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Day 7; Walker to Bemidji

Today dawned cool and windy (again), but it was clear as a bell and a beautiful day for a relatively short ride.!

The Paul Bunyan trail, being further up into the ‘north country’, has many more coniferous trees than our earlier trails, but we’ve also noticed quite a few paper birches as well…

A nice clump of paper birch — Interesting how the white birch bark reflects the green foliage in the shade.

A little further down the trail, I was struck by the contrast between the next two scenes…

…and newly planted corn. (They’ve had so much rain this spring that farmers have had trouble getting into the fields to plant their corn.)

We startled a couple of white-tailed deer a little while later…

What’s a visit to Bemidji without a photo op with the original Paul Bunyan and Babe statues. It’s hard to believe, but the visitor center claims that Eastman Kodak lists this handsome pair as the second most photographed sculptures in America, behind Mount Rushmore. (They were built in 1937, with the assistance of several Civilian Conservation Corps units.)

After a quick tour of downtown, we rode up the shore of Lake Bemidji to Diamond Point park. This was taken from the point itself.

Diamond Point park is very near Bemidji State University, and they have some great public art along the edge of the lake and around downtown. We loved this piece with all the wildlife!

Tonight we’re staying with another wonderful Warmshowers host; Kent and Becky Hering. They have an attractive home just south of town, and Kent shared his elaborate HO scale train set with us (including three complete sets of locomotives and cars). We’ve just finished a wonderful evening of pizza and great conversation, and now I have to do my back exercises before bed. The back is getting better every day, but I know I need to keep at it if I’m going to be able to drive the two long days back to Ridgway all by myself.

Today’s stats. (The shortest day by far)

Tomorrow’s ride back to Walker will be short too, obviously, so we’ll be able to get a leisurely start.

Then just one more day until we’re done (riding anyway)!

Day 6; first leg of the Paul Bunyan trail

Today was a lovely day, in many ways. We were on a new trail, starting in Pequot Lakes and ending the day in Walker. We’re farther north now, so it’s a little cooler, and the trail was lined with many more coniferous trees. We also only rode a little more than 40 miles, and there was minimal wind. That all added up to a splendid day.

You might start to think the theme of this trip is the goofy concrete/wood/metal sculpture, and today’s photos certainly add to that thought. Mal couldn’t help herself, taking selfies at every little town we stopped at. This is only a small selection that I managed to grab…

…with the funniest looking cob of corn I’ve ever seen

This is a “Lucette”, (Paul’s girlfriend?). Apparently that’s her dowry under her skirt. 😂

We had an nice ale and some pie & ice cream for lunch too.

Can’t let a day go by without the requisite trail-side scenics…

I don’t know, are these trail scenes getting old? 😉

Walker, our destination today, is on Leech Lake. Luckily, no leeches were seen.

And finally, a walleye fish ‘n’ chips dinner!

Tomorrow we’re off to Bemidji, the alleged birthplace of Paul Bunyan. It will be another relatively short day, and we’ll stay with the last of our three Warmshowers hosts there. Hopefully we’ll have some time to explore the town a bit before we meet our hosts.

Talk at you again tomorrow!

Day 5; Alexandria to Albany

Yesterday was the last leg of the first half of our Minnesota adventure. we were a little worried starting out, that would be riding into a strong headwind again, but it turned out that most of the day the wind was coming at us from the side (and occasionally it was even a tailwind).

Last night’s stay was with another Warmshowers host, Jonathan Cooper in Pequot Lakes, but he had no internet, so I’m writing this in a coffee shop downtown before we start riding for the day.

I didn’t take many photos yesterday, but did manage to capture a few idyllic scenes…

The trail was often striking in how it stretched out as far as the eye could see, sometimes even with a tunnel effect like this

Couldn’t resist this example of mother nature’s inexorable battle to erase our civilizing efforts!

Yesterday’s stats, totalling almost 200 miles for the 4 days we were on the Lake Wobegon and Central Lakes trails.

Today we start another 2-days-out-and-2-days-back trip on the Paul Bunyan trail. Talk to you tonight or tomorrow!