Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

A most unusual day. We woke up to a lot of wind. Then it started lightening. We scrambled to pack our stuff up and ran our bikes and BOBs to a covered picnic area. Then we carried our tents over and let them dry a bit. Once the rain stopped, Kathryn and Garcia went off to pick up the laundry as soon as the laundromat opened. For some reason, we agreed to wait for them. We got our stuff packed up. Gridley napped. I read my new book - another great book, "Stories Migrating Home". They came back a couple hours later with most of the laundry, Kathryn's swimsuit was apparently stolen. They'd also eaten, watched TV, gone to the post office... We showed them where we were going on the map and told them we'd see them there.

We got some coffee and tea. I found the only bag of granola east of West Glacier MT and some more Dr. Bronners Peppermint Soap. Then we followed the maps from the bike shop. We decided to try the bike path along the Minnesota side of the river. I guess it had flooded recently. We were slipping and sliding in black gumbo, practically black gum. We got off the path as soon as possible and found another recommended route, looking for some way to wash the pounds of muck off our bikes.

Gridley noticed the city crew working on the ball fields. They were extremely helpful providing us with high power hose nozzles and making sure the bathrooms were unlocked. Our bikes would have frozen up if we hadn't cleaned all that crap off soon. Thanks, Moorhead MN Public Works.

We continued up a wide, little travelled, suburban road until we found the recommended county road. We followed it for 25 miles or so, looking for food the whole time. We'd shed our raingear during coffee. It had been fairly cool and cloudy since then. Now it was beginning to warm up. By the time we reached the bar in Hittendan, we were cooked. The morning rain provided plenty of moisture to raise the humidity to the point we thought we were riding in a pool. A pool filled with hot honey. Since the sun had been hiding most of the morning, I'd forgotten sunblock. I rubbed ice on my arm while waiting for our frozen pizza to cook. The bartender and some regulars were talking to us about our trip and today's route. Turns out we were just about to head into a lot of road construction and gravel roads. So, after I fixed my second flat of the day (I hadn't been able to find the tiny sliver of glass in my tire so it poked the tube again.), we changed course and headed for the big highway.

Highway 10 on Friday afternoon was choked with cars. Where does everybody go on Friday afternoon? It had a wide shoulder and a rumble strip to keep them on their side. The wind was with us and we rode fast, but the traffic, exhaust and heat made for an awful ride. We stopped at a gas station 13 miles from Detroit Lakes, the biggest city we'd see today, and picked up a message from the kids. They'd been advised to forget our route and just take 10 the whole way. They'd been in Detroit Lakes an hour before, but they didn't say where. I left a message, but didn't hear back from them, so when we got to Detroit Lakes, at about 6pm, we continued as planned another 40 miles to Park Rapids.

Riding too hard to take pix.

The road was beautiful. We must have passed at least 500 of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. But we were riding too hard to enjoy them much. After the sun hid and burned us, came out and steamed us, now it was going to set on us. We rode really hard, but along with the lakes came lots of hills, which also blocked our tailwind. We finally pulled into town about 9:30 as it was getting pretty dark.

We made our way across town to the motel strip. No vacancy. Not a room in town. There's a rodeo or something and it's Park Rapids' biggest weekend of the year. Two motels told us there wasn't a campground in town, so we found the city park. It said that everyone had to be out by 10:00, but we figured we'd camp there anyway, as soon as we got some food.

On our way out of the park, Gridley noticed a bike trail and wondered aloud where it went. A voice from the darkness answered that it just went a couple of blocks to the highway. The voice belonged to July Lawrence, Park Rapids' bike cop! We explained our predicament and she escorted us along the path, sidewalks, across the highway and down a dark street to the only RV park in town. By 11:00 we'd showered, set up our tents and were heading down the block to a 24 hour grocery. We were so hungry, and the mosquitos were so bad in camp, that we sat on a couple of chairs in the grocery store foyer and ate dinner.

Mike thought we'd set a new low. I thought we accomplished what we'd set out to do in spite of a myriad of setbacks. I think we were blessed.

Wonder where the kids are?