May 17, 2024 to May 18, 2024
Ready to roll—Mankato
My bike and I arrived, separately, in Mankato yesterday. I had shipped the bike from DC on May 13, expecting it to arrive at a bike shop in Mankato on the 15th. Since I was tracking it with an AirTag, I knew it was only in Pennsylvania on the 15th. Very early on the 17th, I was notified that it was now scheduled to arrive on the 20th. Fortunately, it kept moving west, and I was able to collect it from the bike shop yesterday afternoon, with plenty of time for a shakedown ride.
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We rode through Mankato on a cross country ride in 2016. That day, we emerged through the gap in the wall to see several painters finishing this mural, which, eight years later, is looking great.
Mankato has a sad history as the site of the largest mass execution in US history; in 1862, 38 Dakota men were killed for stealing grain intended for the tribe from a government warehouse. If you want to know more, check out Little War on the Prairie, an old segment of This American Life. The White Buffalo, a symbol of reconciliation, was given by the Dakota as a memorial to those killed and as a gesture of forgiveness.
One of the joys of exploring cities and towns is finding public art along the way. This horse was fashioned from wreckage of a fire.
We all have collections of neon bright trip shirts, great for visibility. This year Nancy decided to go for something different, warning us that we should not wear these while biking. “One Week is Nor Enough” is a quote from a profile of my long distance biking experiences that my friend Marlene Cimons wrote for the Washington Post several years ago.
Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 15 miles (24 km)
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6 months ago