, but fills up pretty quickly. It's obviously the best place to eat in this small town.b
The ride goes quickly, for a sixty miler - it's virtually flat the entire way, and we have a modest but steady tailwind to speed us along. It is pleasant riding throughout, but there are no compelling stops to slow us down, other than for a brief lunch break in North Branch where we eat our peanut butter sandwiches at a picnic bench outside a convenience store.
We arrive at our lodging in Saint Paul at early afternoon, and after packing away the bikes and cleaning up, we walk over to the city center motel where Shawn and the girls are lodged for the night. We put them up there as a treat so that they'd be close at hand for our visit. The visit itself is a bit wild, because both girls are climbing the walls from all the sugar their mother stuffed them with in their visit this afternoon. Hopefully they'll come down to earth by the time we get together again tomorrow.
Leaving the Grant House Hotel, Rachael visits with a pair of chatty, interested motorcyclists who've just pulled up to breakfast. This was a surprising stay for us, one of the best lodgings of the short tour. The hotel was built in 1896, the year after the previous one burned down. Lots of character, decent restaurant, economical. Also allegedly haunted.
The 12 mile ride down to North Branch was on the shoulder of Highway 61, and looked pretty much like this the whole way. A few things to note: the copious shoulder; the traffic load; the beautiful sky. I should have worked harder to find a spot with a flag too, so you could notice we have a decent tailwind also.
Another look at White Bear Lake. This was a really attractive spot, with some attractive waterfront eateries. It would make a great urban day ride to bike up here from Saint Paul and enjoy a lunch on the lake before biking home again.
A few miles past White Bear Lake we picked up the Bruce Viento Trail, which carried us nearly to the core of Saint Paul. It was surprising how quiet and secluded today's ride was - Saint Paul is a very easy city to bike into from the northeast.
