We finally figured out how to take apart and fix the ToPeak Road Morph pump, it works again. We had breakfast at the motel and started pedaling with a sunny day and a wind again in our faces. Looking on line you can find meteorologic wind rose data for different locations during different months. For example, the wind rose data for Duluth MN for June. (we are approaching Duluth) shows that we should expect the winds to blow predominately from the south east,in our faces. We were not disappointed, it made a hard day of it. We crossed the Mississippi, one more milestone. We arrived in Grand Rapids tired and hungry. Walleye is the state fish of Minnesota, Ed yesterday said that if possible I should have a Walleye dinner, (Randy doesn’t care to eat Walleye), and Walleye is served everywhere in restaurants on Friday, apparently. Anyway, Randy and I found a restaurant here in Grand Rapids, Forest Lake, that I’m happy to report serves a great Walleye dinner on a Wednesday. Randy was also very happy with his dinner. We’re tired, it looks like we might not be disappointed about wind in our faces tomorrow.
Greg
Allan and Dave left early for Bagley, about 20 miles east, for an interview about their trip and special olympics. We were a bit more leisurely and packed up, then stopped at a cafe for breakfast. Today was sunny but cool, with rolling hills, the wind at our backs, and there are definitely more trees. It’s an ideal riding day. We stopped in Beminji for a break, had a yogurt and juice from Market Place Grocery, then rode on. We thought we might make it about 20 more miles. Did I mention Randy is making an alcohol stove? Then we can have 2 stoves. It’s made out of a beer can and is quite elegant. Anyway, Randy stopped at the Bemidji co-op to buy alcohol for his stove. That’s when we discovered the 5th flat. Ed, the manager of the co-op was talking to us when we discovered the flat and offered a garage area for us to fix it. Ed was great, gave us water, use of the compressed air, and directions to a bike shop. After fixing the flat, we rode to the bike shop to buy a new tube and a new tire. The old tire was completely worn through. After that we decided it was getting late enough that maybe we should stay in Beminji. Beminji, we found out, is the home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, and has a lot more options for food than our original destination. We had a very nice dinner at the Irish Pub. While there we met a nice woman and her family. Her name is Suzy and she’s an online teacher for bluesky. She told us about a China trip she took and an awesome walking tour, Inn to Inn in Spain, as we left the restaurant we discovered another flat. Randy fixed that on the sidewalk, pumped it up with a CO2 cartridge and we decided to call it a day. We were staying about where we had stopped at 2:00 this afternoon. When we got to the motel we tried to check the tire tube but the ToPeak Road Morph pump won’t work, it won’t pump air.
Greg
This morning it was raining as we rode to Grand Forks Ski and Bike shop to replace the trailer tube. As we arrived we saw a small pickup with Portland to Portland logos and a map similar to our route displayed on the sides. Inside the bike shop we met Allan Olson who is riding to raise money for Special Olympics in Oregon. We also met his support driver Dave Mose. They are planning on arriving on the east coast a little quicker than we are,they said. Dave’s bike repair was completed so they resumed riding. Since we were at the bike shopanyway, we had the bike chains checked, they both needed to be replaced. So, we delayed our start to complete some necessary bike maintenance. The chain has more moving parts than any other part of the bicycle, and takes a lot of maintenance. After our repairs we started riding. The rain had stopped. Today was a good day of riding fairly flat, cool, and the wind at our backs. Late in the day we stopped at a small town and again saw Allan and Dave. They had been planning on camping there, but the site had no water. So Allan continued riding with us all the way to Fosston Minnesota where we ended up campimg at the City Park together underneath the covered picnic area.
Greg
Brian gave us and our bikes a ride back to Devils Lake this morning and dropped us off at Cedars Inn Restaurant. As we are going inside a truck driver stops to talk to us, he looks like he slept in his truck last night. He’s having breakfast, they just cancelled work for this Sunday morning, he tells us.’I make $1000.00 every day I work. I own my own truck and last year after expenses I socked $180,000.00 away. I’m going to do this four more years. Try the Cedars Inn sausage, it’s really good.’ As we resume riding it threatens to rain and the wind has shifted to our favor, it’s at our backs. A few miles down the road we meet a bicyclist with a flat tire sitting beside his bike onthe ground fixing a flat. He says he can’t get his patch to work and ask if have a patch. Randy gives him a parch kitand explains in detail how to patch tires. This guy is a bicycle vagabond that resembles us. He has a 2 wheeled trailer instead of a single wheel trailer like ours, and his gear is protected from rain by a garbage bag instead of by the wet sacks that we use. He tells us he made it to a rest area just as the storm hit last night and slept in a handicapped booth until the attendant rousted him this morning. It began to rain a steady drizzle. At about 50 miles Randy discovers that he has his own flat, on the trailer wheel. This is our second trailer flat. We replace the tube, pump up the tube, and continue. It’s starting to rain harder. At a rest area we stop to eat a little food. We stay inside by the Pepsi vending machine where it’s warm to eat. Another 25 miles and it’s raining buckets of water on us as we make it to Grand Forks ND.
Greg
Happy birthday Drew. Today when we woke the wind was still blowing out of the east and neither of us were looking forward to riding, so we decided to take the day off. John had texted us to let us know that Wanda’s family lived here in Devils Lake, Wanda phoned and gave us her parents phone number. When I phoned, Kaye said they lived out of town 14 miles, but Richard would be glad to pick us and our bikes up. That was a tremendous help, 14 miles is an hour of riding. Kaye and Richard were delightful hosts and it was also a pleasure to meet their son Brian and grandson Max. Richard gave us a grand tour of the Devils Lake Region. The area we covered would have taken 3 days to pedal. We drove through Churches Ferry, which is a town that once was, and is now being covered by lake water. The streets are residential with many vacant lots where houses once stood. Some buildings are abandoned and a few people still live there. Construction, building roads hgher, is everwhere and the dike protecting the town of Devils Lake from being covered by 10 feet of water is amazing. We stopped for lunch at the Spirit Lake Casino and then drove to Stump Lake and the Tolna Coulee to see the natural drainage into the Sheyenne River. If the Tolna Coulee was cleared of debris and dendritis the water would flow and the lake would stabilize at a certain maximum height. Returning home Kaye fixed us a very nice dinner. Then to top the day off a spectacular thunderstorm blew through. The forecast for tomorrow calls for a tail wind. It was a good day off.
Greg
2guysbiketrip 