June 19, 2021
Day 45: Alexandria, MN to Fergus Falls, MN
Marianne, Alexandria Bike Club, and End Of The Trail
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Climbing Today; 850 ft Climbing to Date; 70,762 ft
The alarm was set for 04:45 but I woke up early and turned the alarm off, then did my stretches and pushups before waking Doc up. We were out the door by 05:30, and there was little traffic at that hour so we took the main roads back towards the trail. We found a convenience store open, but they had not yet had time to prepare any hot breakfast items. No problem, I microwaved a small breakfast sandwich made using cornbread and washed it down with milk. Then we hit the trail for a rather leisurely day of riding.
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3 years ago
What was the Lake Wobegone Trail had morphed into the Central Lakes State Trail - different name but same great trail. Birds were chirping, frogs croaking, and chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits all scurrying around in the early morning.
I noticed a rather unusual contraption headed at me and turned on the GoPro to capture it, and that's when we met Marianne. She was headed east with her little dog, and this was her 5th continental crossing! She is mostly camping, and averages almost as many miles per day as we are. We were impressed, and humbled, by her experience. She told us about the North Dakota terrain and gave us a generally favorable opinion of the current ACA route in Montana. Today's video includes a long conversation with Marianne - the GoPro was still mounted on my helmet and so I apologize that sometimes I am filming above her, but that's what happens when you let an amateur GoPro operator run wild.
After rolling for about 29 miles, we entered the town of Ashby where we went looking for a real breakfast and found it at the City Cafe. As we were getting ready to walk in, a lady cyclist engaged us in conversation about our trip. Later, after we were seated and waiting on our order, she came up and told us she was part of a bike club that was having breakfast in another room and asked if we would be willing to come and talk to them when we were done. Of course we did, and had a good time chatting with these folks who had ridden up from Alexandria for breakfast. They are fortunate to have such a great trail available for them to take a Saturday morning breakfast ride.
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Buddy Hall
3 years ago
Bill Shaneyfelt pointed out that the above flowers are Prairie Phlox - thanks for that info Bill. We rolled on and reached Fergus Falls fairly early. Fergus Falls is the end of the Minnesota trail system for us. I had mistakenly thought we would be on it for 3 days, but the 2 days we were on it was great. Fergus Falls is in Otter Tail county, and they are apparently proud of that fact judging by the giant otter below.
Our next jump will be to Fargo, ND. The weather forecast for tomorrow is a bit harsh with rain and adverse winds, and we have been riding for 11 days now, so a rest day is in order. We will use our "rest" time to do laundry, plan ahead, and make reservations. We are at the point where we need to plan the remainder of the journey to be certain we can arrive on schedule. The long-range weather forecast isn't favorable from the standpoint of wind, and there are some long gaps with no services between towns, so we need to plan carefully. It's about to get real, as in a real serious adult game now. We have been spoiled with having lots of services and many options regarding where we stayed so far, but things are changing. The High Plains of North Dakota and Montana await us, and not always with welcoming arms. We are awed and humbled by the prospect of the plains - and frankly, it's a bit frightening.
Today's truly amateur video is perhaps even more amateurish than usual. Good night everyone...
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 2,366 miles (3,808 km)
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It was really great talking with you. I was needing some human interaction. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I am under, Triking_with_rufus. I'm so glad I met both of you today. Have a great trip. May the wind be ever at your back. Marianne
3 years ago
Thanks for checking in - now that I know how to spell your name correctly I have corrected it in the journal! I'll try to keep up with you and Rufus, best of luck on the remainder of your journey,
Buddy Hall
3 years ago
Racpat
3 years ago
3 years ago
We should be in Fargo North Dakota tomorrow, so our paths will definitely meet up!
Buddy
3 years ago