Everyone slept VERY WELL last night as they scattered their pads and sleeping bags about the house. The only one to sleep outside was Allen, who is always more comfortable SLEEPING IN HIS OWN SLEEPING BAG, with his own pillow in his own tent.

Allison and I had kitchen duty today so we went shopping yesterday for breakfast and lunch goodies. No need for the French presses this morning because Karen has a 30 cup percolator. Wade is ALWAYS an early riser and was the first one down for the . . .

. . .  5:30am morning ACA tour ‘rush’. Easy to manage this morning with the ample counter space.  A nice change from trying to serve breakfast and lunch off a single picnic table . . .

. . . when I went to empty the percolator there was no coffee left!!!! I wonder why?????

. . . soon we all said goodbye, gave Karen and final hug and Bob a handshake and we were on the paved trail into Battle Lake . . . nice start to the morning!!!!

. . . we said goodbye to the ‘Big Chief’ who looks out over Battle Lake.  The name of the town and lake comes from the frequent Indian nation battles, between tribes, that occurred in the area . . .

. . . quiet in BL as we rolled through at 7:00am . . .

We are hoping as we roll further east we see more and more of these type of early morning, second breakfast, options . . .

. . . including ones like this . . .

. . . YIKES, who have it all!!!!

Saw this old bug on the way out of town, across from Larry’s Supermarket. Reminded me of the ‘bug’ I had in high school. many, many years ago  . . .

. . . I guess if you take the local ‘make up’ class . . .

. . . you can work wonders like this restoration!!!!

. . . nice scenery as we rolled west on Hwy 78. Plenty of time to look around because we had a headwind for the first twenty miles of the day and the last ten miles into Sauk Centre . . .

. . . too far off the road to get ‘inspired’ this morning . . .

. . and I had my own moment of ‘inspiration’ when as I passed the sign above the master link on my chain broke!!!!

. . . have never heard of that happening before, but I guess after 2,000+ miles on a 60 pound loaded bike, any thing can happen! A replaced link inserted and I was on the road again.

The middle 40 miles of todays ride was on the Lake Wobagon Regional Trail network, part of the MN ‘Rails to Trails’ program . . .

. . . nicely paved trails that were wide, paved and in good shape. WI could take a lesson here . . .

. . . and with trees lining the trail, they helped keep the headwinds to a minimum . . . nice!!!!

Corvin has become quite the ‘American junk food junkie” . . . he seems to live on Gatorade and chips. How many bags of chips can you see in this shot????

Soon we got West Union where I met Sue and her grandchildren Megan and Logan. We had a nice chat about touring and Sue was very interested in our adventure . . .

. . .I went in the store to get some Gatorade and met Florence, who at 93 years young, is still helping stock the shelves at the store she once owned. It’s still in the family and Florence still shows up everyday to help out. What an inspiration!!!!

. . back on the trail it looked like there had been a recent running race . . . Lover Boy and Hot mama . . . mmmmmmmmmmm

We pulled into Alexandria for a little break and found out about the Rhunestone. Evidently there is a theory that the Vikings discovered America early on and left an inscribed stone describing the whole journey. Evidently the theory hasn’t caught on nation wide, but the Chamber of Commerce is happy to provide you with a museum tour for $7.00!!!!!

After 72 miles, we finally reached Sauk Centre, our home for the night. Good Mike has a Bassett hound at home in Phoenix and quickly made friends with this pooch . . .

Sauk Center is the home of the US author, Sinclair Lewis. The town has a real ‘Main Street’ feel . . .

. . . with lots of GREAT murals

. . . oh yeah, you know you are back in the Midwest when you see meat raffles!!!!