6/8/26 - ST CLOUD TO LITTLE FALLS

All rainy to start so i geared up head to toe and then about 15 minutes into the ride it turned to sprinkles and stopped and the sun came out hot. A woman walking the trail said tree down by the bridge and yes there it was, see pics, luckily my experience as a woodsman lol helped me bust off enough limbs and vines to get the bike through... tried SERI in St Cloud for directions to the bike shop and it put me under a bridge across the mississippi and said now turn right... duh... so turned that off... got to the bike shop he had presta adapters and a nice digital air pressure tester and he confirmed my rear tire was only at 45 lbs ! was supposed to be 65 since i have about 75 extra pounds in the saddle bags... well i made 94 mi with it on 45 lbs i should fly today ! then across the street target had the saddle cream i needed so bad and also a flashlight and a mark down cobb salad so i was set for lunch, now took off all the rain gear and slathered on the sunscreen and away i went... was nice trail riding up through the neighboring towns and up the county roads for a while, then it got tough in Stearns county no shoulder rough road cars wizzing by 55 or so well i had to share the lane no place to go but mostly all were very respectful gave me at least 5-10 feeet of clearance of course there's always a few buzz by closer so i was happy to see the sign for morrisson county and a nice bit of shoulder a few feet wide... the miles flew by the river on my right now i could see it behind the houses you know you see between the houses everybody had boats and fishing stuff, and then it turned to farmland like i'm used to back home but more alfalfa and little bitty corn just planted a few weeks ago... then it got hilly as i got closer to Little falls, saw the weyerhauser museum but it was closeed, likewise charles a lindberg state park which is just outside of little falls, didn't know that was his hometown but the house has been preserved and a museum built and the family donated 110 acres for the state park, nice bike path into town which was like so many old river towns not too busy downtown lots of resale shops bars and tatoo parlors, some senior and low cost housing buildings... nice park by the river below the dam i have seen 3-4 hydro electric dams so far i'm sure there are many more from the looks of the river / lake... look a lot like the upper danube above the dams... found my hotel and looked online for something to eat nothing too good no veg and i thought about going to coborns grocery the big chain nearby but you know hot and tired and sweaty dirty didn't feel like getting back on the bike so pizza ranch was next door got a surprisingly good veg pizza on frozen dough but i like thin anyway, and unusual side salad of watermelon and feta cheese with onions, cukes the little ones, and some maters and peppers... quite a good meal but that's one thing about riding all day, eat whateever you want whenever you want burning who knows many calories a day... felt pretty good but for sore saddle parts, but they will be calloused in another couple days that will go away and left knee hurting some got to raise the saddle for tomorrow, the Americinn (wyndham 2 star chain) was good had a tub which my sore parts enjoyed for a while. Oh i met a John on the road 2nd touring guy in 2 days we pull over talk for a few minutes he lives in Brainerd which is on the route he gave me the pros and cons of both routes after the experience on the road today i'm leaning to the shortcut 95 miles trail through the lakes country pick up the river at the top cass lake maybe... he said get some bug spray they are early in the season so not too big yet, skeeters and black flies, but they are feisty... issue with google who owns this blogspot they want access to all my phottos which i don't want them to have knowing how they sell yourr info everywhere so maybe tonight i can figure a work around i'm sure there is one i did it last year with the mac in the UK but i just have the IPAD now with little keyboard so different... anyway, ttyl supposed to rain overnight and heavy storms and rain all day wednesday we will hope for the best...

6/7/26 MRT Minneapolis to St Cloud

It was a good start to the tour, got all packed, checked my bags at the hotel and just missed the blue metro train from Mall of America so 20 minutes to the next one I decided to ride up a couple stops to Bloomington Center where I discovered the banana in my back pocket hung down too low and got squished all in my pocket and in my pants lol lol, what a way to start the day and the tour. Luckily i had brought a couple paper towels for greasy work so i was able to get the most before the train showed up... Rode to the last station down town which is at Target field, the concession workers were showing up for work and a bunch of people with KC Royals gear on were around and on the train so i guess the Royals were in town for an afternoon game, i rode around the stadium and started west out of town, thought about taking a bus to the furthest transit station at Brooklyn Park but i would have to unload all the panniers and bags to get on a bus so decided just roll out, this was my first mistake and I did pass the Brooklyn Park transit center about noon... but I figured it was only 40 miles i was going to Elk River so I had plenty of time, I was concerned about my rear tire pressure i could only get so much air pumped in with my little hand pump and didn't have a pressure guage (presta) or an adapter, it went missing sometime in the last couple months, well then I rode up the river trail a while and was concerned my phone battery was going low this my first time using the Ride with GPS app it seemed to be going down pretty quick and my power pack is usually good for 2 recharges so started using that and thought i'd take a short cut didn't need to follow that path on the river so i saw a sign for the shingle creek traril on a mapoboard and decided i'd go that route, this is when i passed the Brooklyn Parjk transit station... Finally i cleared town and stopped at a Deli for a sandwich and bought a loaf of pumpernickel bread, my plan to buy some cheese later or pbj rather than power bars thought i'll eat more regular food on this trip. Got to Elk River well it was only 3pm or so so I pressed on toward Monticello, the river is so different here it's a place every community has a park on the river and people were out boating or fishing or messing around at parks by the river, got to Monticello about 4 ish I was pretty tired planned to stop but it was a nice big tailwind so i kept on, only another 35 miles or so to St Cloud, and i had a big tailwind Ride with GPS said i would get there about 700 so i went for it, not realizing i had already rode about 50 miles with all the out of the way stuff and not being in shape i started to get saddle sore a bit... But i did make it to St Cloud about 730 and it was pretty empty, St Cloud State University is there, home of the Huskies, they are a hockey power... the Herb Brooks National hockey training center is there... but there were a few places open downtown and i got a burger and fries and na Corona while looking for a hotel, settled on the Holiday Inn express where points + cash got me a nice room for $38, only it was 5 miles back to Clearwater but it was a nice ride and i felt better after having a good meal. You can imagine i was sore and tired when i got there, then unpack but they had a hot tub open til 11 so i went in there for 15 mins to soak everything then jumped in the cool pool and finally got all done about 1230 am... it was a long day and pics a prob but in a day or two i'll sort that... oh i met a guy Jerry from South Carolina on the road he was coming from Seattle going to he didn't know where, maybe Milwaukee... had a nice little chat he obviously had been alone too long wanted to chat forever but no i have to get to my stop by dark so see ya later !