Day 36 Fergus Falls MN to Alexandria MN

July 23, 2023

It’s funny when we leave in the morning the directions the GPS takes us. We were going through neighborhoods and came to this short steep hill. It was so steep that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the top and if I didn’t I would have just fell over. Thank goodness we both made it. We then were going past a Casey’s General Store which is a gas station out here but has great muffins. We learned this 6 years ago on our last cross country trip. So we splurge. I asked the guy who works there about the bike trail we would be taking and he said it was nice. We found a bike trail not far from the store but it wasn’t the real bike trail we would be on. We found the Central Lakes Trail and it took us all the way to Alexandria. In the beginning and for quite a few miles it had lots of cracks in the pavement that was not fun riding on. Bumpity bump for many miles. We would hit some nice spots but they did not last long. We started seeing some nice lakes but never saw any people or boats on them. As we rode along we came upon this Purple Heart Chapel. We stopped to check it out and found it very interesting and heart warming. What a great tribute. We then came to the town of Ashby and decided to get some breakfast. I loved how they had a wall picture with all the owners and the dates that they owned the restaurant. When we spot water towers we know we will be coming into a town and that excites us.(at least it does for me). As we were leaving town we noticed this bike station. It was fantastic as it had just about everything you would need to fix your bike. Hubs

The trail that took us all the way to Alexanderia MN

Some kind of flower with the cats tails.

This is the Purple Heart Chapel. What a wonderful tribute to these two soldiers and all the other vets.

Hopefully you can read about how this family decided to make this chapel.

A great picture of all the owners of this little restaurant

We were surprised when we came upon this bike station on the trail.

It has just about everything you can think of for working on your bike.

Hubs put air I our tires and off we went. I guess we will be seeing more of these which will be a good thing if we need them again

I got to see 4 water towers today. It’s nice being able to go through towns now that we are getting back into civilization

filled our tires with air. I guess they have these in alot of different towns too. Good to know for the future. We stopped for a break on the trail and I noticed a map of the trails. It’s so nice to see that they make the trails easy to use. The rest of the day was uneventful and we finally came into town of Alexandria. Hubs noticed two breweries but they were not on the same side of town as our motel. He grumbled all the way to the motel. When we were registering in, he asked the guy working here if there were any breweries on this side of town. The kid told us of a tap room that we could walk to but Hubs really wanted the brewery. He decided we could take a cab to the other side of town but when he found out it would be at least 45 minutes before it came and it was $11.00 each way we decided to walk to the Tap Room. Turns out he got a Great IPA. We then went across the street to a Walmart to get some items that we needed. Tomorrow we will be on the bike trail again. We are headed to Albany about 48 miles. (I always add a few miles to the total as they never are exactly as what the maps tell us).

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 2,238 miles (3,602 km)

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Debbie ColeWhat's the total distance you're going to be covering between start to finish? And how many miles have you guys gone so far?
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9 months ago

Lois AlexanderWe don’t know exactly as things can change. We have gone over 1300 miles so far.
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9 months ago