Ride to Duluth - Day 2

Packing up after our night of camping. In addition to the main bathrooms being closed, the water pumps were also shut off for the season. We had to choose between coffee and oatmeal. It was tough.

It was a fun ride out of the campground, not quite as tough as riding in the night before, whatever.

Weather started to clear up around noon on the second day. It was pretty awesome to see the clouds parting. It really reminded me why I like spending so much time outside. One develops this awareness of the weather you just don't have when you spend your day indoors. Maybe that's partly because of how much more it effects you when you're spending all your time outside. Regardless, it was awesome.

Lunch in a shady grove.

I think were excited about something, or frightened. I can't recall.

Ten miles out of Duluth. Carlton, MN. The next five miles or so of this go along the Northern portion of Jay Cook State Park.

Why no swimming?

Oh wait, that's why.

Jay Cook State Park.

I'm eyeing our bikes. I think this is proof that loaded touring bikes don't make appealing getaway vehicles for thieves. And nobody wanted a pannier full of our dirty clothes.

We made it. Thanks to Eve, Candace and Ricki and family for letting us crash at your house on the North Shore. It was a great stopping point. Thanks to the host guy at the Scenic Cafe for letting us fill our water bottles when all the other pumps were still closed for the season. And thanks to the tail wind we had most of the second day. It was a blast cruising along at 19 miles an our with fully loaded bikes.

Ride to Duluth - Day 1

Well, here it is.  This is the very start of our first bike trip.  At this point our bikes were loaded with all the gear it would take for us to be self-reliant, for two days.  The goal for the first night was Banning State Park where we would spend our first night, and on to the North Shore by Thursday night.  That was the plan.  

Although the bikes were heavy, we were ready for a trip.  Our only downfall was having our first fully loaded trip with our bikes through downtown.

And look how happy we are ridding into Lake Vadnais.  This is about 15 miles into our trip.

A good place for an early morning snack.  

After this point we were pretty focused on getting to Banning State Park, not a lot of time for pictures.  By the end of the day we had ridden about 120 miles, ~35 miles more than I predicted, and had been on the trail for about 14 hours.  It was a long day.  The tent worked amazing in the rain and that may have been one of the best nights of sleep I've had.