It was hard to get out of the comfy bed with multiple pillows this morning but somehow we managed to be down in the breakfast room at the ‘No-Name’ motel by 6:00am. Allen sleeps better in his sleeping bag, so he slept on top of the mattress and spread, in his sleeping bag and using his own pillow!!!!

Soon we ‘snuck’ out of Fargo, south of Moorhead, and entered MN on 52nd St. No welcome to MN sign or fanfare and from the border,  things looked a lot like ND!!!!

. . . however the county roads here seemed to have fabulous shoulders. Good shoulder, no wind, overcast sky and no traffic . . .it was going to be a good day to be biking in Minnesota (did I mention it is my home state?) !!!!

. . . and a round about!!!!  The last round about I remember seeing was in Coleville, WA!!!!

MN treat their pets right. A Grand Suite for a single dog . . . $28/night. I checked!!!

. . . and we are starting to see some color again instead of just the green, green and more green from corn and soybeans!!!

. . . however I do love riding by wheat fields. Must have something to to with liking to have things orderly and in a row. The wheat grows so uniformly it always looks like the field just had a ‘flat top’ haircut. Butchy!!!!

 

. . .ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  she is sleeping. Beautiful bird.

Oh there is some elevation change in MN. Nice thing about it, is when you get to the top there is usually a turn, some woods or a farm. NOT 12 more miles of straight road as far as the eye can see!!!! (Like in ND and MT)

Our first village out of Fargo/Moorhead was only 6 miles down the road, Sabian. Unfortunately, is was 7:00am on a Sunday morning and nothing was open!!! On to Downer, the next town 15 miles down the road . . .

Not sure what this is all about . . . got to look it up!!!

We rode over Interstate 94 for the last  time as we head to the east coast . . .

Next town down the road was Downer. The Bar and Grill and the C-Store, both in the same converted storage garage were both closed . . . what a downer!!!

. . . there was a sign right outside Downer that was funny. Godfather . . .exterminating . . . cement overshoes . . .

. . . but it ended up being for pests (not the two legged variety)!!!!

. . .some farmers may have not have enough to do once the crops are in the ground and the tilling is done. This farmer must own land on each side of the road, for at least a mile, and has placed old boots and shoes on EVERY fencepost . . .

. . .he must have had some left over because he add extras to phone and utility poles!!!

. . . this was the third Town Hall like this we have seen in the last hour. All VERY orderly and neat looking. The Minnesota way!!!!

We saw several of Dewey’s trucks on the road this morning and here was his headquarters. I didn’t notice the logo on his trucks, but he has it on his corporate sign!!!!

We came upon the first what I consider to look like a typical MN lake. Middle Cormorant Lake . . . only 9,999 more lakes to see down the road!!!!

Right outside of Cormorant was the Covenant Lutheran Church which was having it’s Sunday 10:00am service outside.Nice weather and nice setting!!!!

In Cormorant, at mile 41, Mark and I pulled into the C-store for some Powerade and David and Corvin pulled into the restaurant. You know you are in tourist country by the price of snacks. Since MT, the Powerade (made by Cola-Cola) has been on what seems like a nationwide special, 2 for $3.00. In Cormorant it was 1 for $2.69 !!!!!

. . . across the street was the Cormorant Bottle Shop . . . a typical scene what you might see in WI or just about any other state, except MN until just a a month or two ago. You can see the OPEN sign illuminated which until recently would not have been the case on a Sunday because no liquor was sold on Sundays. It REALLY use to mess up emJay and my visits to MN if we rolled in on a Sunday and need some ‘hooch’. Sometimes we would forget to bring it from WI !!!! One time,coming up from her mothers in DSM, we had to double back 10 miles to IA to buy some vino when we realized we didn’t have any and it was Sunday in MN. Welcome to the 21st Century MN !!!

Things were running smooth until be got on Hwy 9 for the last 20 miles to Pelican Rapids, our home for the night. Two detours that we ended up riding through. The first was through a lake community that was getting a new road and sidewalk. The sidewalk was already in, so Mark and I rode on it for 5 miles until the pavement appeared again . . .

. . . that worked until we were 5.5 miles from Pelican Rapids when the road disappeared. The gravel was hard packed and ready for new asphalt and if one stayed on the side, the riding was OK. AND there were thousands of Monarch type butterflies flying 360 degrees around you to look at. REALLY nice and much better than mosquitos. Only downside is there were many cars cutting through on the road too and the dust was stifling. No wind, so it hung in the air a LONGGGG time.

. . .in fact I started coughing up _____ as I passed this rural mailbox. Funny last name!!!!

. . . but after 59 miles we landed in Pelican Rapids, out home for the night. EVERYTHIG here is all about the Pelican . . .

We are staying in the Sherin City Park, set up on the right side of this reservoir. Nice setting . . .

. . . with our own ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ . . .

. . . nice (even though, as usual, in these settings the bathrooms and showers leave a little to be desired)

. . . what may be the LARGEST pelican in the world, located at the spillway of the lake . . .

. . . even the local FD got in the act . . .

. . . with a Dalmatian pelican.

I wrote today’s journal entry in a McDonalds and there were two old boys sitting across from me talking what old guys talk about.  I heard them both say they were both 87 years old. When one of them left, the other tried to strike up a conversation with me. At one point he asked me if I was doing my homework!!!!!  . . . when I looked up I saw he had glasses that looked like coke bottles. I am 64 you know!!!!

Tomorrow is a short 39 miles to my sister Snaren, and her husband Bobs’, home where we will be spending the day swimming, cavorting and lounging. A mini-rolling layover day of sorts. Yipeee!!!