Our Morning Commute: Driving 5 Hours to Ride a Bike

June 19, 2017

Honestly, there's not much to say about riding our bikes seeing as how we didn't ride our bikes. The cycles themselves did seem to enjoy the easy five hour car ride getting to our starting point in North Branch, Minnesota though. This morning we did the final securing of the house, fed the cats, and loaded our dog Sammy into the car. He was ecstatic about getting to come along on a trip, because he knows that usually all the packing, luggage and gear sitting in the living room means he is going to the kennel. Sadly, that's exactly what it meant. Poor Sammy always seems to forget that one must hop in the car to be delivered to the kennel, which is where he was being transported to when he was thinking "Yeah, I'm going with Baby!!" The closer we got to the place (Forest Ridge Kennel) the more bummed his expression became. I am probably anthropomorphizing, but his body language was seriously droopy. Eh, he'll appreciate us more when we get home. Joanie is going to stop in and feed and water and scratch the heads of the cats (Thanks Joanie!!) while we're gone, so off we went.

Now its starting to feel real! Arriving at our motel where we'll launch tomorrow.

About 3:00 PM we rolled into North Branch and located our motel, then went prowling around this little town of about 10,000 people. Have you heard of the phrase "Minnesota Nice?" It is used to describe the (perhaps) stereotype that many, if not most, Minnesotans are some of the most courteous and friendly people out there. That has been our experience with the Minnesotans we've met through cross country skiing over the years. Today was a reinforcer when we received unsolicited waves and greetings from several townies while we were out walking around and we thought "Man people up here are great!" Also, drivers universally came to a halt to let us cross the most busy street even though we weren't insisting on that courtesy. Well, maybe Minnesota Nice is not quite universal, as we later watched some guy in a beat up sedan pull directly behind a big black pick-up truck which was trying to parallel park. Sedan Man proceeded to get as close to the pick-up as he could and LAY on his horn CONTINUALLY. The dude in the pick-up poked his head out the window and politely asked if the guy could back up and let him park. The angry dude let loose with a salvo of variously conjugated F-Bombs peppered with more horn blasts. This went on for a solid 45 seconds until the pick-up decided to cut his losses and pulled away. Angry Sedan Man screeched away, still F-Bombing down the street harmonized by the Doppler Effect of his car roaring away in the distance, continuing his mission to Make America Great Again. Oh well, maybe he's the exception that proves the Minnesota Nice rule.

During our walk we hit a local coffee shop for an Americano and muffin, and were waited on by a very anxious but supernaturally earnest and polite young man. He literally conversed with us the entire 15 minutes of coffee preparation, asking to be reminded of what our drink orders were four seperate times. Nonetheless, a nice kid. He called me "Sir," and then referred to Margaret as "Miss." She and I exchanged raised eyebrows and private smiles about a 57 year old "Miss" but that was also actually rather sweet. After we received our coffees I had to remind him that we needed to pay for them and he profusely thanked me for that. The shop was called Higher Grounds, which I took to simply be one more riff on the old saw of coffee shops with the inclusion of "grounds" somewhere in the name, but learned it was primarily because the place was laying out some low key religious proselytizing to its customers as well. There was a rack of bibles and religious based literature directly next to the cash register. That was a first for me in a coffee shop, but the Americano was more than acceptable, so what the heck. We found a geocache in town and went back to the motel to discover they were serving free, warm cookies in the lobby along with popcorn. We hauled generous helpings of both up to the room for desert and declared victory.

Higher Grounds Coffee Shop and Cafe, where they serve up something more than caffeine.

By the looks of you sir, you could use a little scripture with that dark roast. Right next to the cash register.

But, as Agent Cooper used to say in Twin Peaks, "That is one damn fine cup of coffee!"

A little free library that the regional agriculture office erected, filled with books all about gardening and free packets of various seeds. Lovely idea!

As promised, here is each of our Rose (best moment of day), Thorn (worst moment of day), and Bud (looking forward to the most) from this first non-biking day:

Marg

Rose: Crocheting for five hours while Mike drove

Thorn: Dropping Sammy off at the kennel

Bud: A good day of riding tomorrow

Mike

Rose: Free, freshly warmed cookies in the lobby for desert

Thorn: The Angry Sedan Man in downtown North Branch

Bud: Finally biking on the biking trip

Thanks for reading!!

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