Day 31 - Calmar, IA to Le Roy, MN - Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far)

June 30, 2020

Day 31 - Calmar, IA to Le Roy, MN

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We left Calmar after a delicious breakfast at the lovely Lavender Fields Inn.

The bike had spend the night in the garage, but she had a nice place to wait for us this morning.

At breakfast we had a medley of fried potatoes (white, yellow, purple and sweet) that came from Jeff's garden.

Another photo of the Inn's vegetable garden. Jeff grows enough potatoes, onions and other vegetables to serve his guests year round.

Jeff also likes flowers. He had to get permission from MN DOT to plant these along the road right-of-way.

Our ride started with 20 miles on the Prairie Farmer Trail.

This memorial was at the beginning of the trail in Calmar.

It was a nice trail with a mixture of wooded and open areas. We didn't have the miles of "tree tunnels" we ride through on some trails.

This section was beautiful, but it's nice to get out in the open as well.

We stopped in the town of Ridgeway midway along the trail and found this yard art.

And we saw this in the convenience store. A nicotine delivery system just for cyclists??

The store also had this ancient artifact.

The trail ends in Cresco. There was a town park with a historic home and some rail cars, but it was all closed. We really miss visiting all the local museums and historic sights on this trip.

After we left the trail, we were back in the midst of farms and fields.

Between Cresco and Lime Springs, this is what the road looked like. I had to keep the speed below 15 MPH as the bike would not track well because of the grooves. (I hate having to brake on downhills :-) ) - K.

I also very careful not to veer off onto the shoulder. The shoulder had been graded to about 1" below the road surface but not yet filled in. I have no idea when they plan to finish the job, because there was no construction activity, nor were there any Work Zone signs.

We rode through an Amish community with a number of farms.

We liked the wheels decorating the fence here.

This horse ran along beside us the length of the farm.

The last town we visited in Iowa was Lime Springs.

A library, post office and bar - all an Iowa town needs!

The railroad seems to have been very important to the development of all these towns.

A few miles before the end of our route, we entered Minnesota. They know how to use rumble strips in a road shoulder!

I wish all main roads had shoulders like this!! Too bad we only got to enjoy a couple of miles of it before we turned off.

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 737 miles (1,186 km)

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