Day 2: Royalton, MN to Osakis, MN

Monday, July 3. Royalton, MN to Osakis, MN.

(I had to re-write this, as I lost my draft, so now I'm a day and 58 miles away from those memories already, so my writing is probably less colorful.)

I went to bed at a decent time, but I woke up to a drunken man talking sternly to his dog (I almost intervened), and then later to the sound of heavy rain drops that sounded like a wall of pouring rain as it approached. It only lasted maybe 15 minutes, but my bath towel and bike chamois I had left out to dry were certainly no longer dry!

In the morning, I was packed and ready to leave with most of the group.  Our wonderful camp hosts left us donuts and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, as well as hot coffee!  Hooray!

Leaving camp, we stopped for photos as we crossed the Mississippi River, which wasn't as wide as I expected it to be.  Though, we are fairly close to where it starts, I suppose.

Two miles down the road, we hung a left onto the shaded and cool Soo Trail, which features a few small towns along the way, a fun Boho Art/Coffee house, a random, oversized snowmobile statue made of wood, and a covered bridge.  It led us into the town of Albany where we connected to Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Trail®️.  It was 26 miles to Rest Stop 1 in Freeport, MN where there were super nice Sinclar gas station hosts that gave us coffee and I bought a double decker Oatmeal Cream Pie!

Carrying onward, it was 16 miles to

Rest Stop 2 in Sauk.  I bought a foam roller for the group (but really for me that I will leave with the group!) in Walmart and a Caribou Coffee iced mocha. Hallelujah for my first Caribou on this trip!!

It was hot in the sun, though windy, and uphill the entire rest of the way to Osakis.  I'm still in a lot pain - seems to be a pinched nerved in my back or neck causing pain in my upper back and shoulders, and numbness down to my fingers.  I spent most of the day stretching while riding. I don't understand how anyone could possibly be comfortable on a bicycle.

Once in Osakis, I was thankful to stay in Osakis High School, which the Principal very kindly opened up for us.  It was great to have a real, nice shower.  Many of us set up our tents to dry out in the sun.  Jeremy and I went to the 24-Hour Laundromat to get a quick load in, then headed for a truly delicious dinner at O-Town Tavern - complete with cheddar cheese curds!  The burgers were also fresh and so good!  We talked with the bartender about the trip and she was pretty amazed at what we are doing, as are most people when they learn about the distances we cover.  While wandering around, we went in to Barnyard Bowling and threw a pretty pitiful game!  It was lots of fun, though.  We were the only ones bowling while the locals ate dinner.  Surely, they're used to people bowling since its adjacent to the restaurant.  Next, we went for dipped twisty cones at the Tip Top Dairy Bar, which opened in 1955.  The sun was very much still up at 9pm, but I headed to bed as soon as possible.  I wanted to try to get caught up on some sleep!

Thank you for following along!

If you feel compelled to donate to Bike The US for MS, here's the link:

https://ride.biketheusforms.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=1436

Day 1: Dalbo, MN to Royalton, MN

Sunday, July 2. Dalbo, MN.

In the morning, Jeremy built my bike, which, thankfully, didn't take too long. The pedals, seat post with saddle, handlebars, wheels, and front brakes needed to be reattached. I could have done all except the front brakes, but I was really thankful to have his assistance while I was trying to get myself sorted out. I unpacked my duffel bag into one of the cubbies in the trailer and also threw a few items into the rest stop van. Back in my day... (when I last rode in 2014 and 2015 with BTUSFMS), the van and trailer (V&T) was at the rest stops and the lead van went on ahead, but now it's a reverse set-up, which seems to work great (except I'm constantly confused about which van to put my stuff in).

Before everyone departed camp, we took a group photo with the awesome host Donn. As usual (on prior trips), I was the last out of camp and broke my valve core while filling my rear tire. It seemed to be bent already, so maybe something happened during the flight. Jeremy happened to have a spare that I could use! Hooray!!  He rode with me all day, even though I got slower and slower, more tired, and had severe, full body pain most of the ride.  When I have pain, I need to remember that my pain is but a drop in the bucket to what those living with MS experience.

The total mileage was nearly 60 miles (though, my Garmin was somehow 6 miles short), with stops roughly around 20 (in the town of Millaca at a Kwik Stop that had a great bakery) and 40 (in Morrill where someone randomly donated $5 to us - jumped out of his truck at a stop sign!) miles-ish. The scenery was basically all farm lands with some very heavy manure scents mixed in. It was also very hot and sunny in the upper 80s, but not super humid.

I was really struggling by the time we got to camp at the Royalton Sportsman Club Park, which is situated along the Mississippi River.  It was only 2:30pm!  Plenty of time to set-up camp, shower, and relax.  I skipped tubing in the Mississippi River in order to get camp set-up and organize my stuff. I'm pretty tired from getting about 6 hours of sleep each night the last 2 nights, so I needed to chill a bit.  Jeremy and I waded into the Mississippi River, but decided it was too gross to swim in - algae that likely had a lot of farm run-off with it, if ya know what I mean.  I was happy for a shower, but I couldn't seem to adjust the propane-heated, garden hose tent shower correctly and ended up with an ice cold shower, which actually felt great.

Now, I'm writing to you while sitting on the shore of the Mississippi!  The very generous and welcoming camp hosts made us delicious steak and cheese with a kale pasta salad and potato salad, as well as yummy bakery treats.  We are under cover awaiting a storm to pass, but I'm super sleepy.  I'm surely going to fall asleep early tonight!

Thanks for following along!

If you'd like to make a donation to Bike the US for the MS, you can do so here:

https://ride.biketheusforms.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=1436