Author: Jodi Eller

We said goodbye to Jeff at 4 a.m. Kathy took him to the airport to catch his early flight. We slept in until 7am and then made coffee and watched the news report on Trump’s speech given at the National Republican Convention. Kathy returned at 7:30am, and we started to get the bikes ready for the day. Maps, check. Water bottle filled and Gatorade taken out of the fridge, check. Sunscreen applied and packed in bag, check. Snacks put in deck bag, check. Tires inflated to 90 psi, check. Gloves on, check. Helmet on, check. Podcasts downloaded, and earphones in, check. Sunglasses cleaned and on, check. “Let’s do this,” I shout to Matt. This has been my morning mantra that gets me going.

Around noon we pulled into Prescott, Wisconsin. A beautiful small town right on the St. Croix River. We pulled into the visitor station to send a quick message to Kathy. No wifi. We biked over to subway, usually a good spot with reliable wifi. No wifi. This baffles me, since most of the trip if there is not a library in town, we head to either McDonalds, Burger King or Subway. We jump back on the bikes and find a bar and of course there is Wifi!  After a short discussion, we decide to call it a day on the bikes and cross back over to the Minnesota side for a quick dip in the river. We find out from Kathy that she has to get some work done on the car and that she’ll be able to pick us up at around 4. For the rest of the afternoon Matt and I soak up the breeze, swim and lay in the shade and discuss our future after we finish the trip.

At around 4:30, Matt’s uncle Bill shows up in his car with Lily and Frankie. He takes us back to his house where we stay the night and visit with him and Matt’s cousin Micah and their dog Edie. Bill has a week long canoe trip that he’s heading out for tomorrow and offers to take us back to Prescott in the morning. For dinner Bill and Micah cooked up a perfect meal of salmon, corn, and green beans. Before bed we eat black cherry ice cream mixed with black cherry whiskey.

JODI’S FIRST FLAT TIRE!

We had to get picked up 12 miles before our intended destination. The temperature broke 100 with the heat index and by the afternoon, I was feeling very week. I told Matt we needed to cool off and luckily Kathy was able to meet us in a small town of Dalbo at the bar. We had stopped at the post office but they had closed at 1pm, so we headed into the air conditioned bar. We downed water and I put a cool cloth on my neck. After 15 minutes I felt much better.  We stayed at Wild Rivers State park with Jeff and Kathy. Kathy made delicious stroganoff and salad and we drank iced tea with whiskey.

The rain and wind woke me up at around 3am. We were in the camper, but the rain pounded on the canvas above our heads. Kathy woke up and turned on the weather forecast. The thunder and lightning was severe. We found out the next morning that the place we were going to camp got hit really hard and there were downed trees and power outages. We were all glad and thankful that we missed the worst of the storm.

We woke early and loaded up the car with the dogs and headed back to the trail. Matt and I were on the trail by 9am and we continued to stay on the smooth Central Lakes trail. Midway through the day we left this trail and entered onto the Lake Wobegon Trail which was a beautiful long and winding trail that weaved through corn and bean fields, residential houses and around a few lakes and wetland areas. Since we began back in early June, we had never had two full days of roads and on our own private bike trails. Biking these trails were amazing. Lake Wobegon ran through forests with trees lining both sides. I got to practice some mindful meditation and pedaling without hands. The trail even had little motivational signs like “exercise is forever” and “push harder” that were spaced out along the sides. Without car distraction, I could watch the chipmunks scurry across the trail. I saw a few wild turkeys and I pedaled up on what looked like four baby otters in the distant. They ran off before I could get a better look. They were either otters, minks or weasels. We were starting to get very close to the Mississippi river.  We were going to end our day in Royalton, but realized we could bike 8 more miles and ride right up to Matt’s aunt and uncle’s house. They invited us to stay the night for the evening. I was sad to leave the flat, paved bike path, but was so impressed with Minnesota for having so many long distance bike paths.  We biked right up to Matt’s aunt and uncle’s house and that night we feasted on the best fried Walleye I’ve ever had. It was a nice relaxing evening with family. That night we slept on the Mississippi River and one couldn’t ask for anything better.

We woke early and drank coffee out at the lake. Kathy and Jeff had arrived late Saturday night and brought our dog Lily with them. We relaxed Sunday morning and visited with Matt’s aunt Mary and Uncle Ted. They taught us a new card game called The Great Dalmuti. We played it for a record 4 hours and of course I am now hooked. It’s a fun and entertaining way to pass an afternoon. After three days without biking, it was finally the morning to set back out. However, this time we would be riding without gear. We put our bikes in the back with just snacks, a rain jacket and emergency bike tools.  A much nicer load than what we normally carry. Matt’s parents agreed to pick us up when we finished in the afternoon at Alexandria and then drive us back to Mary and Jim’s house. We told them we thought we would be done around 5:30, since we got a late start since we had to drive to Pelican Rapids, but we ended up not getting done until around 7pm. It was stiff going and by mile 50 my butt started to ache again. The roads were full of cracks and there were many hills. My prayers had been answered for some sweet seat relief when we left the road and pedaled onto the Central Lakes Trail. A smooth paved path that covered an old railroad line, took us around many lakes and through fields. We left the hills and finally had FLAT terrain. We made it to Alexandria and Jeff and Kathy were there to meet us with Frankie (Matt’s parents’ dog), Casey (aunt Mary’s dog),  and Lily. Matt and I were both exhausted when we loaded the bikes back in the car and settled in the back seat with all the pups. It was the first night that we wouldn’t have to put up the tent and cook our food. It was nice watching the moon rise and the sun set from the car window. It was nice going back to a house full of family. My favorite food today was a bag of Larry the Cable Guys biscuit and gravy chips that were eaten at 9:30 in the morning.