Tuesday, July 04, 2000
Today we traveled from Milaca MN to Chisago City MN, a distance of 60 miles. In the morning the sky was very cloudy but by the afternoon the temperature was 84 and we were in bright sunshine. Our route led us south and east on county roads that are paved. However, on one of those roads, about 3 miles was being rebuilt and we had soft, loose gravel to travel on. Because the gravel was soft, we nearly crashed when we first started on the gravel roadway. Somewhere along the way we ran over some glass and a very small piece stuck in the rear tire and we had a flat tire, 45 miles out. I felt around the inside of the tire and did not feel anything. I put in a new tube, inflated and installed the tire, installed the wheel and we began to ride again. While we were fixing the flat, Joel Crabb found a bike path that was built on an old railroad right-of-way. We turned onto the bike path, when a couple of miles and had another flat rear tire. I closely examined the rear tire and found and removed the piece of glass, patched the inter tube, and reinstalled the wheel. We made the rest of the trip without any additional mechanical problems.
We continued along the bicycle path. It passed through farm fields, woods, and housing developments. After we left the bike path we traveled along a road for 7 miles that went along side or through a wild life refuge. We traveled through pine forests and grasslands. It was a very pleasant ride.
We arrived at our motel. We got the bicycle into the room and changed clothes. Then Nancy and Joel Crabb washed some of the sweat off and changed their clothes. We waited for Ron Crabb to find us. He got lost and traveled up the Interstate an extra 10 or 15 miles. When he arrived, we loaded up all of Nancy and Joel’s stuff including their bikes and then Ron, Mary Kay, Joel and I went looking for a restaurant. We found one and Ron went back to pick up Nancy and Joel’s wife and 18 month old daughter. When they arrived, we ate supper at a Deli. The food was very good. When we finished eating, Ron brought Mary Kay and I back to the motel, said good by and went back to the restaurant to pick up the rest of the crew and take everyone home. Tomorrow we are back to riding alone. But it sure was great having company the last few days.