Rest Day

I woke up feeling good but certain (yellow) things indicated I was still very dehydrated. So I marched to the front desk and told them I was to stay another night.

After drinking a couple more bottles of water I rode back to the lawn upon which I slept and snagged my 3L platypus. Then I went back to the motel and slept.

The rest of the day involved eating a lot, drinking water/Gatorade, and better planning. I asked the internet for advice and got some good tips:

- Drink about 1L water per hour
- Ride early and late, rest mid day
- Have Gatorade packets for electrolyte replenishment
- Drink hot tea to cool off (the advice was basically "billions of Indians and Arabs can't be wrong .” good point.)
- keep mouth closed

Some of you who know me know that last one is tough for me. I'm a serial mouth breather. As for the hot tea point, there is actually a receptor on our tongues that triggers sweating when hot food/drink is consumed. Cool.

Anyway, back on the road tomorrow. I'm going to leave early and get to the next town about mid day. I'll hang there until late afternoon and continue to Maplewood State Park.

And now, pictures of fields:

To read the comments you must highlight them.

I have no idea how to fix it.

Now I Know

...what I've gotten myself into. The mosquitoes continued their onslaught into the morning so I packed up and booked it out of the woods.  After my somewhat sleepless night I had 1L water to get me to the nearest town. I foolishly decided to make the trek before having a full breakfast. If I did so where I was I would have become the mosquito's breakfast. So I downed a handful of blueberries and trail mix. Unfortunately the town, which I judged at about 6 miles, was quite a bit further. I refilled my water at a quarter horse ranch 12mi in and continued around the bend. With just 5 miles left I collapsed on someone's lawn. A little bit later I got up to ask permission to sleep on said lawn. The dude obliged.

Oh I forgot to mention- before I stopped at the ranch I threw up the blueberries and trail mix I had scarfed down before leaving. It happened again on the lawn. And again every time I tried to rehydrate. Good stuff. So now I'm passed out on this guys front lawn for 3 hours. I decided to give in and got a ride to the nearest motel. That is where I am. There is a subway in town, and that's about it. Subway it is.

Only 12 miles today, which is sad. But I did pass through a town with only 3 houses and 2 churches. Rural America. I also left my 3L water bag on dude's lawn. That'll add about 10 miles to tomorrow.

I'm going to reevaluate my fuel/water consumption.

Dem skeeters

It's like they're all laughing at me, waiting for me to leave my cocoon so they can feast again. After wandering Lyons state forest for an hour I realized I was not going to find a camp site, so I dipped off into the woods. Approximately 0 seconds later, the swarm was upon me. By swarm I mean I had to put on my rain jacket while setting my hammock up faster than ever. Now I'm sitting here, killing the few that get in and cowering in fear of the mass off ecologically useless parasites around me. Now to figure out how I'm going to get my sleeping bag...

The rest of the day was good. Kinda late start but I made it to my destination and managed to tack on an extra 8 miles in wrong turns and pointless wandering. Guess I learned my lesson there. I also learned that 'state park' and 'state forest' mean completely different things.

Time for dinner. On the menu is beef jerky and blueberries. That's what I managed to throw in the hammock before I locked myself in.

I should have brought ear plugs.

t ... Time to leave?

It's leaving time. Gotta get some food in Nisswa before I take a leisurely 40mi ride to Lyon State Forest, MN. Realistically I may need all the time left in the day to get there... day 1, my gear weighs 3x the bike itself, and I still have to get a few pounds of food. As my Uncle Bob said, I'll be moving slower than moonshine on a hot summer night.

Side note: Posts after this point will be done on my phone, so cut me some slack 

Wide Load

Taking Care of Business

Today I rode down to Brainerd to take care of some business. Thanks to the fine people of Minnesota, this lovely trip followed the southern section of the Paul Bunyan Bike Trail. It really is a nice trail.

Plains,

Lakes,

& Bicycle Trails

Anyway, I made it to town and got my stuff - a few toiletries, some spare spokes, chain lube, etc. The trip back to the lake included a brief stop in Nisswa for dinner. Total distance was 43.5mi, which is a good thing for my confidence. Take that, all you "you should really train before you do this" people!

Tomorrow afternoon might be go time. I need to iron out some details and gather my groceries. Grahmaw thinks I should rest until Monday. We shall see.

Late "Drove to Minnesota" Post

"Don't touch me."

We drove to Minnesota. Across Pennsylvania, through Ohio. Found some delicious Mexican in Toldeo and made it to Flint, Michigan on day one. The nowhere motel was lacking most things. The next morning we drove across the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The wilderness was vast, and after hours of straddling the border between Michigan and Wisconsin, we darted across the shores of Wisconsin's Lake Superior and managed to find sanctuary in Duluth, Minnesota: land of the oregano-challenged pizza shop. Duluth is a decent town, and left us about three hours from our final destination of Pelican Lake in Crow Wing County Minnesota.

Welcome to Pelican Lake

The week was good. I managed to squeeze in some riding. The rest was spent relaxing... eating... drinking... not the best prep week, but it'll do. It's tough to work when there is so much potential for relaxation. At least most of the hammock and bike stuff is taken care of. As of now most of the family is packing up. I will be hanging around a couple more days to take care of some business, then it's time to head southwest.

Stuck in time