July 21, 2016
Joy inadvertently rides in a funeral procession
Day Fifty-One: Wahpeton, North Dakota to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
We got up early, along with the working men who live at the Starlite Motel.
With only a week to go, both of us were growing very weary of the daily routine, and for ten minutes we gleefully listed the things we were tired of, each of us attempting to outdo the other in our vehemence. After that cathartic exercise, we ate breakfast in our room, something that has become increasingly difficult for me the last several weeks. Somehow how I’ve mostly lost interest in food on this trip. (Joy recently began referring to me as “Mr. Baggy Shorts.”)
We quickly rode through the quiet Wahpeton downtown and crossed the Red River into Minnesota, where we rode a few blocks through Breckenridge and got onto our first Minnesota county road, next to fields with a crop I couldn’t identify (kale?), and where we endured for a few miles the worst smell of the entire trip.
The road was virtually traffic-free (especially in our direction), the temperature was mild, and we were in a good mood. “NM to MN!” said Joy. I immediately expressed my admiration for this near-palindromic observation. As we observed a few people driving in the direction of the town where we’d stayed last night, my wife inexplicably began singing the terrible 80’s song “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”, by Wang Chung, but with lyrics altered to include references to Wahpeton (“Everybody’s going to Wahpeton”, etc.)
The first 32 miles of the day were great. The county roads on which we rode were super-quiet, but then we turned onto a busy, shoulder-less state highway for the twelve miles to Pelican Rapids (population 2,464.) By the time we got to town, I was frazzled, so we stopped at a cafe for a leisurely lunch, where we met an older woman, a cyclist herself, who was interested in our trip, and talked to her and her daughter for a while. In a small coincidence, they were from Ellendale, where we’d stayed a few nights before, and seemed very amused that we’d stayed at the low-budget Oxenrider Motel. “Did he try to convert you?” asked the older woman wryly, apparently referring to the old man who owned the motel. In fact, I had actually noticed numerous religious posters and flyers in the motel office when I checked in, the intolerant views expressed by a couple of which made me uncomfortable. I assume the motel owner judged me a lost cause, however, since he made no attempt at proselytizing.
We delayed our exit from the restaurant as long as possible, but finally emerged into the bright sun, where it certainly seemed hot for Minnesota, and performed the now-hated ritual of applying sunblock. Some sort of small bug had met its demise on my leg, so its dry, crunchy remains got added to the multiplier layers of dirt and sunscreen. Gross.
Before leaving town, we felt obligated to check out Pelican Rapids’ claim to fame: “Pelican Pete”, a 15.5 feet tall statue of a pelican that is billed as “The World’s Largest Pelican.” My verdict: It’s probably worth checking out if you’re ever in Pelican Rapids.
We left town on a paved county road that was much quieter than the state highway, so my mood improved. We were both hot and thirsty by the time we reached Pelican Lake a few hours later, so we stopped at a campground store for a while and consumed cold drinks on the front porch, while multiple people offered variations of “It sure is hot out! How can you ride in this?” as they left their air-conditioned cars just long enough to walk into the air-conditioned store. For some reason I felt it necessary to adopt a macho posture, telling the passers-by that this heat was nothing compared to what we were accustomed to in the St. Louis area, where it was probably twenty degrees hotter right now, blah blah blah. I don’t know why I do that.
The rest of the afternoon ride was fine, although traffic picked up a little as we neared our destination for the day, Detroit Lakes (population 8,569), where, after I rode ahead, Joy inadvertently found herself riding in a funeral procession. I was a little jealous, because I’ve never ridden my bike in a funeral procession.
We didn’t know where we were staying tonight when we arrived in town. There was a city park, but it looked hot and busy. I had earlier looked up some motels on the internet, but they all appeared to be overpriced and/or disgusting, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice, recently remodeled, reasonably-priced old mom-and-pop place just as we got to town. After doing laundry (which the owner refused to charge us for, providing his own quarters for the washer and dryer), I attempted to work on a route for tomorrow, but gave up quickly. Joy went to a brew pub for a beer and then picked up a sandwiches at Subway which we ate in the room, and then we went to bed at our usual early hour.
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Today's ride: 73 miles (117 km)
Total: 2,238 miles (3,602 km)
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