And Then There Were Six

As has been the case lately, my morning began pretty early … well, by my standards anyway. I was up and packed by 7:30 AM. I wasn’t planning on leaving right away but I figured I was up so I might as well get everything put together.

When I wandered over to the house, Martha was busy making pancakes. I can’t be sure but Martha might be part machine … I don’t know how she manages all the things that are going on at the farm. PLUS, there was an addition through the night. Actually, there were five additions in the wee hours of the morning.

Alice, one of their dogs, was pregnant and it ended up that this morning was her due date. Martha actually had predicted that it would happen last night. Anyway, I wandered over to look at the five new additions … I mean, they’re puppies. How could I NOT? As I was looking at the cuteness that were the five puppies which were only a few hours old, something didn’t quite seem right. After checking multiple times, I said to Martha, “Uh … you said there were five puppies … but I count SIX.” It would seem Alice wasn’t quite finished yet! And yes, number six was as cute as all the others. Seriously, they’re puppies!

With the puppy census complete, the focus shifted to breakfast. A feast of pancakes with homemade maple syrup, homemade yoghurt, homemade tapioca pudding, Not surprisingly, it was all fantastic.

My plan was to hit the road around 8:30 AM but then Martha said they were about to make some homemade butter if I wanted to assist. I said, “Sure!” I mean, how many opportunities will I have to make fresh butter from fresh milk from the cow in the backyard? (I don’t know the specific answer to that question but I suspect it’s a low number). And so, for the next 20 minutes or I so, I stood at the kitchen sink cranking the butter cranking thingamabob. Yes, I know that’s not the official name. Anyway, for quite some time nothing was happening … other than my arm getting the kind of workout my legs have been getting for the past three weeks. Then, almost instantly, there was butter! Success!! Yes, I know I likely shouldn’t have been as excited as I was to make butter but hey. So be it.

With the butter made (or at least the major task completed), Martha had to take her kids swimming and I had to get on the road. It was definitely one of the most active and interactive Warm Showers experiences I’ve had.

In terms of getting back on the road, the goal for the day was to head back into Minnesota towards St. Paul. Most of my ride was spent in Wisconsin, although I later found out that the Minnesota side wasn’t as hilly and had better views of the Mississippi River. There were definitely some long climbs on the Wisconsin side but in the grand scheme of things they weren’t TOO bad. Nothing that required shifting into the granny gear.

As for my second entrance into Minnesota … they saw you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Well, that may be true but you can get a second chance to make an introduction. And Minnesota did that. Unlike my first arrival, there was actually a “Welcome to Minnesota” sign to mark my arrival. Admittedly, it didn’t make me as happy as the six puppies or the fresh butter but I was still glad to see the sign.

The biggest challenge of the day was navigation based after I arrived back in Minnesota. Neither Google nor Garmin had a solution to the road closure I encountered on Highway 95 and 110th St. Since I’ve been able to ride through road closures in the past I thought I’d check it out … even though it was about a 2 km gamble. As frequently happens when I gamble, I lost. Big. On the upside, I certainly can’t say that I didn’t investigate all my options to circumvent the closure. On the downside, circumventing was not an option. I was going to have to backtrack and find another way. Spoiler Alert: I did.

Eventually I made it around all the obstacles and arrived at the home of my hosts, Becky and David. Not surprisingly, they were incredibly welcoming and generous. David and I enjoyed a large bowl of freshly made popcorn and discussed all sorts of things including my route for the coming days. Essentially, I needed to make a decision – would I go around or through the Minneapolis-St. Paul area? It was a decision that could wait.

Becky prepared a fantastic dinner and it was topped off when David asked, “Do you want a banana split?” I’m pretty sure I looked at him blankly for a moment to process what he just said. I mean, I heard the words but they were so unexpected. Once I returned to moment I confirmed that yes, I would very much like a banana split.

As ways to the end a day go … a banana split is a pretty great one. And I can say with no uncertainty that that was my first banana split while on any of my previous cycling tours.

Oh, and speaking of previous cycling tours, here’s a quick comparison between this tour and my 2015 tour. Today marked the end of my third week on the road. After 3 weeks, in 2015 I had pedalled 1,883.09 and had taken three days off. And this year I’ve done 1968.36 with zero days off. However, the big difference is that after 21 days in 2015 I was still in Ontario. This year, after 21 days I’ve been in one province and seven states. Ah, the difference a route makes.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 93.76 km
Ride time: 4:19:47
Average speed: 21.65 km/h
Maximum speed: 64.28 km/h