Day 073 - Aurora to Orr - Two Far 2023 - Oranges to Apples

June 27, 2023

Day 073 - Aurora to Orr

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It was a good ride today and, for the majority of the day, the weather was the reason. It was warmer today and the wind had calmed down enough not to be a factor. Throw in light traffic and mostly decent roads and what's not to like??

The scenery was again unexceptional, but it seemed like the birds were out in force - I don't know if it was the warmer weather that brought them out, or the fact that I could hear them more clearly because the wind noise of the past few days had died down. Whatever the case, it was pleasant to listen to them.

In both cases, the piles of wood were entire trees, and they were all about the same length. I don't know if they will be cut into logs before being hauled away or not.

The soil shows why there are no farms up here - only forests and marshes

Jeanna met me at the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company Passenger Station in Tower. As is relatively common for old train stations, it is now a small museum and made for a nice break.

Inside the station there were several displays of local Indian artifacts.

This marker is located in the community of Peyla (population 10).

Fun Fact: According to Wikipedia, Peyla had a post office from 1907 until 1924 and the community was named after an early postmaster.

Another Fun Fact: MN-1 (shown below) is the longest state highway in Minnesota with a total length of 346 miles and it was not completely paved until 1996.

The entire 14-mile segment between Peyla and Angora looked like this - nothing but trees and asphalt cracks. If it weren't for all the cracks, it would have been really enjoyable. Instead, it was an incessant cacophony of thump-thump, thump-thump. However, the total lack of traffic was a nice benefit.

Jeanna & I met again in Cook for a late lunch. While there, we could see the sky darkening, and upon checking the weather forecast, we saw that there were storms in the area. At that point I had 17 miles to go, so we didn't dally over lunch, and I picked up the pace once back on the bike.

Once again, I lucked out. While Jeanna drove through a shower, and said it was raining at the motel, I only saw the evidence of rain and reached the motel without getting a drop of rain on me. Again, it's all in the timing.

Our motel in Orr is one of the nicer mom-and-pop motels we've ever stayed in. We've been here before, so we knew what to expect and we got my favorite room. I've got a nice easy chair and a large picture window that looks over a very active rail line. In fact, this entry has been interrupted 3 times while I stopped to watch a train go by. :-)

Tomorrow we're scheduled to go to International Falls and then take a day off. Right now, though, the forecast doesn't look good, so we may shift our day off and spend a second day here in Orr.

If that happens, I'll be forced to spend the day watching trains go by - Life is so tough :-)

Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 3,474 miles (5,591 km)

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