Day 31 - Tues, June 24, Milaca to Taylors Falls, MN

DAY 31 - TUESDAY, JUNE 24, MILACA TO TAYLORS FALLS, MN

68 mi
4.28.41 st
15.1 avg
TTD-1861.82 mi

We didn’t wake up until 6:45, which is late for us. It was cloud-covered when we first got up, but was clear by the time we left.

It was pretty good riding down hwy 169 to Princeton. We crossed the Rum River several times as it meandered back and forth. (By the time we got to Taylors Falls, we’d crossed it about eight times.)

We've seen so many homes with HUGE lawns- dozens and dozens of them. And they’re all beautifully kept. I started wondering about why someone would have such large lawns…
a)They own stock in John Deere. (The only mower we've seen here)
b)They need something for their kids to do during the summer.
c)Mosquito and bug control (very plausible).
d)They don’t fish, hunt, or own a boat.

At Princeton we turned east on 95. This highway was quite nice all the way to Cambridge. Gerry asked me if I wanted to stop at Walgreen for some lotion. I had more of a sense to stop at a Walmart if we saw one. A few blocks later, there it was.

As we were getting off the bike and setting it against the wall, a lady stopped and asked us how far we had come. “Do you mean today or overall?” I asked. “Both”. So I told her and we started talking a bit. She asked how the weather has been and how the ride has been going. Gerry mentioned that God has been good to protect us all the way and she responded, “Yes, He does that.” As we talked some more, she pulled out some money and said she wanted to support what we’re doing. As before, we responded that wasn’t necessary, but she really wanted to. She said she’s going to Montana later this week for a Bible camp at Hungry Horse. Before she left to go into the store she asked if she could pray for us. It was awesome as she asked the Lord to bless our endeavor, to watch over us and to take us to where He wants us at His appointed time. It was such a blessing and encouragement!

As we headed out after shopping, the road became rough and the nice shoulder disappeared down to about 2-3’ with a rumble strip in the middle of it and it is HOT and humid today.

We stopped in North Branch for lunch in the city park. After about a half hour break, we braced ourselves and headed into the sun again. Did I mention that it was HOT? The saving grace was the cross/headwind we had for this eastern portion of the road because it helped to cool us off some.

We stopped at Almelund to fill the Camelbak and bottles with ice water, and Gerry bought an ice cream bar to help cool off.

We continued on, then I began to have a little bit of concern when I saw actual hills ahead. Gerry mentioned that we would probably drop down to the river, which we’d have to climb back out from. “Yup.” I wasn’t real concerned. This is Minnesota, the river’s we've crossed haven’t been all that big of a deal. Uh huh. A couple hundred yards later I saw the sign with the steep hill symbol and I knew we were in trouble. As Gerry put on the drum brake, his comment was, “What a waste.”(of a hill that we can’t coast out of). As we dropped further and further down, I became more and more concerned about getting out tomorrow. When I saw the hill to the left going up, up, up, out of town to the east, I could’ve burst into tears. Knowing that what goes down must come up, I realized it’s going to be a rough start to the day tomorrow!

We had to turn onto hwy 8 to the west to get to the state park. It climbed up some, then went down, down to the park. And all I could think of was having to climb back up tomorrow, just to go down then way back up. Sigh. I’m sure it was all magnified because of how hot and tired and sweaty I was.

The town of Taylors Falls seems very, very quaint with little ice cream shops, nicely kept shaded homes, etc. I wish it wasn’t up a hill to get back to it; otherwise we might explore it this evening. Mmmm, nope, not gonna happen.

We got a campsite and set up the tent. I went to shower while Gerry rested in the tent away from bugs. When I came back he showered and I rested, trying to not fall asleep. Even though we didn’t put the fly on, it was still hot in there.

I was still HOT. It’s now 6:10, he’s fixing dinner and my core body temp is just now starting to come down. We’ll probably have to shower again tonight before bed to get the bug spray off.

There have been several touring riverboats go by – the Taylors Falls Princess – but not very many passengers on board. I’ve also been watching a family of a dad, mom and two boys fishing. Well, the mom and two boys are fishing. The dad gets to throw his line out in between getting the kids' lines unsnagged, taking a picture of the mom with her fish, taking mom’s fish off the line for her, untangling one of the boys’ lines. Now that's a good dad.We slept only in the bag liners because it’s so warm and humid. It took until past 7:00 for my body temp to go down.

This guy hung around our picnic table and equipment all evening. He seemed to like the bright colors of the orange dry bags and the yellow trunk pack cover.

Gerry and Pat