67 miles: little falls, MN, to pine river, MN

the country inn has a good breakfast, so we ate in the breakfast room, then had a map meeting out in the parking lot at 7. most were on the road by 7:15. south winds gave us a good push northward. we covered the 35 miles to brainerd at quite a clip.

at brainerd, we turned onto the paul bunyan trail. here are clark & laura at the trailhead sign.

a little further along i took this photo of clark, laura, & ann so you can see the nice surface & beautiful surroundings of the trail. sometimes the trail was almost completely canopied with trees. the trail is an old railroad bed, so is mostly flat.

at the little town of merrifield we went off the trail for half a block to a convenience store for a potty break. in the store’s freezer case, laura & i found some snickers ice cream bars. i’d never seen these before. we each had one, & they’re good!

while at this gas station convenience store restroom, i glanced in the mirror while washing my hands & caught sight of my helmet hair, which many make fun of (& why wouldn’t they?) so i decided to take a photo to show it to you. i look like a character out of a sci fi movie.

we went back onto the trail & rode another 5 miles to the cute little town of nisswa. little shops had their signs not only on the fronts of the stores toward the main street, but also on the backs of the stores along the trail. so i couldn’t miss the sign that said ‘the chocolate ox.’ we went inside, & i couldn’t resist a kid-sized (but quite large) scoop of their signature flavor of ice cream, a very dark chocolate. we did a bit of shopping at other stores, then started out on our bikes again.

but not far. the skies were looking threatening. then we glanced to our right & saw jo ann & carol under the metal roof over the patio of the a&w. we decided they knew something we didn’t know, so joined them. soon the skies opened up & torrents fell, thunder boomed, lightning flashed, & sheets of water blew across the streets. this photo doesn’t do justice to the gully washer we witnessed. did we ever feel fortunate to be shielded from it.

as so often happens with heavy storms like that, it blew over quickly, so we ventured out again. i took this photo to give you an idea of the trees along the trail …. here some beautiful aspens.

we had in mind a lunch stop at a place that had been recommended to us at the next town only 7 miles up the trail, pequot lakes. sibley station is a well-known eating spot in this area; they’re particularly known for their hungarian mushroom soup. 4 of the 6 of us had the soup, & it’s good, but quite salty.

as we were finishing our lunches, someone looked outside & saw another rain storm in progress, so we lingered a bit. a little later when we went out front, a woman was just getting out of her car in the parking lot & told us about a bad storm she’d driven through just north of us. so we decided to wait even longer before continuing …. ’til the dark clouds up north dissipated.

it was only 8 more miles to the trailside inn in pine river; there were a few sprinkles, but nothing major. later we found out that quite a few riders got soaked by one or more of this afternoon’s storms.

here’s linda working at dinner preparations in her galley that’s built into the back of the luggage trailer. it’s amazing the meals she can turn out of that little work space. this evening she made shepherd’s pie with real mashed potatoes on top — one with lots of lean ground beef, the other with tofu. also on the menu were sliced fresh nectarines, a big green salad, &…back by popular demand…her quinoa salad with craisins, fresh green beans, & other veggies in it.

at the map meeting, laurie went over not only the route for our LAST BIKING DAY OF THIS TRIP TOMORROW (!) — 87 miles to lake itasca state park — but plans for our layover day, our final trip dinner on sunday evening, & bike- & people-transport plans for monday. the size of our group is taxing the accommodations at the lodge & cabins at itasca run by the park service, but we’ll fit in somehow. i doubt i’ll have a computer connection there, tho’, so will likely finish this trip diary from home early next week. but i didn’t think i’d be connected here in pine river, so who knows about itasca.

this photo shows the storm-like clouds that were still rolling overhead during our supper. according to the forecast, tho’, we’ll stay dry tomorrow … if we get to itasca by late afternoon.

tomorrow or sunday we will walk across the headwaters of this mighty river that we’ve followed by bike for almost 5 weeks. i can hardly wait.