June 16, 2021
Day 42: Stillwater, MN to Dalbo, MN
Bushwhacking and Halfway!
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Climbing Today; 1,039 ft Climbing to Date; 68,026 ft
The alarm was set for 0445, but I woke up a few minutes early. We were out the door and rolling before 0600, but we didn't find any breakfast for about 10 miles.
A note about the above map; it ain't exactly right. It's generally the route I rode, but it isn't exact regarding leaving Stillwater. So we had to "bushwhack" our way out of the city, but we got out. After a few false starts, we reverted to using Google bicycle routing to get to the Sunrise Prairie Trail and rode it till it ended in North Branch. It was great; a nice paved trail that had plenty of shade to fend off the heat. So half the day was very pleasant, and most of the rest consisted of low-traffic county roads. The Google routing added about 5 miles to my ride today as it tried to keep me off Highway 47 and brought me in on a convoluted path to Dalbo. But hey, these things happen; sometimes I get lost on my own, sometimes technology helps me get lost.
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So my left toenail had become a bit of a mess. The road shoes I started with were cramped in the toebox and smashed my left toe; this was at least partly due to last year's melanoma surgeries and skin graft on the left heel which resulted in my left heel being a little bigger than it was, and so it tended to shove my toes forward. Enough said; the point is that my toenail got smashed/shoved/bent pretty good and it dug into my toe and I ended up with an infection. I've been taking an antibiotic (Augmentin) for the infection, and it's much better now. But the toenail was still messed up, and it was obvious that sometime in the future I was going to lose it. So I decided to lose it last night and get rid of that problem.
Long story short, it may not be the smartest thing to attempt minor surgery in the field with a Swiss army knife and toenail clippers as your tools. Doc looked on in disgust when he saw what I was doing, and several bloody tissues made it seem worse than it was but after 20 minutes or so I had removed the offending toenail. All was well until bedtime, when I realized that the throbbing in my toe (what others might refer to as "pain") was keeping me from sleeping. Motrin was insufficient to dull the throbbing, but Doc had something to help me sleep; chocolate laced with THC is powerful medicine.
Two of my 3 water bottles were getting to be a bit suspect; it appeared that I had some strange stuff growing in them. I had at times poured gatorade, ice tea, various fruit juices, or whatever other liquid I had to consume in the bottles. Riding along mixes things up, and the constant sun was providing heat energy, so I had a bit of a chemistry experiment happening in these 2 bottles. So I bought a baby bottle cleaner brush at a Family Dollar store, and with some liquid shampoo and hot water and vigorous scrubbing I managed to get them reasonably clean. So I may not get super powers from whatever was growing in the bottles, but my water actually tastes like water now.
The afternoon was hot, but our early departure got us into Dalbo before 1500. I had heard good things about the Dalbo hostel, but it still blew me away when I saw it. It's a 100-year old barn that has been converted into a cyclist hostel. Below is a picture of Donn Olson who has built this incredible facility for traveling cyclists.
People from all over the world have stayed in the bunkhouse. It's difficult to see in the photo below, but pins have been pushed into the homes of cyclists who have passed through.
Below is a picture showing part of the interior.
There are 4 rooms with 2 cots each. Below is the room I'm staying in tonight.
The place has a shower, a kitchen that is stocked with food, air conditioning, and even wifi. All for free for touring cyclists. Donations are welcome, and we will certainly leave one - I'm pretty sure that most folks do because they appreciate a safe indoor place.
Here's a wild fact; we are halfway now! We are exactly halfway through our allotted time, and exactly halfway through the distance - so we are on schedule!
Doc's cousin Keith lives nearby and dropped in to visit. We all enjoyed a beer and some good conversation. Doc and Keith are both medical professionals so a lot of the conversation was off my radar, but I still enjoyed it.
That's it for tonight folks. We think we are camping tomorrow, so there may not be much of an update - we'll see. Night all...
Today's ride: 73 miles (117 km)
Total: 2,188 miles (3,521 km)
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