No Artificial Color

To Otsego, Minnesota -- 58.8 miles, 11.6 mph, 1375 ft

After three days off the bike, we are back on the road. Although I'm almost afraid to mention it, for the first time in weeks, my left knee did not hurt. We got a pretty good start leaving our home for three days, the Lakeville Quality Inn, at 8:00.

For the next few days we will be deviating from our consistent westerly path and start heading north to Fargo, North Dakota. This will allow us to join up and follow the “Northern Tier” bicycle route all the way to Missoula. Missoula happens to be a fairly major crossroads for many bicycle routes partly because Adventure Cycling Association, which publishes more than a dozen bicycle routes across the country, is headquartered there. Their original route, the Trans America trail was inaugurated in 1976 to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The trail extends from Yorktown, Virginia (start of the Revolutionary War) to Astoria, Oregon (end of the Oregon Trail). It was this trail that I embarked on during the summer of 1997, after my first round the world trip. (As the family would say, when I was single and unhappy!)

Today, we once again had biking company. This time it is my brother, Don, who will be riding with us until North Dakota, before jumping on a train for home in California. Recently retired, he seems intent on packing in as many physical activities as possible. Last summer, while we all were riding in Europe, he was hiking the northern half of the Appalachian Trail. This summer, he decided he would ride to Jamie’s graduation starting in New Orleans. For some reason he thought that riding along the Mississippi from New Orleans alone was better than riding from Boston with us. Go figure!

Since our bike route happened to pass just a few blocks away from Jamie and Lucas’ place, we got one last chance to see Jamie, Lucas, and Joan (and Lionel) before continuing on our way north.

Don and Meg after a quick ride from Lakeville

Me and Lionel.  Good kitty!

Today turned out to be a beautiful day with good trails and roads along the Mississippi. Although the headwinds at the end of the day made the pedaling a bit harder, all in all, it was one of our better, warmer, and sunnier days.

Rest stop

Blue slushy tongue

We snuck Uncle Don into our super-sized Holiday Inn room, and then, as a special treat, went out to Uncle Don’s favorite restaurant, Denny’s.

Hmm.  Too much stuff.