Day 4 - Waconia Rest Day - TOM

June 19, 2024

Day 4 - Waconia Rest Day

Moving On Out

We have to move out of the middle school today. I started by walking outside to look for a place to pitch the tent. I walked right back in to get my jacket and put the legs on my convertible pants. It’s 61 degrees this morning with some wind. What a difference from the last several days! The dew point has dropped from 74 yesterday afternoon to 55 this morning, so it’s much more comfortable outside. It should dry today, but the rain is sneaking back tomorrow morning it seems.

After I pitched the tent and moved the rest of my gear into it, I walked to a Casey’s about 1/4 mile away to get some breakfast. We’re on our own for meals today. At least I got some decaf coffee!

Relocated! But what’s that bright light in the sky? Haven’t seen much of that lately.

On my way to Casey’s I thought I was finally going to get a close-up picture of a redwing blackbird, but it leaped off the sign just as I took the picture. Trust me, there’s a red on those wings somewhere.

Next up was some bike maintenance. With the rain and wet roads my bike looks like a doughnut that’s been dredged in granulated sugar. I cleaned off as much sand as I could, cleaned and lubed the chain and greased the bushings under the dust caps on each side of the front wheel axle. They’ve been singing, chirping, squealing occasionally at certain speeds.

Visit from a friend while I was working on the bike.

One of the tiniest grasshoppers I’ve ever seen, about 1/8” long. Look at the fibers of my tent’s rain fly for an idea of the scale. Would that we could build nano-machines this small.

I took the shuttle bus back to St. Bonifacius (invariably referred to around here as St. Boni) to have lunch at Grumpy’s. The pizza there gets rave reviews. It was good! I had the smallest they make (9”) and that stuffed me. It was like pizza was back 50 years ago, served so hot and molten that to take a bite immediately would be to invite a mouth transplant.

I was dropped off at the Waconia Brewery at 1:00 pm only to discover it doesn’t open until 2:00. After failing to find a shady bench on the street where I could wile away the hour, I walked several blocks to the city park, where I found one.

They are really into war memorials here in Waconia. I found seven in the park, two of which had not yet been erected.

The U.S. stuck it out more than twice as long as the Russians did over a decade earlier.

Obviously the War to End All Wars didn’t.

After the park I wandered back to the brewery for a small beer before returning to the middle school for a “social” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Tour of Minnesota. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading.

There have been two masseusses working almost all day. At 6:00 pm I wandered over to see if they had any openings left. I got the last massage of the day. Neck and shoulders. We’ll see tomorrow if it did me any good. It was only the second massage I’ve ever had. I had a free 10-minute leg massage after riding the West Texas MS150 30 years ago.

Dinner was a sandwich and chips and OJ from Casey’s.

It should a nice night for sleeping. Low if 58. There’s a fairly low rain chance in the morning, so maybe the tents will come down dry. My eye will be on the radar.

We’ll be back in the school for breakfast, but not before then. Doobie, our fearless leader, put up this sign on the doors to the school. He is an elementary school teacher. He knows how to deal with children of all ages.

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