And thus we departed from Dalbo, refreshed and ready for more. We said our goodbyes and we made our way further along the route once the storm had died down. Funny thing about the rain - we always seem to encounter more roadkill after a storm, as was the case today. But we also see a lot more wildlife - we saw many cranes, a racoon, deer, and rabbits! Good day for critters!
The Land of Trails - and Wind....
We were super excited about Minnesota - which might sound strange at first, until you realize that you can cross a vast majority of the state via bike paths!
(Minnesota in a nutshell)
First we had to bike along a good bit of roadway to hookup with the trail system. And it was a windy day, so it wasn't easy. We managed to outrun the storm system, though, so we stayed dry! Also, we crossed the Mississippi River!! Which was pretty awesome. But, yeah, Minnesota was a pretty, marshy farmland area with not a lot else going on.
(I know you can't tell, but that's the Mississippi)
We made it to the trail later in the day, and stopped in this cute town called Holdingford. There we camped in the city park, and got a bunch of free beers from the locals in the bar! We were, however, awakened in the middle of the night by insane wind buffeting our tent. We had to drag our shelter up next to the bathroom to try and shield ourselves. And man did that wind not let up for the rest of our time in the state (24 mph headwinds?? Whyyyyy!!??)
"Good Morning Minnesota!!"
(The trail out of Holdingford)
Next morning we kept on moving, making it to the town of Alexandria, which bills itself as "the birthplace of America." Check out this viking:
There was some runestone found there or something. Could be a hoax, could be legit, who knows. But they were having a big "dance party" in the street and the local DJ saw on on the road and took an interest in us. SO WE GOT TO TALK ON THE RADIO ABOUT OUR TRIP AND ROADKILL PROJECT! Cool, right?? We also got limegreen shirts as souveniers (useful later for visibility)!
We also had to buy a new tire at this point, as our replacement tire from Michigan had already died on us. It was another dissapointing bikeshop encounter, so we'll spare the details. But we got a new tire - but weren't able to replace the old one before another frustrating flat on the path! Never a dull moment - even during the dull moments...
We ended the day in a mighty fine campground that had a beautiful lakeview. Ultimately, not a bad day!
The next day we peeled off the trail in Fergus Falls (they have a huge plaster Otter) and were back on the road. It was still windy, still tough, and we battled increasingly large inclines alongside increasingly heavy truck traffic. This was supposed to be flat!! But we also saved a snapping turtle from the middle of the road, which was crazy.
(Using the wiffle-bat to safe a turtle dinosaur monster)
We ended up in Pelican Rapids, this cute town that had pelican statues all over and a really nice park to camp in. It was still really windy! Pitching the tent was hard :( but check out this hilarious graffiti:
(Hah! Minnesota, everybody)
The next day we passed through a lot more rural country as we approached the state line. We met a nice guy going the other way who let us take his Montana highway map, which came in super handy later. Some views are below - then we hit North Dakota, which we'll discuss in the next post:
(So many sunflowers!)
(Traaaaaaaains)
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