July 10, 2008
Day 59: Springvale Campground (Near Springvale, MN) to Little Falls, MN
88.51 Miles, 6:11:13 Ride Time, 14.30 Average Speed, 28.99 Maximum Speed
After a surprisingly good night's sleep on the laundry room floor, I was up earlier than usual, only to find that the mosquitoes were already swarming around. I don't see how the people here live with those things.
Yesterday's weather had been perfect, but this morning it was cloudy, with rain forecast for much of the day, and I got sprinkled on a little as I rode the seven or eight miles to Dalbo (pop. 80), where I stopped at the Dusty Eagle bar and grill, a classic small-town hangout. On my 2006 trip, I ate lots of breakfasts at these types of places, but they have been rare on the Atlantic Coast and Northern Tier routes; most of the time I've settled for a warmed-up sausage-biscuit at a gas station.
This morning, though, I ordered pancakes and a fried egg sandwich. While I waited for it, I got the inevitable series of questions from a table of the old men that are always found at these sorts of places. One guy in particular offered up a series of oddly random questions; the following is just an excerpt:
"Where are you from?"
"Kentucky"
"Have you ever eaten possum?"
"No, I've never knowingly eaten possum."
"You ever heard that old song, 'Possum meat is good and sweet'?"
"I might have heard it; however, I believe the possum is not a clean animal."
"You know what you need to be careful of around here?"
"No... what?"
"Turkeys!"
"Oh, really? What are they going to do? Bite me or something?"
"No! They can weigh 25 lbs. - They might fly into you!"
After some more of this banter, the bartender/waiter/cook arrived with my food, putting an end to the conversation.
The breakfast was one of the best of the last few months, especially the egg sandwich. It was so good that as I was getting up to go, I reconsidered and ordered a second one.
The Dusty Eagle in Dalbo, Minnesota: Highly recommended.
After Dalbo, I left the main Northern Tier route and got on the "Little Falls Alternate", a shortcut which would get me to Fargo a few days quicker, but would apparently cause me to miss the woods of Northern Minnesota. Presumably, it would also cause me to miss some of the mosquitoes that thrive in the woods of Northern Minnesota, so it seemed a worthy tradeoff.
After about 30 miles, I arrived in Milaca (pop. 2,580), where the sky grew dark, it started to rain, and I stopped at the new, modern public library where the internet unfortunately was not working. I made a few calls and learned that a large storm was heading my direction, and decided to hang out at the library for a while. I was there for a couple of hours, which was longer than I intended, mostly because I fell asleep in a comfortable chair.
By the time I woke up, the storm had passed, so I headed out again, and soon encountered two wet Eastbounders, Bruce and Jeanie, who were riding from Missoula, Montana to Toledo, Ohio. They had apparently been riding in the rain, and had not hid out in a library or other shelter, as I had.
Not long after congratulating myself on avoiding most of the rain, I rode through a couple of brief showers, and then the sun came out for the rest of the day.
I entered a long stretch on Country Road 26 that resembled Illinois - very flat, lots of corn fields. I saw a sign that informed me it was 3 miles to Little Rock, and then, about a mile later, I saw another sign that stated it was five miles to Little Rock. I hate when that happens. I did finally reach Little Rock (nothing there), and then it seemed to take forever to get to Royalton (pop. 816), where I stopped at a convenience store for some pop. While there, I observed another customer, a guy who was apparently tired of waiting for the men's restroom to become available, surreptitiously go into the ladie's room! Dude, just find a cornfield, like I do.
After that, it was twelve or thirteen miles to Little Falls (pop. 7,719), where I decided to end the day at a Super 8. The woman at the front desk initially said I couldn't take the bike in the room with me; I flatly informed her I would find someplace else to stay, if that was the case. "Well, alright, then, but don't clean your bike in the bathtub." What?! I suppose this must have happened at that motel at least once, but it certainly sounded to me like it would be a difficult procedure to get a bike into the bathtub. I assured her that I was far too lazy to clean my bike after riding all day, and I certainly wouldn't be lugging it into the bathtub.
Now I know how those fishermen in Pulaski, NY feel when they see the signs at that Super 8 warning them not to clean fish in the bathtub.
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Today's ride: 89 miles (143 km)
Total: 4,302 miles (6,923 km)
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