Monday, May 31, 2010

Cambridge,MN to Milaca, MN - day 15







Mileage for today is 43 miles - beautiful sunny weather temps in mid 70's no wind

Today's ride was one taken right out of a story book! The weather was absolutely perfect and the roads were in excellent condition, few hills and great scenery with a fare amount of wildlife. We saw turkeys, deer, woodchuck, cranes, and a fox.

Being Memorial Day we started out early with hopes of being off the road before the holiday traffic picked up. It worked out well and we were off the road by 10:30AM. I had hoped we would come across a memorial service somewhere and sure enough, at 8:00AM we came across a rural cemetary near Dalbo Minn just before it started. We pulled in and took in the entire service. The service was exceptionally meaningful to me as the first song sung was America The Beautiful. I don't mind saying in lite of the scenery we have seen the last two weeks, the words brought tears to my eyes. This was followed by a guest speaker, the song I'm Proud To Be An American, and God Bless America. A sincere thank you to all who have served our country and helped to preserve our freedom.

After leaving the Memorial Day service we came across a tractor for sale sitting along side the road. It turned out to be a International Farmall H just like the tractor Mom and Dad Johnson owned when John was young. We stopped and took a picture of us on the tractor. John said that I said "Kathi thinks my tractors sexy"! Yes I do!

When we arrived at our hotel it was only 10:30 but we were able to check into the Super 8. Deb & Dennis went in and showered in our room. After they were done John showered and then I did. Once we were all cleaned up we walked down to Dairy Queen and sat outside and waited for Deb & Dennis's daughter, Amy and her husband Luke, to come and pick them up and take them back home. It was a tearful goodbye and then John and I went and rode around the town and went and spent some time at two of the four parks that are in this town. We had picked up a picnic lunch and sat on a picnic table down at the park and enjoyed time with each other.

We had such a wonderful time the last three days biking with Deb & Dennis and enjoying each others company in the evening! John and I are so fortunate to have such a wonderful family and friends!

When we arrived at the hotel we had 35 miles on for the day and we realized that we needed 8 more miles to make a total of 800 miles in 15 days. So we rode around Milaca and then finished off the last two miles by doing 10 laps around a liquor store parking lot as the traffic was getting to busy on the roads here. If that liquor store is robbed tonight we are in trouble. lol

We are spending the rest of the day relaxing in our room in anticipation of another day of biking tomorrow.

We have been truly blessed!

Total miles biked in 15 days - 800 miles- WOW, WOW, WOW

Happy Trails!

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on 800 miles. This is the distance from Ashland, Wi to Columbus, Ohio!!!!

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  2. Kathi & John,
    Such dear friends! We thank you for letting us enjoy a small part of your adventure and will be thinking of you often out there on the road. Stay safe and watch out for those chicken-beavers they are a nasty breed!
    Miss ya already--Deb & Dennis

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  3. Wow, I have finally gotten all the way through your blog. It was so interesting and now I promise to check it every day. You guys are really enjoying the good life. We are so happy for you. I love hearing all about your adventures. The picture of the 2 of you on the tractor though...that scared me...thought you were thinking of takingup farming!!!!!LOL.

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  4. I'm guessing Milaca is named after Mille Lacs Lake which is just a few miles north of Milaca and I am guessing you will be biking by there tomorrow as you continue your journey west. I remember delivering windows on the west side of Mille Lacs Lake one very snowy night back in 1985. You might ask besides the weather, what it was that makes me remember that night . Well the builder took me on a tour of the house. The house was very nice but the part that is burned in my brain forever is the master bathroom. Next to the toilet was something that looked like a glorified birdbath. I asked the builder what that was and he said it was a sitz bath and explained to me what it was for. So as you ride by those expensive homes tomorrow you can take note that this is where Ron discovered Sitz baths and if you were riding regular touring bikes, how much one of those would come in handy about now. Take care.....Ron

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