“Think of it as exfoliating.”

July 22, 2016

Day Fifty-Two: Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to Walker, Minnesota

I was so, so tired this morning. I’ve never had so many mornings on a bike tour when I’ve felt so exhausted, and just wanted to stay in bed. I don’t know what that’s all about.

I did finally get up and get on the bike, however, and in a few miles we were out of Detroit Lakes and onto MN-34, a busy state highway with an annoyingly inconsistent shoulder — not very enjoyable for me, but the obvious choice, at least after I had thrown up my hands last night and given up on figuring out a better route. Today actually felt like two very different rides: The first half on the highway to Park Rapids, and then the remainder on the Heartland Trail, a paved bike path. I had high hopes for the Heartland Trail. I know a few cyclists who scorn bike trails (“multi-use paths”, actually) because of the presence of pedestrians, dog walkers, and incompetent bicyclists, but I enjoy the break from traffic they provide, especially on a long tour like this one.

It was thirty miles to the first town, Osage (population 323), and there wasn’t a lot to see until then. The scenery was pleasant, if unvarying: Lots of trees lining the road, dirt roads and driveways leading away from the highway, and grassy fields.

We stopped for a while at a combination bait shop/gas station/diner in Osage, where we had lunch, talked to the friendly women working there, listened to local people discussing the recent destructive storms (which we had just missed, fortunately), and got out our netbook computer so that Joy could work on the route for the next few days. We had decided to abandon my half-assed route for the rest of the trip, after my choice of MN-34 proved less-than-pleasant today.

After that lengthy break, we got back on the highway for the eight or nine miles to Park Rapids. The rumble strip now moved from our left, at the edge of the shoulder, to the middle of the shoulder. So stupid.

Park Rapids (population 3,709) was ultra-busy, swarming with tourists who were some of the worst drivers I’ve seen in the last two months. Even though we’d had lunch less than an hour ago, we decided to stop at McDonald's for milkshakes and cold drinks. It was horribly busy and loud in there — a “crazy parade”, in Joy’s words. After finishing our drinks, and observing a guy in a pickup truck fail after about eight attempts to back his truck into a parking space at McDonald’s, we left, walking our bikes in the crosswalk of the busy intersection, and then riding on the sidewalk until we reached the Heartland Trail.

Before we started riding on the trail, we applied the hated sunblock. I had some grit from the road on my legs, and it felt disturbingly tingly as I rubbed the sunblock in. I informed Joy of this, and she replied “Think of it as exfoliating.” I’ll try to do that, I guess.

The trail was great after the busy highway: Mostly-empty, shady, and quiet. After six or seven miles, we reached Dorset (population 22), which, a sign announced, is “The Restaurant Capital of the World.” The basis for this unverifiable claim is apparently the presence of four restaurants in the tiny, unincorporated community. We bought some pop and sat on a bench for a while, watching the tourists as they walked around and complained about the heat. “Little hot for a bike ride today, isn’t it?” asked one guy. I’ve forgotten what I said, but it was probably the annoyed grunt that has been my primary means of communication recently.

We got back on the trail, which continued to be enjoyable. We had a coasting contest, which Joy won, and then we stopped in another town, Nevis (population 390), where we took a break and sat next to “The World’s Largest Tiger Muskie.” It was an impressive piece of sculpture, but not as impressive as “Pelican Pete” back in Pelican Rapids.

Several miles later, as we approached the town of Walker, we encountered the first of several downed trees blocking the trail, the result of the storms we’d been hearing about for a few days. The next miles were slow, as we were forced to walk the bikes around the trees, and in some cases carry the bikes over the trees. While lifting the bike over an especially large tree, I banged the rear wheel into it and broke a spoke. Shit. The wheel wobbled, but the bike appeared to be rideable. Joy looked at it and determined that we couldn’t do anything about it until the next town, so we rode on.

We had originally planned to go farther today, but now I started calling places in Walker, and learned that no lodging was available because a large classic rock concert called “Moondance Jam” was taking place. We found a lakeside campsite at a very nice, upscale campground called “The Shores of Leech Lake”, where the price to camp, $38, was the same amount we paid for the motel a few nights earlier in Wahpeton. Still, it was a great, quiet site in a grassy area next to the pretty lake, and the showers and bathrooms were exceptionally nice. I could really get into the camping if all campgrounds were like this place. As long as they cost $10 instead of $38, maybe.

The lady running the campground heated up a pizza for us in the campground store/bar, and that was dinner. While I did laundry, Joy attempted to fix my broken spoke, but it proved unrepairable with the tools she had. She advised me to treat the wheel with a gentleness I’m not accustomed to, and told me that I could not stand up and pedal the rest of the trip.

We watched the lake as the sun went down, and then retired to the tent for the night, where I went to sleep much, much more quickly than I had the last time I camped, back in noisy Chugwater, Wyoming.

We did, in fact, have an early lunch at this gas station/bait shop/diner.

We escaped the madness of Park Rapids by riding on the sidewalk to the Heartland Trail, upon which we rode the rest of the day.

One of the many blow-downs on the trail near Walker.

Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 2,312 miles (3,721 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0