Day 111-115: Gackle, Kindred, Evansville, St. Cloud, Newport

Day 111: Gackle, ND, 0 miles

Day 112: Gackle to Kindred, 106 miles

Day 113: Kindred to Evansville, MN, 95 miles

Day 114: Evansville to St. Cloud, 87 miles

Day 115: St. Cloud to Newport, MN, 89 miles

Day 111: 7/01/14

Decided to take the day off! First day off since Missoula... And a good day to take off. Still windy and rainy and cold.

Hung out around the Honey Hub during the morning and then headed over to Dani's Place, the one local bar in town, to watch the USA v. Belgium game with Bala who was also taking the day off. We each ate our own 12" "personal pizza" during the game and tried our hardest to get the local contingency of farmers/retired folks that inhabited the place to get excited for the game... Alas, it was to no avail. They were more interested in the beers, and the scratch off lottery tickets that they bought in bulk and then threw over their shoulders onto the ground of the bar where they rested in peace, the Gackle Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

After the game we both went back to the Hostel and lounged around the place reading, listening to music and resting up for the next day.

Day 112: 7/02/14

Bala and I left the hostel and rode down to the local Cafe in town, across the street from Dani's, for a little breakfast before we parted ways.

We walked in and were greeted by the same group of about 10 guys that were in Dani's Place the day before. We both ordered the Hungryman Breakfast which consisted of 3 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 pieces of ham, 2 sausage patties, hash browns, and coffee. It was a humongous breakfast and we both took it down!

After breakfast I rode the next 76 miles straight to a truck stop along the highway in Enderlin where I stopped for lunch. I got a personal pan pizza and a soda. While sitting there eating my food I struck up a conversation with a motorcyclist from Fargo. He told me, "Don't believe them politicians about this whole fracking thing. There's been gas in our water up here way before they started that." Moral of the story just don't drink water in North Dakota....EVER! Better safe than sorry.

I finished the ride into Kindred, ND, a small town just south of Fargo. The town had a park that they allowed bikers to camp out at so I picked up some bread, pears, pita chips, hummus, and a few beverages and had a regular old fiest for dinner and then settled in for a good nights sleep.

Day 113: 7/03/14

I woke up early in Kindred and rode some county roads and farm roads south east, across the border into Minnesota (unfortunately no signs as I crossed), and then onto a somewhat sketchy/not well maintained highway to Fergus Falls, MN.

In Fergus Falls I got onto the Central Lakes Trail (a rails-to-trails route meaning paved bike only pathway and flat!) and was on that for the rest of the day. The path cut down through lake after lake and it really was an awesome ride.

Dinner consisted of a salad and bacon and blue cheese burger and a few $1 PBR draughts at the Backroads Steakhouse. From there I ventured over to the local park and hung out reading, listening to music and charging my phone under a pavilion and then after it got dark and the park emptied out I made my way to a back corner of the park and set up my tent behind a row of trees. Besides the occasional firework explosion that occurred at pretty regular intervals for he first few hours it ended up being a very good nights sleep... And free so no complaining.

Day 114: 7/04/14

A nice sunny day, but had 20-25 m.p.h. headwinds! Thankfully, the entire day, except for the last 9 miles was still on the Central Lakes Trail and the Lake Wobegon Trail so I was shielded somewhat from the full brunt of the wind. It's what I get for enjoying those 30+ m.p.h. tailwinds the few days prior.

I got into St. Cloud about 4:00 p.m. and went right to my warmshowers hosts, John and Susan's house. I was greeted by John, who is retired from the Air Force and now works part time at a bike shop in town, and he showed me down to the basement where they had a guest bedroom set up for me. After a much needed shower and starting up a load of laundry I went back out and met Susan, who works in the surgical department of the St. Cloud hospital, and two of John's biking friends. We all sat down to an amazing meal that included an entire chicken that John grilled up, watermelon, coleslaw, some kind of rice concoction and chocolate cake for dessert and all washed down with some local Minnesota beers. A great low key way to spend the 4th of July and it was definitely nice having a comfortable bed to crash on at night.

Day 115: 7/05/14

In the morning John and Susan outdid themselves again. I was spoiled with blueberry pancakes and eggs and coffee and a mocha for breakfast. Then Susan packed me 2 peanut butter sandwiches, cashews, an apple, banana and some dates for the road.

I actually was John and Susan's first official warmshowers guest since they signed up and I couldn't have asked for anything more from them. They were so kind and welcoming and knew exactly what I needed before I even asked...

I left St. Cloud and crossed over the Mississippi for the first time just as I was leaving town and then got onto route 10 which I ended up riding all of the way down into Minneapolis on.. I hadn't expected to, nor did I want to really, ride that far today but, after coming up empty on all of my attempts to get lodging through warmshowers I just kept riding. I took a few long breaks in the early afternoon and then in the late afternoon too before getting into Minneapolis hoping that someone I'd contacted would get back to me, but it was to no avail.

Then once I got down into the sprawl of Minneapolis/St. Paul I was stuck and had to keep going through it to find anywhere to crash for the night for free.

I ended up doing just under 90 miles and got just outside of St. Paul to a town called Newport where I threw up the tent behind a school/park and zonked.

Private screening of the USA v Belgium game at Dani's Place.

Bala (age 17!) riding from Ohio to San Fran outside the local signless diner in Gackle.

The hungryman breakfast at the Gackle Diner (3 cakes, 2 eggs, 2 slices of ham, 2 sausage patties, hash browns, and coffee for $12.00)

Crew of locals that come here every morning for breakfast before working on the fields during the day and then hit up Dani's Place for dinner/beers and cards.