July 20, 2023 to July 21, 2023
Day 34 and 35: Minnesota Rocks!
Tamarac Resort, Ponsford to Fritz’s Resort, Nissawa
Trees, lakes, paved pedestrian/bike/snow mobile trails, and generous people- everything we have encountered over the past two days. I had a feeling life would slow down a bit and we would have a chance to breath on the second half of the trip, and it has. We are doing less research and planning so far for this section as I research the heck out of my end of the trip and we haven’t had to make many changes yet; this has afforded us some time to visit with new acquaintances, swim, and relax.
On Thursday, we left Tamarac Resort at Round lake around 7:30 am after packing up a wet tent and standing around the picnic table to eat breakfast. So far, we have not had to pack up the tent when it was actually raining; I have a feeling that will be the next big lesson to learn on this end of the trip.
We had a long mileage day on Thursday, but it went by pretty quickly with riding through Ithaca State Park and having the scenery to entertain us. The highlight from the park was visiting the Headwaters of the Mississippi and getting to walk across it. The park had an extensive bike trail, which was the beginning of riding the Mississippi River Trail for us; the trail goes on for miles. The “trail” consists of actual paved trail but also links up bike routes on surface streets. We followed this all the way to Bemidgi where we were being hosted by our friend Janet’s good friends, Brad and Cheryl.
We spent Thursday night at Brad and Cheryl’s, and this respite was a majorly needed detox from days on the road, especially the hotel in Fargo. It was a vacation from our vacation: healthy food, comforting accommodations, and personal connections. Our hosts made us feel right at home. I hope that they will be able to visit us in California so we can reciprocate their hospitality but also get to know them better. This was yet another example of the kindness of others that we have experienced over and over again from those we encounter - Minnesota is not lacking in this area.
Brad and Cherly’s hometown of Bemidgi is also home to a Babe the Blue Ox and the Paul Bunion statue, but it is also home to a very large picturesque lake with with a bike trail all the way around it. Minnesota is home to an extensive trail system. It is quite impressive. We rode a little of the Paul Bunyan Trail on Thursday when we arrived in Bemidgi, but yesterday, Friday, we were on it for most of our eighty-four mile day. Some sections had a better surface than other areas, but I was happy to stay off the road and not have to worry about too much navigation. The trail extends 115 miles, not including some small sections through towns; it is the longest paved trail in the US and extends from Crow Wing State Park to Lake Bemidgi State Park. It would be nice if California could get its act together to provide such a nice amenity to its citizens.
During our ride we had views of many lakes, the super straight Paul Bunyan Trail, and trees, but then the trail would enter into cute tourist lake towns; I enjoyed checking those out. Our first lake town after leaving Brad and Cheryl’s was Walker. We had lunch and did a little grocery shopping: a bag of tortillas- what else, for Mike and a salad for dinner. Well, we did not really need the salad for dinner; as we were riding through camp on the way to the office to register, we caught the attention of one of the RV campers. Mary Helen was really excited to invite us over for dinner. As Fritz’s resort owner was walking us over to our campsite, she ran over to Mike and insisted that we dine with her, her husband and two other campers, so we did. It is really hard to refuse such generosity; even though I was excited to just relax and enjoy our campsite with a view of the lake, we socialized, and it was pleasant as usual. We learned about the permanent RV lifestyle, and got some local knowledge from residents of the area. After dinner I was still able to take a quick swim in Lake Edna, free of scary vegetation.
Now here we are, Saturday morning and still at camp at 9:27. We are getting ready to head out soon; we actually slept in until 6:45; it was quiet here despite being close to the road. Oh, yeah, we had a visitor this morning; a juvenile bear…it just came jogging across camp - it didn’t even look at us. This is the last place I would expect to see a bear.
See you down the road,
Team Bean loving Minnesota
Stats
- Cribbage Game Wins: Mike 6, Dawn 6
- Tortillas Eaten: Mike 90; Dawn 36
- Jars of Peanut Butter: 4
- Flats: Dawn 2, Mike 1
- Bike Haters: 4 (We had our first one in Montana yesterday.) None in North Dakota that we know of.
- Bags of Salad Consumed: 13
- Dog Encounters: 2
- Beers, too many to count
- Bags of M&M’s: 4 of various sizes
- Fritos: 8 of various sizes
- Bear Encounters: 1
Today's ride: 168 miles (270 km)
Total: 2,251 miles (3,623 km)
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