6/11 Park Rapids to Mississippi Headwaters, on to Bemidji

A long day in the saddle, 24 miles up to Itasca state park on the side of the road, then into the state park on bike trails was nice. Stopped at the Douglas Lodge for lunch, had a soup and salad bar, decided not to stay there it was very touristy crowded and would have to leave the bike outside, carry everything upstairs, shared bathroom and just didn't look appealing. Got to the headwaters which was Ok but very crowded, kind of dissapointing to get all that way and but what did i expect ? lol... There was a big gift shop and welcome center there but it was very crowded again, ebikes prevailed, couldn't get out of that parking lot soon enough. Well the river did show up a few more times on the way to bemidji which was about 31 miles along us state and county roads, it turned cold black cloudy windy but there was a nice shoulder to ride on and cars were very respectfull most stayed far away. Caught some chills then the sun would come out it was warmish so i didn't stop for cold weather gear, it being all the way at the bottom of the bag i didn't feel like taking everything out on the side of the road there was nothing along the way, 1 gas station and 1 bar and grill the 30 miles... and some stiff headwind but when the road turned and it was a tailwind i sailed ! The cute little mississippi came into view 2-3 times crossing little bridges i stopped for a rest this was the 5th day in a row 50 or more miles so starting to get pretty leg weary and hurts all over, so i stopped at a pretty little section on a bridge had a pbj sandwich and a orange and refilled the drink cups with gatorade, worked out pretty good this trip the stainless steel drink cups, one 20 oz and one 16 oz filled with ice in the morning or night before, start off with water, maybe one water refill then gatorade the next 2 fills and water after that, always looked forward to the gatorade middle of the day when it got hot but too much hits you in the tummy too much sweet but luckily with full ice it got watered down and usually i only needed to replenish ice once a day about 2-3 pm but today nope it was chilly maybe 60 some so i had ice when i got to bemidgi about 6pm... keep telling myself don't think about prices do what you want what's best but still i'm on the side of the road checking hotel apps and priceline and booking to find the best deal 1/2 the time the apps don't work so finally just decided country inns on the lake and it was a lucky pick modern and new great condition super comfy bed quiet. Well it was chilly cold everyone with sweats on top and bottom lol i cruised downtown saw a vietnamese PHO place i thought a big steamy hot bowl of pho will set me right and i'll do my hotel search while i eat and that's how i ended up with country inns yes it was not the lowest price lol but while i was eating my soup i started to feel really tired and whammo it has hit me 5 days in a row riding all day... just want a hot tub and to bed... and the veg pho with tofu was great ! sriracha of course to boot and they had bean spouts and jalapeno slices to add so perfect. When i got to the hotel and up to the room was too tired to go down to the hot tub so had a tub in the room and to bed and we see what tomorrow brings... now that i'm here, can't really go on there's the next hotel in Grand Rapids 91 miles... tooo far that's for sure... so i thought i would change my car reserve to tomorrow and ride the River Route down to Minneapolis by car and ride around the Twin Cities a few days before heading back Weds. So i did make the reserve for noon tomorrow ... well when i