Month: August 2017

Another Roadside Attraction

AR 14 400px Two weeks from today!

Wheel full 70pxGary Schmidt and I will see amazing things every day of our ride- most of them places that would seem ordinary, day-to-day if you were just passing through or driving by.  On a bike, though, moving along at 10 miles/16 kilometers an hour through the open air, everything takes on a whole new feel.  The little waterfront towns, the lines of bluffs, the cotton fields stretching off to the horizon, the great North Woods, the ancient trees draped with Spanish moss… those and so many many more, all threaded together by the silver and brown flow of an ever widening river.

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Spending the Night

Ilinois Master 400pxdays left.

Wheel full 70pxLast year during my 80+ days of riding down the Atlantic coast from Halifax, Nova Scotia and Key West, Florida, I spent close to $5,000 on lodging, averaging a little more than $60 per night.  My stays were pretty much divided between campgrounds and mom and pop/”budget” motels, but nowhere was cheap.  When a Motel 6 is, at $85 a night plus another $5-10 in tax, the least expensive thing going in an area where there are no campgrounds available, what can you do?  I paid these prices because I had been lulled into a false sense of security during my long rides in the 1990s- “Hiker-Biker” campsites in California State Parks were only six bucks and you could find clean older motels that were still around $25.  No more.

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Closer, closer…

  days left to go!

Wheel full 70pxWe’ve updated our itinerary, probably for the last time except for last minute adjustments.  Here’s what it looks like.

Friday, August 25 – Day 00 – Lake Itasca State Park, MN (0) – Camp
Saturday, August 26 – Day 01 – Lake Itasca State Park, MN to Cass Lake, MN (55.2) – Stony Point Resort (Camp)
Sunday, August 27 – Day 02 – Cass Lake, MN to Deer River, MN (106.4) – No nearby campground or Warmshowers host (Camp)
Monday, August 28 – Day 03 – Deer River, MN to Jacobsen Campground, MN (152.2) – Jacobsen Campground (Camp)
Tuesday, August 29 – Day 04 – Jacobsen Campground, MN to Aitkin, MN (200.3) – Aitken Campground (Camp)
Wednesday, August 30 – Day 05 – Aitkin, MN to Crow Wing State Park, MN (255.3) – Crow Wing SP Campground (Camp)
Thursday, August 31 – Day 06 – Crow Wing State Park, MN to Sauk Rapids, MN (317.3) – Residence

Friday, September 1 – Day 07 – REST DAY (Sauk Rapids, MN) – Residence Continue reading →

See, I Told You I’d Be Here Today

WI Master 400px days to go!

Wheel full 70pxMy itinerary has me leaving Anchorage the morning of the 24th, 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 25th 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.

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And the Countdown Begins…

Wheel full 70pxHey, I’m back, and only have

MN-20_400x400

days to go before b2b 2017 – the brook to bayou ride starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota on the 26th.  I have lots of things to share with you over the next couple of weeks before the trip starts, so I’ve plugged the blog back in again

Plugging In 800px

and should be posting pretty much every day from this point on.

Wheel full 70pxThanks for tuning back in.  I’m looking forward to getting on the road.

David