Stick a fork in me. I'm done!! A bittersweet day. It's been a good run up to Bemidji, home of Paul Bunyon and the Ox Blue Babe. The two of them are bigger than life characters, literally and figuratively. My culminating photo of this little adventure is one of me standing in front of the massive figures in front of the visitor center. The figures date to 1937. I remember reading about the two of them as a child. Pretty cool see them in their habitat.
We left Walker at the reasonable hour of 7:30 this morning. We quickly found our way back over to the Paul Bunyon Trail and headed north. The terrain remained the same as it had been for the past 60 miles. Pastoral. Scenic. Relaxing. We rode side by side the whole way. Shooting the breeze about the past, present and future. Even as the rain threatened, the miles flew by. We have 4 things in mind for Bermidji. 1. Lunch. ✅ 2. Bike shop to pick up Gay's new Brooks saddle. ✅ 3. KOA Campground ✅ 4. Airport with car rental Not yet. That's tomorrow. We're hunkered down in a dry place right now because it's raining with gusto now. At least we got to Bemidji before the heavens opened up.
Gay has 1,940 miles remaining to the end of the Northern Tier in Washington State north of Seattle.
Total mileage today = 42
Total mileage ridden by yours truly = 2,197 (This excludes tooling around after we reach the days destination and quality lost time.)
Total route mileage according to the Adventure Cycling Association closer to 2,350 (We took a couple of shortcuts in part so I could get to the car rental place by Friday as it's not open on the weekends. Go figure. Small town )
I expect to log in 2 more posts before I close out this adventure. I very much look forward to returning home to my wife, daughter, son (when he returns from his stint in Philadelphia with TFA) & cats. Of course I look forward to seeing the rest of my family and friends, too.
Should you be interested in writing to me as you don't have a Google account to leave a message on the blog, please use my google email with my user name of kpwhit Be aware that I may post your message unless you ask me not to or if you want me to post it anonymously. This is all for fun. I'd enjoy hearing from you.
Cheers.
KPW
Hi Kim
ReplyDeleteTrish has asked me to add this post from her and the family.
Kim - we have followed your blog, joined in the laughter and shared in the sadness of Steve's departure, Gay's injury and the conclusion of the ride of the Three Musketeers.
Reading it has lessened the distance and separation we have felt with Fred. Thank you for sharing so generously. Fred's family in New Zealand.