Crayfish at Jay Cooke State Park

Duluth

Looking for something to do last Sunday, so we decided to take a day-trip to Duluth. Hung out on Canal Part for most of the day.


The port is what makes Duluth one of my favorite cities. This ship is called the Metsaborg. I did a search on it and found out it's from the Netherlands. The link tells about the ship and allows you to track it as it travels around the world. Upon posting the ship is loaded and back in the middle of Lake Superior. I think the kids and I will track it to see where it goes.

Climbing on the rocks is the kids favorite activity in Duluth.

Harris' camouflage at Grandmas

Bike Camping with Harris and Frogs.

Harris and I hung-out on an overnight bike camping trip on the Sakatah Trail. 30 mile round trip to Sakatah Lake State Park.

His 13" frame Trek 930 works well for him. I put a seat post clamp/rack mount ( see pictue below) and made rack stays out of stock aluminum. It took a while to figure out how to get a full size rack on such a small frame, but once I did, $15 and 1/2 hour labor set him up to carry his own gear.

The Trail head before our departure. My LHT and the boy in plaid against bricks.

Relaxing in camp having some Jiffy-Pop around the fire. Great night!

After dark we enjoy looking around lights for tree frogs taking advantage of insects drawn near. If you expand this picture our Gray tree frog has some legs sticking out of his mouth.

We saw this guy, I think a great plains toad, just as we were leaving camp.

It rained for several hours while we were sleeping. The rain stopped by the time we got up, but wore rain jackets because of dripping from the canopy of leaves above us. Harris and I value these times together.

Blue Ox, Blue Berries and Blue Highways.

(Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji, MN)

Left last Wednesday for a three-day & two night, solo, tour of Northern Minnesota. Fortuitous winds and dry weather were unexpected and appreciated during my 140 miles.

Starting from a friend's cabin near Park Rapid's, Minnesota, I rode 20 miles into Itasca State park. Itasca is famous for being the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

(My LHT at the park's East entrance)

(The marker at the start of the Mississippi you can read it if you click on the image)

On day two I rode for about 30 miles on the Paul Bunyan Trail. The rest of the trip's miles were pedaled on Minnesota's "blue highways." This term was coined by William Least Heat Moon in his autobiographical book Blue Highways. The term refers to small, forgotten, out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas).

(A stretch of blue highway with blue sky and blue water.)

Heat Moon's book tells of his travels and describes the people he meets during his 13,000 mile journey. I met one notable man. I was riding between Bemidji Lake State Park, where I spent my second night, and my starting point near Park Rapids. Tired, near noon, I was looking for a rare patch of shade to rest in. Finally seeing one spot at a crossroads, I stopped only to discover that a lawn of poison ivy had beaten me to the shade. Hence it was a standing break.

While enjoying my time off the bike, a beat up old pick-up truck stopped. A man in his early 70's approached me with a well used ice cream pail half full of freshly picked wild blueberries. He reached it out and said with a semi-toothed grin, "take a handful of these while you rest." I barely said thank you before he hopped in his truck and drove off. I gobbled most of my berries up before I thought to take a picture.

He wasn't the only person I met. Earlier in the day a woman and her daughter stopped by to visit me in camp. Every Harley Davidson rumbling by gave me a nod or a wave. What is it about bike touring that disarms and brings out the best in the people? Maybe they too have the romantic sense of the road that made Heat Moons' book so popular.

(The sweetest blueberries I ever had)

(Dinner in Itasca State Park)

(Bike at the start of the tour with front panniers on. I use them to carry extra food because of the relative isolation of where I was riding)

(Bike at the end of the tour with front panniers tucked into the rear bags.)

(Bike during a rest break on the Paul Bunyan Trail)

(The Paul Bunyan Trail)