6/10/26 WEDS - PEQUOT LAKES TO PARK RAPIDS

Was supposed to be a short day 38 to Walker but change of plans i was feeling good and not ready to stop early, and i thot i would rather get to the headwaters sooner and follow the river from there... so end up 60 and Americinn again 3 nights in a row. Maybe tomorrow i will get to Itasca state park and stay there, follow the river up to Bemidji and beyond Friday Saturday Sunday tho there's no lodging past Bemidji til Grand Rapids and that's 60 miles... thinking about it. The 9.5 miles that was challenging for some with lots of hills up to 8% grade... was the most fun of all the ride so far, 5 or 6 steep climbs were a challenge, but the descents were 24 mpn and so much fun, nice wide trail smooth asphalt i only saw 3 other bikes (ebikes) lol the whole hour... sorry no videos both hands to pull up the hill and both hands on the brakes coming down, i went a little loose there for a minute saw myself careening off the side of the road there are switchbacks like both directions... anyway it was FUN ! and no i didn't have a heart attack i never even used the 3rd ring ! so that is encouraging that i am pretty healthy and fit to be able to do that and not even be winded too bad on a regular bike with 70 or 80 pounds of gear to boot ! Eventful stop in Akely I wanted a salad but didn't see anything there in the town of 404 or whatever it was, couple gas stations or was it one, dollar general and zappy's cafe which looked like a place open breakfast til after lunch, you know, pepsi sign and all... well i saw that from a block away off the main street when i was still on the trail, and circled the 2 blocks of town well here's a big paul bunyan selfie place and a pavillioin where they have teh farmers market on saturdays... DG across the street, s and restrooms, Paul Bunyan Museum thee was closed, so i got my selfie w Paul and rest stop, decided why not go see if Zappys had a salad and they were open and did hvae a great salald good price. and there was a couple women at the next table and a guy over there on his laptop we all had some conversation going... well i left outand back by paul bunyan when here comes some monster lblack clouds... like it's going to be a hour at least so i got my rain gear out... walked across the road to DG and got a pint of cherry garcia ben & Jerrys... and a bottle of seltzer and there was about 9 or 10 picnice tables under there so it there and first here came the hail, couldn't eeven seee itthen the storm poured 10 minutes maybe, tapered off another 10 or 15... so that salad saved me from being out in the middle of nowhere when thta thing hit... and all cuz of Paul Bunyan lol...got my rain gear all on it had about stopped raining but there were puddles everywhere i didn't want to get all that grit and wet on my bags at least not my trunk bag where i have food and misc things, and the handlebar bag wher i have passport, money, chargers, power pacs, ipad mini..reading and notes... so i bagged them with DG bags, went in there got 2... i already have the big panniers with large trash bags inside from Monday in St Cloud when it was supposed to rain all day and didn't lol.. From Akely then, about 20 minutes later full sun hot muggy steam coming oup off the path i had to stop at Nevis loooked like a little resort town on the side of the road, city park w playgground, ice crem shop, coffee shop, souvenirs type stuff , stoppped and peeled off the sticky hot raingear double booties, rain pants and jacket... and i DID NOT reapply sunscreen i whould have i got here to the hotel took a shower my arms are real dark, legs are not... Didn't have time to see much of Park Rapids, well yes i did i went up main street saw most everything but no hotel so stopped a guy on a bench in the shade, had a conversation he's here to visit his mom doesn't live here, had a old bmx type bike his buddy picked out of the trash for him, well i looked up hotels and made my reserve at americinn and his sprocket was all rusted chain too so i put some chain lube on those things for him and encouraged him to give up the vaping and start thinkingabout his health, he was 42... then here comes the black clousds biug as can be so it's 1.5 mi to the hotel i start out and look for a place to eat but nothing along the way there wa a wm=almart but i wanted to get checked in and see if anyone would delivery and dominos did so i had time to take a shower and go in the hot tub for 20 mins before they showed up with sandwich and salad... and watched the knicks spurs game now it's bedtime can't decide what to do tomorrow cuz it's suppose to rain again... but we will see what tomorrow brings and i have rain gear it is just water....