Day 47 – July 29, 2015 – Fergus Falls MN to Alexandria MN – 51.38 miles
A miracle. A bike path. Yes, today we ventured into a new world, a world of no traffic and virtually smooth pavement, the Central Lakes Bike Path. It is a rails to trails project that was completed in 2005. It was amazing.
The day began with some chores, laundry and some necessities shopping, which took some time. Our daily routine, especially in North Dakota, was to walk up and check out the weather via internet or TV. Thunderstorm watch, tornado warnings, and today wind advisory with gusts up to 40 mph. These weather situation effect us on a daily basis. Sometimes we stop riding because of heat and storms, or we start later. Today actually the wind was in our favor. Yes, Gregg’s favorite thing a tailwind.
It took sometime to find the bike path but once we were on it it was extraordinary. We blazed along at +10 mph for the whole day. Since it was a converted rail line, every 10 miles there was a little town. We stopped for lunch, bathroom breaks, some beers, it was actually very civilized. Gregg remarked that this is what Daniel (my brother) and his family must experience on his annual family bike trips in Germany? Maybe? But Minnesota is not Germany by a long shot, but it is also galaxies away from our North Dakota and eastern Montana towns. Things are becoming civilized. The population density is increasing and we don’t feel so so far away from everything.
This makes the bike riding a lot more pleasant, surely less stressful. We don’t have to plan our water rationing as much as we had to do for the last 1500 miles, or our food intake. At least we don’t have to stop every 20 miles and have a power bar.
Each town is the same and a little different. All towns are surrounded by lakes in Minnesota. The lakes are beautiful but strange too, they have lily pads, and dead trees, which we don’t normally see in lakes. Since the wind was blowing we had only a few bug encounters.
We saw very few people taking advantage of this bike path, but that’s probably because of the winds. We did meet a young bike tourist, Jake from Minneapolis, that had began his tour in Portland OR. He was young and fit but had his legs bandaged up and was wearing sandals because his bike shoes hurt him too much. He said he had to slow down because of his shin splints and achilles tendon problems. He told us that he had only had 2 days off on his journey. He was another example of what Gregg says not to do, push and power through until you wear yourself down. Yes, younger people heal quicker but it could cause long term injuries, and/or just a really unpleasant ride.
Jake told us he had seen our picture because he had stayed in Gackle ND where he met a couple on a tandem bike from Colorado. That had been touring since March around all of the US, we met them along the road and he took a picture of us. Jake saw the picture and remembered us. What a small world.
So, after many little towns and only 50 miles when decided to stop in Alexandria MN. We picked it out on the map and said, “OK here we stop”. As we pulled off the bike path we headed into the town. I had read on the internet that they had a “farm to table” restaurant called Le Ferme. What? are you kidding me? We must stop! I looked for a hotel near the downtown area, but NO WAY! All the hotels were 2 miles away at the Interstate (will discuss that issue at later time). Nonetheless we stopped for dinner. It was great. I had crab cakes, Gregg a homemade soup, than I had Duck with turnips and Gregg the “pasture beef” Ribeye, and for dessert a molten chocolate cake with beer ice cream. Wow what a treat!!
We finally made it to our hotel near the Interstate far from our wonderful bike path. We must ride back 2 miles to get to the downtown are of this town to get back on our way. But it was a pleasant stop after a great day of smooth sailing.
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