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...