This slideshow requires JavaScript.
I didn’t sleep that well last night. I was too excited about the prospect of getting to Duluth today. At 5:20 AM, pretty much as soon as I could see the ground outside my tent, I was up and packing. It was a warm morning and the flies and mosquitos hadn’t taken the night off, so I ate my breakfast in the tent and wasted no time in breaking camp. In an hour’s time I was on the road.The air was still and the sky filled with patchwork silver clouds as I rode through gently-rolling forest. I passed through Remer without stopping and took my first break at a gas station on the edge of Hill City. It was only 8:15 and I had done 24 miles. I only lingered long enough to down some Gatorade and gorp and refill water before hopping back on for the next 16 miles of flat marshland to Jacobson. There I crossed the Mississippi–quite a bit larger than at its headwaters in Itasca–and stopped at another gas station for a refill. The next 18-mile stretch brought me to Floodwood, my lunch stop.
With a light southwesterly breeze and mostly flat forest and swamps to ride through, I reached Floodwood at 11:20. I stopped for lunch at the very nice highway rest area, which has a building with clean bathrooms and a neat little coffee shop inside. Even though it was early, I ate a hearty lunch, then rested a bit and called Coley (my former housemate) to let her know I’d be arriving in the afternoon. She was headed to Big Top Chataqua tonight and house-sitting for her mom through the weekend, so for now I’d have the old house to myself. We have made plans for hanging out during the day on Saturday and Sunday.
My mood after lunch only gained in excitement. I’ve been ready for a good break from riding for a while, and now I was on the home stretch along a segment of U.S. 2 that I have driven numerous times. I made a refill stop at the gas station by the highway 33 interchange, and soon after I was counting off the familiar landmarks of a route I used to drive when I had to pick up or drop off rural Lake Superior High School students. Soon enough, I made a left turn onto Morris Thomas Road, the most direct route east through Hermantown to home. I never realized driving this road just how awfully cracked up the pavement is. I bumped my way up and down the rolling hills of Hermantown, passing familiar streets in succession, not worrying about miles now, just closing in on my target. I cheered at the awesome sight of Lake Superior as I crested the last hill, then went flying down Piedmont Avenue, hung a left on Skyline Parkway (with its even more godawful surface), climbed passed the golf course, rounded the hill below Enger Tower (stopping to snap a few pics at the overlook), cruised down through my old neighborhood, and came to a halt in the driveway of my former house. It was 3:30. I had ridden just over 100 miles in nine hours. I was home.
As expected, no one was home, so I let myself in using the secret key, hauled in my stuff, and drank a beer Coley had left in the fridge at my request. It felt so, so, so good to be here. I threw my clothes in the laundry, took a shower, and spent the rest of the afternoon eating and relaxing.
I don’t have any firm plans for tomorrow other than catching up on blogging and taking it easy. Perhaps I’ll do some hiking. Hopefully I’ll see some friends. Saturday there is a grillout in my honor up at Enger Tower, and I’m spending Sunday with Coley and Colour on a road trip to Como Park in St. Paul. I think it should be a nice, relaxing weekend.
