"Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin'
Rawhide"
And roll we did. 19 miles from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, 19 miles back. All along the swollen Cannon River we kept our doggies pumping the pedals of our bikes.
My brother Ted and I met at Cannon Falls at 7 a.m. and took off about 15 minutes later. We stopped in Welch for a potty break and then went on to Red Wing. A guy at Welch told Ted there was "nothing at the other end but a McDonalds!" Dork. There's a whole freakin' town at the other end, loaded with gastronomic possibilities!
Farther into town. Away from the trail.
Right on the edge of town, where the trail dumps out, there're a couple of shopping areas with some restaurants that were not open. We rolled up to a gas station that said it had a restaurant attached and found it locked.
As we sat there on the bench outside the gas station, chuckling at our stupidity (we had spent several minutes lining up our bikes and meticulously locking them together before checking the door), a pickup rolled up.
"Are they closed?" the fellow asked. He looked about Dad's age.
Ted walked up to the open window of his truck and told him they were closed.
"I'm hungry!" I shouted from the bench.
The guy said that sometimes Econo Foods has a pretty decent breakfast. He told Ted to stay put. He'd drive over there and look and come back to tell us.
A few minutes later he came back and said, "Well, how about Perkins?" By this time I'd checked my Magellan and saw there was one 1.2 miles up the road. Ted asked if it was that far. "Probably." was the answer.
"Throw your bikes in the back and I'll run you up there," he offered.
And so was my second hitchhiking experience of the trip.
I missed the guy's name. I made Ted sit in the middle in the guy's pickup cab (that was a humorous sight...260 lb, 6'1" Ted hunched in the middle of this mini-pickup cab and me by the window.)
The fellow, I'll call him Roy because Ted said he couldn't remember his name but it was an "old guy's name like Roy," was a semi-retired building inspector and part time project manager for commercial properties.
Nice fella. I was glad I sat next to the window. At the end of the ride he said, "Watch your arm, sweetheart," when he rolled up the window as we got out. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. But it would have creeped me out if he'd called me that and I was in the middle.
So we had an enormous breakfast around 8:30 or 9 and then hit the trail to come back. Believe me, it was a LOT harder on the way back. Poor Ted had a racing saddle on his bike, which is not terribly friendly to the bottom. And of course we were getting slightly tired. And there was a breeze against us on the way back, as well as a lot of bike traffic on the trail. Everyone was out to enjoy a nice ride on the 4th.
We got back to Cannon Falls around 12, which kind of astounded us. Could we really have taken 5 hours to cover 40 miles? So we were standing there saying to each other "Well we stopped here, we stopped there, we had breakfast." Finally I said "You know, we prolly actually covered it all in about 45 minutes if we take out all the stops."
And then we were pleased.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
The Weather Outside is DELIGHTFUL!
I snaked an arm out from under the covers this morning to grab my cell phone.
"Ok. Its July and I'm huddling in my bed not wanting to get out because its only 55 degrees and I left the windows open last night," I text(ed?) to Rena, Sarah, Tambri, and Chris.
Yup. July 3. 55 degrees. Bracing! I got up and put on my jeans, SOCKS (!) and my warmest t-shirt. Now at 4:45 p.m. it is a really nice 78 degrees out...warm enough for crops.
My morning expedition was to ride my bike to downtown Farmington. I strapped my Jazzercise mini-backpack to my handlebars and set out to gather provisions: 2 bottle of wine (a red Rioja from Spain and a Piesporter Riesling I hadn't tried yet), a movie (The Great Debate with Denzel Washington), a bag of Foglifter coffee by Millstone and a loaf of crusty bread from the Farmington Bakery. I was pretty amazed that I could fit the two bottles and the bag of coffee in my little backpack.
Mom went strawberry picking this morning. She left at 6:00 when I was still dead to the world. So for lunch I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a handful of berries. I finished reading my book, "The Titan," by Fred Mustard Stewart. GREAT BOOK! It kept me riveted...very hard to put down.
This afternoon we sought out National Camera Exchange and I bought a small folding reflector and 3 lens caps. I've lost 2 caps so I replaced those and bought another to have as a spare. And of course the obligatory Target stop. I bought some shirts for Nate that were on sale.
While Dad's in the hospital Mom has been carrying his wallet around in her purse. When we sat down for coffee, she said, "Hmm...this is like going to the bank." And she pulled out his wallet, took $20 out, and put it into hers. "I just made a transfer," she said.
Now tonight we'll have steak. I'm in charge of cooking that when Mom's at her piano lesson. Tomorrow I think Ted and I will ride the Cannon River trail. We'll see. The day will end at Julia's with a bonfire.
"Ok. Its July and I'm huddling in my bed not wanting to get out because its only 55 degrees and I left the windows open last night," I text(ed?) to Rena, Sarah, Tambri, and Chris.
Yup. July 3. 55 degrees. Bracing! I got up and put on my jeans, SOCKS (!) and my warmest t-shirt. Now at 4:45 p.m. it is a really nice 78 degrees out...warm enough for crops.
My morning expedition was to ride my bike to downtown Farmington. I strapped my Jazzercise mini-backpack to my handlebars and set out to gather provisions: 2 bottle of wine (a red Rioja from Spain and a Piesporter Riesling I hadn't tried yet), a movie (The Great Debate with Denzel Washington), a bag of Foglifter coffee by Millstone and a loaf of crusty bread from the Farmington Bakery. I was pretty amazed that I could fit the two bottles and the bag of coffee in my little backpack.
Mom went strawberry picking this morning. She left at 6:00 when I was still dead to the world. So for lunch I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a handful of berries. I finished reading my book, "The Titan," by Fred Mustard Stewart. GREAT BOOK! It kept me riveted...very hard to put down.
This afternoon we sought out National Camera Exchange and I bought a small folding reflector and 3 lens caps. I've lost 2 caps so I replaced those and bought another to have as a spare. And of course the obligatory Target stop. I bought some shirts for Nate that were on sale.
While Dad's in the hospital Mom has been carrying his wallet around in her purse. When we sat down for coffee, she said, "Hmm...this is like going to the bank." And she pulled out his wallet, took $20 out, and put it into hers. "I just made a transfer," she said.
Now tonight we'll have steak. I'm in charge of cooking that when Mom's at her piano lesson. Tomorrow I think Ted and I will ride the Cannon River trail. We'll see. The day will end at Julia's with a bonfire.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Running Around
We have been very pleased with what a great traveler Bear is turning out to be. The first day in the car he was a little unsettled, but not a lot. He didn't cry or anything. He just looked a little "on edge." Never really relaxed much that day. But by the second day he was all about enjoying the ride. He stretched out on his seat and dropped off to sleep, not really even moving around much. He did a good job in the hotel, not barking even once if people walked down the hall.
He's also had good house guest behavior with just one accident at Chris' and one at Mom's. Both poop incidents. I don't understand why they do that, but dogs seem to need to do something in a house the first day they are there. Every dog that has visited our house has done that too.
Each morning I get up and walk him around Farmington before breakfast. He also loves Mom's fenced-in back yard, running around and exploring the gardens. At Julia's he seems a little lost out there. Julia said they would let him out and he didn't come back. They would go looking for him and find him hunched over under a tree. I think he found some mulch pile in her back yard and rolled in it, though. He really smelled like gardening manure last night when I picked him and brought him back to Mom's. So he had a 10 p.m. bath.
Sunday was a little more exciting than I would care for. Dad ended up in the emergency room at the Northfield hospital and ultimately had surgery to remove portions of his bowel, which had perforated. He will be in the hospital until at least Friday, maybe even as late as Sunday.
Yesterday brother Ted, sister Julia and I took the kids on a bike ride down the Minnehaha Parkway. We rode from Lake Nokomis to Fort Snelling State Park. It was fun to ride the old neighborhood. Everything is in full bloom and Minneapolis has done a wonderful job updating the Minnehaha Falls area. Ted and I are thinking of another ride on Friday morning.
After the ride we went to the Malt Shop for an excellent lunch and then I spent the afternoon and evening at John and Julie's house. They moved into their new parsonage a couple of weeks ago so I helped with some unpacking during the afternoon. I was in charge of the workshop room in the basement, which I brushed out with a stiff whisk broom and then organized with all Julie's tools and such. It was a satisfying project. After cleaning up, we walked back to the 50th and Lyndale area and at the Blackbird Cafe, which is next door to the Malt Shop. I had a wonderful spring pea ravioli dish.
This morning I'm just hanging around and this afternoon Lis and I plan to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the Frielander: Photography exhibit.
He's also had good house guest behavior with just one accident at Chris' and one at Mom's. Both poop incidents. I don't understand why they do that, but dogs seem to need to do something in a house the first day they are there. Every dog that has visited our house has done that too.
Each morning I get up and walk him around Farmington before breakfast. He also loves Mom's fenced-in back yard, running around and exploring the gardens. At Julia's he seems a little lost out there. Julia said they would let him out and he didn't come back. They would go looking for him and find him hunched over under a tree. I think he found some mulch pile in her back yard and rolled in it, though. He really smelled like gardening manure last night when I picked him and brought him back to Mom's. So he had a 10 p.m. bath.
Sunday was a little more exciting than I would care for. Dad ended up in the emergency room at the Northfield hospital and ultimately had surgery to remove portions of his bowel, which had perforated. He will be in the hospital until at least Friday, maybe even as late as Sunday.
Yesterday brother Ted, sister Julia and I took the kids on a bike ride down the Minnehaha Parkway. We rode from Lake Nokomis to Fort Snelling State Park. It was fun to ride the old neighborhood. Everything is in full bloom and Minneapolis has done a wonderful job updating the Minnehaha Falls area. Ted and I are thinking of another ride on Friday morning.
After the ride we went to the Malt Shop for an excellent lunch and then I spent the afternoon and evening at John and Julie's house. They moved into their new parsonage a couple of weeks ago so I helped with some unpacking during the afternoon. I was in charge of the workshop room in the basement, which I brushed out with a stiff whisk broom and then organized with all Julie's tools and such. It was a satisfying project. After cleaning up, we walked back to the 50th and Lyndale area and at the Blackbird Cafe, which is next door to the Malt Shop. I had a wonderful spring pea ravioli dish.
This morning I'm just hanging around and this afternoon Lis and I plan to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the Frielander: Photography exhibit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)