Easy sleeping after our BIG chicken dinner last night in Bowlus . . .

       

. . . soon we were on Nature Rd which we would follow 35 of our 65 miles today.

   

We are not going to Itasca State Park, which of course if the source of the Mississippi, but it did run near Bowlus and the trail we were on this morning.. Jordie had said Morrison County does not put up signs on any of their rivers, streams or creeks . . . could this be it????

 

… or this one? Jordie had said there was a dam involved but who knew it was this large  . . .

. . . it had a major spillway and you were not going to step across it like you can at Itasca .  . .

. . . BIG

. . . and the river was big too. No little stream. Too far south . . .

. . . but Connie and I did cross it.

. . . funny pruning job along the way!!!!

VERY tidy farms here in MN . . .

. . . some with great murals!!!!

Soon a bunch of us pulled into the Ramey store, about half way to Dalbo, for liquid refreshment.

oh yeah . . .you are up nort’ here in MN . . .

Hey emJay, TNC doing the right thing here in MN too . . .

Tonight we are staying right outside of Dalbo, pop.80, at Don’s ACA Bunkhouse. He has been providing lodging to bikers on the Northern Tier since 2006 . . .

We are staying in a converted  . . . with AC !!!!

. . . including a special tent for our meals . . .

. . .this is the lower level of the barn . . . everything you need to RELAX . . .

. . . off the main room are four bedrooms with . . .

. . .  built in dual cots set up for sleeping. Just roll out your sleeping bag!!!!

. . . and this is the second floor that can accommodate MANY more bikers.

. . . a nice kitchen and the refrigerator was stock with soda and Gatorade . . . a few can goods too if you do not come with provisions. Mark and Corvin borrowed Don’s car to go shopping in Cambridge for our viddles!!!!

, , , everything you need, and well organized!!!!

. . . an outdoor shower and outhouse round out the amenities

Don stooped by to visit and brought watermelon. His hospitality all started in 2006, when during some road road construction I,on front of his house, two weary riders came through pushing their bikes though the sand and asked I they could pitch their tents in his yard . . . the rest is history!!!

Four of us decided to ride the additional half mile into Dalbo when we heard the Dusty Eagle had a $2.00/beer happy hour from 4-6pm  . . .

sort of non descript from the outside but A LOT going on inside . . .

. . .we sort of hid our bikes in a side alley so as not to sully the ACA reputation in case we got out of control . . . and it was close!!!

. . .after our first beer, we tied up with the  . . .

Thirsty Thursday ladies group who are there every Thursday!!!! WE could not buy a beer . . .very time we set one down,another appeared. What a GREAT tradition and a GREAT gang of friends. They were very interested in our trip and what we had experienced. The town is hosting a group of 70 Swedes in a few weeks who are visiting some of their relatives homesteads.

. . .

Rod even met one of his old classmates, he had not seen for 40 years!!!!

What a great time we had at the Dusty Eagle, LOTS of laughs . . .  but soon it was time to pedal back to Don’s for dinner and our map meeting . . .

Before we did leave though, Katie told us about breaking her arm while getting out of her blue jeans . . . as she said, ‘There was alcohol involved’!!!