Day 40 Minneapolis to Shafer MN

July 27, 2023

This is Paxton and Ross, our warm showers hosts in Minneapolis. They have done some world bike traveling themselves. Loved hearing their stories.

Don’t know the purpose of these but they looked neat.

This shows how the walkers have one trail and the bikers have the other.

The sign says road closed but we went through anyway.

Showing how we were pushing the bikes hoping to get to the bike trail again

This is Tom and Nathan. Luckily we ran into them as they told us how to get on the road for a bit to get back on the trail.

This is Bernie. He rode with us for a few miles.

I guess they have snow all year long in Minnesota

We had to go on the horse trail as there was downed trees on the main trail that they were working on clearing up

Hopefully someone can tell me what kind of bird would make their home in this birdhouse

Yeah, it was a bit hot pedaling today. I think we have one more day of this heat before it drops some

We were probably 5 or 6 miles from our warm showers and we realized I had a flat.

Luckily I have a very handy bike guy. This is why I have him with me. 🤓

This is Tom our warm showers host for tonight. He is a real nice guy.

Here is Tom’s Velomobile. He has only had it a month. It is really beautiful. Hopefully he gets many many miles on it.

When we woke up this morning it was already 79° out. I actually slept through the whole night for the first time on this adventure. It was so nice waking up knowing you didn’t go to the bathroom during the night. I finally got a picture of our warm showers hosts this morning right before we left. They are such an awesome couple. It took us 11 miles to get out of Minneapolis but it was a nice ride. I loved looking at all the different style houses in the neighborhoods. We stopped for breakfast and then off we went again. What was nice for quite awhile is that the bike trail and the pedestrian trail are next to each other. Minnesota is such a great state for biking. They have trails everywhere. We did come to a road closed sign on the trail we were on and of course we go right through it. We have to cross a street to the other side and up an incline but we power through until we see the workers. They tell us we cannot go through and need to get back on the road and follow it a bit and then take a right. It will put us back on the trail. It’s a good thing we talked to them or we would of kept pushing the bikes for awhile. Their names are Tom and Nathan. Thanks for the great advice guys. We were lucky in that our trail was shaded for about 19 miles. It was heaven. There were a lot of bikers today on the trail which was nice to see. A woman passed me at one point and asked how much weight was on my bike and I said about 60 pounds and Hubs had about 90 pounds. She then said” it would of been better if you stayed home”. I guess she will never be a biker that tours. 😜. I then hear a guy talking to Hubs as they rode together. They chatted for a few miles and it turns out it was his wife that made the comment to me. She had already turned around and he told her he would meet her at home. It was nice that he road with us. His name is Bernie. We stopped to get ice at the Holiday gas station and I noticed this snowman. I guess winter came early in this town. 😀 we noticed as we continued a lot of debris on the trail and that some tree branches were cut recently. They must of had a bad storm with downed trees. Some riders were coming the other way and said we would have to get on the horse trail for about 200 yards as there was a tree down that they were working on cleaning up. There was also some bridges that we had to ride over. They always went up to get over the roads below but the bridge I bottom was made of wood. It kind of made me nervous becuz both sides were more open and for some unknown reason I felt my heights phobia kick in even though it wasn’t high and I wouldn’t fall off the bridge. When we came to the all cement ones, I was fine. I noticed these funky bird houses but don’t know what kind of bird would nest there. Maybe someone can help me out? As the day went on my legs were not having any of this pedaling. I was telling Hubs but he says I push to much. I need to downshift and relax but I told him I am trying but today it wasn’t working. Usually when we go down a hill he is in front of me and a bit ahead. When I come down and then we have to back up, I will roll right to him. Today I couldn’t even stay with him. At one point I said to stop for a rest at the top of the next hill. After we took our rest and decided to go for the last 6 miles, he noticed my front tire was flat. So this must of been my problem for awhile. he decide to patch the tube even though it had some good holes in it and we started to go again. Nope! Wasn’t happening. So back to the side street we went. This timeHubs had to put in a new tube. As we started riding again we saw the darkened sky. Hubs said we won’t make this one but I was trying to be positive. The tire was holding and we were hustling. Yay! We did make it to our warm showers and got to meet Tom. When Tom opened his garage, Hubs was happier than a pig in $h!t. Tom rides a Velomobile. Hubs even got to sit in it. It was really nice of Tom to give Hubs a ride into town to the bike shop so he could get a new tube and tire for my bike. Thanx Tom. Tom made us a delicious pasta and salad dinner. The rain held off until after dinner. Tomorrow we head to Turtle Lake WI.

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 2,040 miles (3,283 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0