Time: 3 hr 43 min Max Speed: 25.1 mph Ave. Speed: 14.7 mph
The weather and ride was really great today. Marian rode with me to the first rest stop and then decided she wanted to keep riding and not take a break. It was a little foggy until that first stop when the sun started peeking out.
A pink sunrise through the fog.
This first rest stop what just a small one on the corner 16 miles into the day - but good pb&j!
I rode most of the way to the second rest stop with her friend Kathy and it was nice chatting with her. Her husband was waiting for her at the next stop, but they decided not to take the shuttle into the museum and go on ahead. I got on the shuttle bus to discover Marian and Dave waiting to get to the museum also. While wandering around the Hawk Museum site, I ran into Brian and Rick (Alexandria MN) again. This is Brian's old stomping grounds and it was interesting listening to stories of him as a youngster going into some of the old buildings and stores when they were still in use.
This is the original windmill with the original homestead next to it - how strange to see a tree grow up inside of the windmill.
Here is the general store that Brian remembered visiting as a boy when there still was a town called Nanson.
This place had a little bit of everything but not more than you would need.
Another building held this small collection of old bikes - even spotted one made by John Deere!
This has to be about the spookiest family of horses I've ever seen.
Replica of a local lawyer's office
In another building called the clock house you could find an example of every type of time piece, even the kind made entirely out of writing pieces - pens & pencils. (Sometimes people get a little obsessed with their collections?!)
The teacher in Dave couldn't resist shaking that finger at us!
I again took a lot of pictures until I found Sheila, Deb and Dave. We four got back on the road together and made very good time on the ride to Rugby. We all fell in love with a cute little chihuahua dog at the last rest stop.
The ladies at the next rest stop at Wolford found a creative to show how to raise money for cancer with old vacuum cleaners.
This little guy got a lot of lovin' as a lot of riders are also dog lovers and most miss their pooches. So he got a scratch on the tummy and behind the ears from us all.
Once we arrived and made our way to the park, we set up our tents by the showers. After cleaning up, Sheila and I caught a shuttle bus up to a cute little 1950's retro cafe. We were both pretty hungry and the food was good. It was kind of crowded with bikers also. Dave and Deb lived in Rugby early in their marriage, so they were visiting old homes and friends.
This monument is Rugby's main 'claim to fame' as they are the geographic center of America.
Sheila and I walked around the downtown area a bit and then hoofed it back to the park in the late afternoon summer sun, and quickly caught another shuttle bus to the laundry out on the edge of town. After I loaded up a machine with sweaty wet clothes, we walked across the highway to a cute little gift shop/bakery. They had a wonderful selection of pies so I had to go over and have a huge piece of cran-cherry pie. So good. The manager of the laundry told me later she makes her crust with real lard.
Here are the pickers - the man on the bass fiddle is granpa to the banjo picker.
When we got back to the park, I was too full to eat supper, so I sat with Brian and Rick for awhile and did the 'people-watching' thing we always do on Candisc. Later I got some free ice cream and listened to the blue grass band in from Fargo I think.
I took this last photo just before sunset from my tent on the edge of the park. I couldn't hear these two girls, but just watching them giggle and jump up and down and give each other their own special sign language, it seemed obvious one of them was talking to their first boyfriend. It was so cute and a perfect ending to a great summer day.
I got so sleepy I had to get back into my tent and lay down for the evening. I was woken up twice in the night to thunder and helicopters. But was able to fall asleep again right away after moving my bike under the shelter and out of the way of rain-which didn't last long.
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