days to go!

My itinerary has me leaving Anchorage the morning of the 24^th, arriving in Minneapolis late that evening and meeting up with a long-time family friend.  We will overnight near St. Cloud at one of her children’s residence, then leave on the 25^th and drive the 150 miles/240 kilometers to Bemidji, Minnesota, the closest town of any size to Lake Itasca.  There, I will go to the Northern Cycle bicycle shop [link], where the good folks there will have assembled and checked out my beloved Surly Disc Trucker.

I am having the Trek Bicycle Store in Anchorage [link] tear the bike down and box it for shipping to Bemidji.  BikeFlights [link] will handle the shipping for around $200, which is not unreasonable when you figure most airlines are charging $150 these days to accept and carry as baggage a bike in a box with no liability obligation.

From Bemidji with the bike crammed in the SUV we will backtrack back to the south a bit the 30 miles/50 kilometers to Lake Itasca State Park campground where I will meet up with my partner for the ride, Gary Schmidt, who will be coming to join me from his home in Maryland.  After camping overnight, we’ll get up bright and early on the morning of the 26^th and head over to the source of the Mississippi,

which is marked by the star on the map.  From there, it’s all downhill…

…almost…

for the next 2,250 miles/3,600 kilometers to the Mississippi delta on the Gulf of Mexico.

See you tomorrow.

David