Day 11 - To Detroit Lakes, MN
Hard Goodbyes: Leaving the Dauns
Last night both Bob and Robin signed my wheels after dinner. That evening we just spent telling stories and laughing, and Bob working with me to plan out a more reasonable route through the Rockies. We decided that sticking to populous areas, even potentially using stretches of the highway would be safer in the long run. It shouldn’t be a problem because Montana has wide shoulders much like Minnesota and cyclists are not uncommon or prevented from being on the shoulder.
I will refine the route in the coming days, but it looks like I will be taking the Adventure cycling Northern Tier route from Fargo, ND to Bismark, and then departing the route for a more direct line to Missoula, avoiding a Northerly line that wends its way through the lower part of Glacier park.
I will miss stunning vistas, I’m sure, but the planned route cuts out 5000-9000ft of climb, and spreads out what climbs I have over multiple days between settled areas. It was the right choice.
I woke up today with the dread of leaving them. Partially because I understand what is in front of me, but far moreso because of the people I had to leave behind. These five days have been better than I can put into words. Spending time one-on-one with both Bob and Robin, and then our times together has been more than I could ever have hoped for. They filled me up, and I’m crying now thinking about them. I know those feelings are amplified by being on tour, because that’s what happens, but they aren’t any less real.
I did my final checks, readjusted some things while Bob and Robin gathered some food for me to take on the road. We took a selfie outside, that I cringed through, knowing it was the last for at least some time. Then I set out, having asked them not to take a picture of me going… I don’t know why, it just felt too final.
Why am I ashamed of this at all? We should be so honored to have friends and people we love that it physically hurts us to leave them. It was the same with my wife and my boys the second time I left. I just feel somewhat the fool sitting here sitting in a public park shelter drying. But these tears have great meaning for me — they are a promise I must keep to return. My tears honor them as they have honored me with their presence, home, food, and time.
Onward to Detroit Lakes:
Weather for this entire week across the plains will be cool and soggy. I can only trust that the modifications that Bob and I made to the new battery prove up to the task. There are two differnt levels of protection. I did an outer seal around the battery itself, and then I sealed up any intrusion points around the battery enclosure. I guess I’ll know with some confidence how well this works in a few days, because if corrosion occurs, it apparently won’t be immediate.
The picture below shows why in a rainy environment it was crucial to seal the gaps around the battery. You can see the uneven black layer around the enclosure. That’s the butyl rubber sealant.
Ive resigned to the possiblity that it may fail again, and if it does I think it’s time to genuinely come home. I’ll take it as a sign it wasn’t meant to be this time. I don’t want that, but I’d accept it without feelings of guilt and failure.
The rain brought a chill with it. It’s been in the lower 60’s all day long and it’s just this side of uncomfortable when riding. Normally I wouldn’t don my rain jacket for a misty rain like today, but the cold has demanded it. I didn’t put on either my under layer or my wool socks today though, as its not life threateningly cold. But a few more degrees lower and I would definitely have done so.
Other than the weather, this is about as good as I could have hoped for in other ways. I opted to take a direct, less bicycle friendly route, rather than trying to navigate over sodden dirt roads. I moved along highway 10, which has an ample shoulder large enough for another full lane. Paired with a trailer that looks like it might have a kid in it, cars and trucks haven’t been an issue.
Largely the scenes that scroll past are small lakes and ponds surrounded by wild rice, reeds, and pine thicket, interspersed with rolling farmland. Apparently I’ve just crossed the Smoky Hills, a national forest in the area. Undoubtably it has been hilly. Not quite Kentucky, but similar in feel.
However with a stiff tail wind I made record time, crossing the 45 miles in just 3 hours, which included time for short stops to eat or tighten bolts.
On days like this it’s hard to take photography. I’m not afraid of getting my phone wet, but using my professional camera isn’t something I’m extremely comfortable with, and so it stayed packed. But it meant missing what would have been some genuinely beautiful scenes in their full spleandor, like the two swans nesting on the edge of a pond:
Mostly I just want to give you a sense on a day like today what the lay of the land is, and as I said it vascilates between rolling fields and close in forests surrounding the many lakes that exist in the area. Bob joked that the state of Minnesota is probably more water by area than actual land, and if you were to look at a map close up, you might agree.
From a geological standpoint the lakes that dot the landscape are here because of the retreat of glaciers during the last ice age. As they retreated, glaciers left shallow bowls full of sediment that prevents percolation into the surrounding, sandy soils. In other places there are kettle lakes formed by the stranding of large land icebergs, which compressed the soil and formed water filling depressions.
You can see similar geography in Canada, Siberia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. As I said before, this area has a climate that is much like the Nordic climes, even though it is significantly further south. This geography is likely what drove people from those regions to this place, because it felt very much like home. Minnesota boasts the highest concentration of Swedish lineages than any other state.
I mean, I was handed pickled Northern, basically raw whitefish that had been put in a vineagar base, by her father. If pickled, raw fish doesn’t scream Scandinavian, I really don’t know what does.
It was delicious by the way.
What I haven't told you is that before I left Bob and Robin I called the local UMC here in Detroit Lakes and talked with their pastor about staying at the church overnight.
Well… pastors being pastors, Rev. Lisa hooked me up with two local retirees who are overjoyed to host me for the evening. Because I got such a boost today along my route from headwinds I got here far earlier than expected, which is why I’m writing now, trying to spend time to show up at a more reasonable hour.
A Life Well Lived:
Just after 4pm I pulled up to the home of Greg and Marcia. As I came down the drive the garage door lifted and Greg emerged to greet me. I was quickly ushered inside to get my bike charging and shown around to the room I would be staying in this evening. After a quick set of introductions I took a much needed hot shower after the chill of the day.
When I came out I joined both Greg and Marcia downstairs and enjoyed a few cups of hot coffee with Greg in their sitting room before dinner together.
I shared some of my stories, and they some of theirs. I’m humbled by their lives. They have visited an almost innumerable amount of countries to work on building projects from schools to outdoor stoves to bridges in an effort to simply serve those in need without prosthelytizing. Beyond this they have been safe harbor for multiple children during The Troubles in Ireland in the 1980s, taking them in and acting as a second set of parents for part of the year. They are the sort of wildly hospitable people I want to be — to any and all. As Greg quoted John Wesley:
”Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
More than anything else my brief time with them tonight was confirmation that my journey is about the people part of a greater human community, and our responsibilty to eachother to give with love, and receive with grace. Marcia literally said words I’ve penned in this blog back to me unprompted; That in the act of giving, the giver often just as blessed as the one who receives.
I didn’t know what to expect coming into Detroit Lakes tonight, but their hospitality is far and away above what I would have imagined, and it’s proof yet again that my sterile vision of making miles falls far short of the reality of spending intentional time with people along the way.
I will leave you with this for now, because it’s already late and I need to plan for arriving in Fargo tomorrow.
I’m glad that my trip has resumed, but I’m sad in the people I’ve left behind, and I will be saddened to leave both Greg and Marcia behind tomorrow.