Hello folks...
Hope you're all doing well. This is the first installment of thoughts from the road on a two-wheeler. For those of you that hadn't heard, my broken finger only delayed the expected departure date by 4 days, meaning we've been on the road since the equinox, about 8 days now and have covered approximately 650km. We're aiming for 60km/day but we already broke 100km on day four (with a strong tail wind...but still...!!).
We've also already had a couple bike mishaps. The derailer hanger (little peice of metal holding the derailer) on my bike all of a sudden decided to bend like rubber and the derailer got caught in my spokes...just as we were in the middle of nowhere. We tried to fix it, but didn't have the right tools...luckily a truck with 3 nice ladies drove by and gave us a lift to Bemidji where they bent it back, good enough for now...until we get to Minni (appolis, that is). Fortunately it meant we got to meet Greg, this avid cyclist who took us out for beer and bought us about 5 pounds of trail mix, whoa. So far these Minnesotans have been nothing but sooo kind and generous. We stayed in this lovely little suite in Wannaska, MN with 2 double beds, a tv and our own bathroom...what luxury. We camped in the backyard of this couple in Walker that brought us out a full dinner on a tray and tonight we just got offerd to sleep upstairs in this huge log home.
It's starting to get cold so we mostly spend our evenings hanging out in cafes, writing in journals, drawing pictures, playing cards, and generally escaping the wind until it gets dark and we set up our tent and try to sleep. I've been having lots of really vivid dreams about many of you. My goodness, lots of new structures at the land in my dreams...you guys are working hard.
So far the riding has been great too. One rough day with lots of hills and a strong head wind, but so far my body feels good and I have no butt sores yet. For 2 days now we've been on the Paul Bunyon trail, a 10foot wide paved trail from Walker to Brainerd with a nice hilly section...like a roller coaster. We're about 20miles from Brainerd, where we have a connection and plan to take a day off the bikes to do some much-needed laundry. Then it's off to Minni!
Take care for now.
Love Sheri
