Flying (nearly) blind

9/12 77 miles from Hill City MN to Carlton MN

Today we awoke to a view out a patio door of a nice lake whose name we never learned. We rode our bikes into the town of Hill City to the local greasy spoon. Our waitress seemed to be of the opinion that normal people didn’t come in seeking breakfast at that hour but she warmed up slightly during our brief time under her care. The eggs-over-easy were as big as any eggs I’d ever seen, the bacon and hash browns were excellent and the coffee didn’t hurt our stomachs. All in all, a pretty good start to the day.
This was a special day in Kevin’s coast-to-coast ride because, having passed through Walker yesterday, he is no longer being guided by the Adventure Cycling route maps he acquired for this trip. He is hoping to find a route that’ll take him into southern Canada, possibly dropping south again near Buffalo, gateway to the Erie Canal, which has a bike path that’ll let him stay off roadways for over 300 miles–all the way to Albany, NY.
However, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Our step consisted of finding out whether the roadways we hoped to use would or would not be likely to get us killed. Kevin approached a gentleman who appeared to possess local knowledge and asked if Minnesota 73 had a shoulder that might support safe bike travel. The gentleman did not know the answer to this question but said that he knew of someone who was driving that stretch of road at that very minute. Having said that, he called his friend, who passed on the happy news that the road would serve cyclists nicely.

John, Jessie and Laurie.  John is the dude who called his friend about 73

Armed with this info we hit the road and enjoyed mostly broad shoulders free of badly-placed rumble strips.
A brief word here about the humble rumble strip. These low-tech wake-up calls to errant drivers seem to be proliferating on Minnesota roads. We were not surprised to see them used widely in states west of here, with their long snooze-inducing straightaways. But it’s my opinion that Minnesota has adopted them more as a way to discourage drivers from engaging in activities such as online banking, two-fisted snacking and the application of eyeliner. The best rumble strips are placed just outside the white line along the outside of the traffic lane. The worst are put smack in the middle of the shoulder (or the entire width of the shoulder, as it was on part of I-94 in North Dakota) forcing cyclists out to share the traffic lane with vehicles traveling 65 or 70 mph!
Okay, I’m getting a bit long-winded so on with the story. We took a break in the town of Floodwood at mid-morning, having covered about 30 miles or so. Seeking snackage we learned that the town’s sole restaurant had closed for good. Disconsolate but unbowed, we learned that the local bar would serve us toasted bagels and coffee that wouldn’t hurt our stomachs. On leaving the place we were hailed by Pastor Mike, who told us that he was an old hand at blessing motorcycles. We explained that our bikes were motorless but he was happy to bless them anyway. 
The rest of the day involved an easy passage from town to town and included some killer bean soup in the town of Cromwell.
When we passed under I-35 at Carlton and arrived at our motel it was still early afternoon. Some time later, Kevin’s friend Alfred, who lives in Iowa, arrived with a Chinese food feast that included not one but two Peking (Beijing?) Ducks. He was accompanied by their friend Larry (whom Kevin referred to as “Buzzard”) and a lovely lady known to all as Professor Bulldog. How I shall miss being able to eat everything in sight.

John Farrell, Alfred (Alfredo) Chan, Larry ( Buzzard) Christensen and Lai La (Bulldog) Lunde

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we roll up to the Shriver family cabin in Wisconsin and my role in Kevin’s trans-America trip will come to an end. He’ll take a two-day breather–his first days off since leaving Seattle–and then he’ll head east again, accompanied by his brother, Mike.
I’ll say this in parting: Kevin is a tough mother. He appears to get stronger each day. He sometimes bitches but he doesn’t complain. And it’s been a real privilege to be along for this middle chapter of his big adventure. Thanks, Kevin.
jf

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