Northern Tier Day #31 Royalton, MN to Pine River, MN

Northern Tier Day #31

June 20, 2019

Royalton, MN to Pine River, MN 89 Miles

Ride Time 6:09

Tour Total 2483 Miles

details at: https://cyclemeter.com/058ffe3224dd3702/Cycle-20190620-0829-07245

I slept well last night in Sam’s daughter Ella’s room. I woke up right before my 7am alarm. My sweater was dry and smelled great. My gloves smelled great. The second half of the tour was off to a fresh start. We didn’t overdo it last night, which was a good thing. My teeth got a good flossing last night. Unfortunately it had been a while. Cleanliness level #1 is my goal.

I enjoyed a nice coffee and morning conversation with Sam, and then he drove me back to Scotty’s Log Bar in Royalton. It was sad to say goodbye. He had a busy day scheduled in court. After Sam dropped me off I reassembled my bike within minutes. I left a little Erie Canal Towpath dust in the back of Sam’s car for good measure.

I had put an official Rusty Crank sticker at the intersection of US Highway 10 and East Centre Street, in front of Scottie’s Log Bar, to mark the match point. I started exactly where I stopped yesterday. No gaps. It’s all good.

The weather forecast called for rain starting around 3pm. I wanted to crank out as many miles beforehand as possible. The goal was to make it to Bemidji by tomorrow night. The sky was partly cloudy with some sun. The clouds were flat with some gray on the horizon. The wind was from the east. I made good time heading west out of Royalton.

The air was cool. I was wearing my clean cycling shorts, my clean short sleeve jersey, and my clean Bouré sweater. Two miles west of Royalton I crossed back over the Mississippi, which was small and diminished compared to what I had traversed in Muscatine. For the next two days I would again be following the Mississippi River.

At Bowlus I took a right on the Solo Line Trail. I had the option to take the ACA alternate route to Fargo, which would have been much shorter with less impressive scenery. I am choosing to take the longest Northern Tier route possible. I paid a lot for these maps and want my best value.

There was a strong crosswind on the trail but I was protected from the trees. It was a rail trail at railroad grade. It was perfectly flat and pleasant. I was out in the middle of nowhere, and the trail was incredibly enjoyable. I passed a jogger and several cyclists.

The trail was short and sweet. Right before the river I took a left on Great River Road and was back following signs for the Mississippi River Trail. The river was on my right, like just a few days ago. I was once again headed north, toward the Mississippi headwaters. The sun disappeared. The air was cool, and I had a pretty strong crosswind from the east. I had a wide 7 foot shoulder, with continuous rumble strips directly underneath the white line. There wasn’t much traffic.

The Mississippi River was no longer in a valley, and there were no more steep climbs or bluffs. It’s relatively flat here, with a few rolling hills here and there.

In yesterday’s report I neglected to mention Sam’s maple syrup Brussel sprouts. O.M.G.! I’ll need to get that recipe. Also, I’ll admit that I was bad last night. I ate an entire bag of chocolate covered cashews, AKA crack cocaine. So good, but oh so bad.

Astute readers are drawing parallels between Scarlett getting us thrown out of Liquor Lyle’s the other night in Minneapolis and Eileen getting Scott and I banned the Antler Saloon last summer in Wisdom, Montana. I was more attune to the conflict last summer in Wisdom than I was the other night in Minneapolis. Scarlett and Sam were both wearing Twins jerseys, and the Twins had just lost a game. Scarlett exhibited some sort of gesture with her hat. Sam later remarked that the people who run Liquor Lyle’s are real jerks. I really didn’t understand what happened. Those keeping score realize that I’ve now been banned from my first bar on the tour. I was banned from two places last summer, so I’m about where I should be.

I passed a coyote! It was running alongside the road and I managed to catch up to it. At first I thought it was a house cat, as I see lots of them. But this animal was bigger and it’s gate was different. It definitely wasn’t a dog or a raccoon. It was too big to be a fox.

My proposed itinerary had me in Walker today, and I’m about a half day behind. It’s the 31st day of the tour, and I had estimated 60 days to complete it. Im planning to book my return plane tickets next week from North Dakota.

I rode by the house where Charles Lindbergh grew up. There was an official plaque and State Park named after him. I stopped at the museum, but it was closed. Coming into Little Falls, they were widening the road and there was construction. There were hundreds of traffic cones and barrels, and a Road Closed Ahead sign.

I stopped at the Speedway and got myself a breakfast burrito, a Starbucks Frappuccino, and an orange juice. I sat out front on a stack of bottled water. They had mulch for sale, three bags for $10. I found it odd for a gas station to be selling large quantities of mulch. Across the street was the beautiful Our Lady of Lourdes Church. There was a massive construction project on Highway 27 and I wasn’t sure how to get across.

I went several blocks off route to cut around the construction. I circled back to the river and had to wait for a freight train to pass. There had been a large fire on Broadway and the building remains were being demolished. It was a total clusterfuck. To cross the river, motorists had to travel miles out of their way. I felt fortunate to have figured it all out.

The breakfast burrito wasn’t the best, and just kind of sat there in the bottom of my stomach. At 10:30am there was a 60% chance of rain later in the afternoon at 4pm. I needed to be at my destination by then.

Instead of corner posts the farm lots here have piles of rocks enclosed in steel netting. The rock piles serve as anchors for the barbed wire fencing. There were two massive water towers at Camp Riley Minnesota National Guard Base. I could see the red checkered water towers miles before I reached them. I took a right and crossed over to the east side of the Mississippi.

There were numerous bars located just across the road from the front gate of the base. The massive stone wall that circled the grounds was impressive. I had a pretty strong headwind as I was cutting east.

Before the bridge there were warning signs for cyclists about the railroad tracks. It was the strangest thing I’d ever seen. The railroad tracks joined motorized traffic in the center of the road over the bridge. The tracks were parallel with traffic, slightly meandering left and right. This is a cyclist’s worst nightmare. It was difficult for me to get the obtuse angle that I needed to cross the tracks without getting caught inside of them. I had several of these precarious crossings. Thanks for the warning Minnesota DOT!

Riding around Fort Riley, I’ve never seen so many bars in my life. My favorite billboard was for the Boomerang Bar, home of the Ax Handle. Minnesotans appear to drink a lot! I had Haven Road all to myself, but immediately to the right was 4-lane Highway 371, which unfortunately I knew I‘d eventually be riding on.

Highway 371 was essentially an interstate. There were 2 pairs of 2-lane traffic separated by a wide grass median. The shoulder was wide, but the speed limit was 65 miles an hour. According to my map I would be on this horror show for 6 miles. At least the pavement was smooth and the shoulder was wide. I was once again following MRT signs. I passed acres of pine trees, and I noticed a dirt running path along the tree line.

I was able to pedal 16 miles an hour with the crosswind. My body temperature was fairly warm. I saw a few chipmunks. Firewood in Minnesota is three dollars a bundle. I have no idea why the MRT didn’t follow Haven Road. It was so much better than Highway 371. The crosswinds picked up, and I was just barely warm enough. I was riding 12 miles an hour. I went north a few more miles and then cut over to the Paul Bunyan State Trail.

I stopped at the Brainerd Lakes Area / Crow Wing State Park Welcome Center, where I bought post cards. Afterwards I had myself photographed on Paul Bunyan‘s lap.

The Paul Bunyan State Bike Trail was amazing asphalt pavement weaving through fields and forest. I shared it with other cyclists. The bike path was so much fun! It was twisty-turny up’s and downs alongside the narrow Mississippi. The rain forecast had been moved back until 5pm. It was definitely going to rain this evening, but I had options.

I was getting chilly so I pulled over and put on my long-sleeve jersey underneath my sweater. Immediately I found numerous mosquitoes stuck to my legs. The Mosquito is the Minnesota state bird. In addition I found two ticks climbing up my leg. It’s better to just keep moving. I could make 17 miles an hour, and it was thrilling!

I met a touring cyclist named David who was fully loaded on a Surly. We stopped to talk and I learned he was doing a training ride. He tried to do a cross country tour last summer and had a bad experience in South Dakota using Google Maps that took him on a really bad route. He still hasn’t recovered. I encouraged him to use Adventure Cycling maps and to do it again.

The trail left the woods and continued alongside roads and highways. It was better than having to share with motorized traffic. I passed a goat standing on top of a picnic table. I stopped to take a photo, and then it’s kid wanted attention. There was a small trailside free book exchange library next to the fence. I’ve seen a lot of these here in Minnesota.

I rode by a Walmart Super Center in Baxter. Michael Riscica’s Northern Tier blog mentioned frequent stops at Walmart. I’m hoping to never set foot in one.

A talking traffic sign told me to wait to cross Highway 371. The sun came out and I started to get warm again. I eventually put my sweater in my handlebar bag.

There was road construction and a Road Closed to Through Traffic sign in Baxter, which included the trail. I had to follow the detour. Baxter greeted me with unpleasant office park sprawl, and fortunately the cyclist detour signage was thorough.

Coming out of Brainerd the Paul Bunyan Bike Trail had a tunnel under one highway and a bridge over another. The trail did a fantastic job weaving through the sprawl. This was one of the nicest bike trails I’ve ever been on. You get high marks Minnesota!

I stopped at Casey’s for two slices of pepperoni pizza and a Gatorade. There was an asphalt trail spur right into the parking lot, but a redneck in a pick-up truck was blocking it. An older couple passed me going the other way on tricycle recumbents.

The rain forecast for the afternoon had disappeared. I had options for the night. My goal for tomorrow was still Bemidji. There was a bright light far ahead on the trail, that didn’t make any sense. The trail was so straight that I could see for a mile in the distance. I passed a lean-to and some picnic tables. There were benches every now and again. The bright light ended up being a tractor that was mowing the grass alongside the trail.

Between Brainerd and Nisswa the tree-lined bicycle trail was an old railroad grade. The asphalt was perfectly smooth with no tree root cracks. I shared it with day cyclists. I passed three touring cyclists. One of them was pulling a bob trailer, and the other two were fully loaded with panniers. I asked how far they were going and they replied to the end of the trail and back. They were breaking the trail down to two days each way.

At Merrifield I passed North Long Lake on the left. There were dozens of cyclists on the trail. I rode by Lake Hubert. These lakes appear small on the map but are huge in real life. In Nisswa I stopped at the Big Ax Brewery, and enjoyed several of their yummy amber ales. I called the campground in Nisswa and they wanted $45 for the night. I called the motel and they wanted $140. I decided to pedal further down the road to the free primitive campsite.

I prepared numerous postcards for the mid-tour rollout. Everyone who came to the launch party will get a card, I promise. I rode over to the post office and it was closed. There was no mailbox out front. WTF. Nisswa was nice but a little too touristy. I flipped over my map panels and realized I would have the Paul Bunyan trail for another 40 miles. Amazing!

In Pequot Lake I found post office with mailbox out front. I was starving so I went to Lucky’s Tavern, which was packed. I had several Jack Pine Fencelines, which are brewed in Baxter. For dinner I had a pulled-pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. The people next to me at the bar were tossing ticket stubs into a hopper. A woman came up to me and asked if I wanted to join the meat raffle. There was a table up front filled with meat. This was a big deal and everyone was captivated. I explained that there was no way that I could transport all that meat on my bike.

I heard from Sam, and it was raining in St. Cloud. I’m thinking that the rain patterns here might pull to the south. I might be OK Saturday and be spared from the huge storm and inch and a half of rain.

Before I reached the campsite, I stopped at a Speedway to get chips and beer. I was told that I needed to go further down the road to a liquor store for the beer. It all worked out. Tonight’s journal deadline will be met. The bridge over the Pine River was a boardwalk. The booming clap clap clap was the noisiest crossing of the tour.

I located the ghetto mosquito infested primitive campsite. I was a little confused, because I couldn’t find an actual site. There was a small sign on the bike trail, and then a thin path off into the fields and woods. I followed it for too long and was getting stung by hundreds of mosquitoes. I was prepared for this moment. I pulled out my can of Deep Woods OFF and heavily sprayed myself. I checked my map app. The ‘campsite’ was 100 feet from the bike trail. There had been nothing. I returned to100 feet from the bike trail and pitched my tent in the middle of the path. I could hear busy Highway 371, and found dozens of ticks climbing up my legs.

Inside my tent I found a large 6” gap in the bug netting seam. I was too tired to repair it so I sprayed it with OFF. This tent was nearly $500, and was a replacement for the one that broke last year in Oregon. I’ve probably used this one twenty times. I hope that the mosquitoes and ticks don’t get me tonight.

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