Day 9 - Clearwater to Sauk Centre, MN

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Route

Clearwater, MN to Sauk Centre, MN - 57 miles

For details of the route, click here.

Weather

Sky condition:  Partly cloudy
Temperature:  54 to 79
Visibility:  Unlimited
Precipitation:  None
Wind:  Light and variable, mostly from the front, gusts up to 10 mph

Significant Events

Hit 6000 miles on the Trek 720

6000 and counting!

Today's Songs

"Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh

"Eminence Front" by The Who

Wildlife Observed

Red-winged blackbirds

Today's Ride

Got an early start on a nice cool clear morning to try beat the afternoon heat and wind.

We were on roads for the first several miles, still following the Mississippi River Trail (MRT).   At St. Joseph, we joined the Lake Wobegon Trail.  This is a nice paved trail that follows an old  Burlington Northern (formerly Great Northern) railway line.  It runs through several small scenic towns and give you a good look at "Small Town, USA". Try as I might, I couldn't actually find Lake Wobegon. I was really hoping to see it.

Mississippi River Trail

Lake Wobegon Trail

We stopped in Freeport for lunch and ate at Charlie's Cafe.  Highly recommended. If you are in this area and need some chow, go to Charlie's. You will not be disappointed. The food was excellent and plentiful. The desserts looked wonderful but the meal was so large we had no room left for dessert.

Old fire engine in Freeport

We got to Sauk Centre pretty early, beating the afternoon heat and wind. Sauk Centre is the home of Sinclair Lewis. It is an interesting, historic town. We checked into the Palmer Hotel, established 1901. It was the first place to have electricity in the town. Apparently it is also haunted. There have been several ghost sightings here and there are occasional séances and other paranormal events here. I hope we sleep OK.  Who knows, maybe we'll see a ghost!

We went for a walk about town before dinner and saw Sinclair's childhood home. Pretty nice house. He is pretty popular around here...

Los Dos Centavos de Ileana

Yesterday's ride was semi-brutal!  I'm comparing it to the one from Saturday which takes the Brutal title with no doubt!

However, yesterday the wind was so bad that it felt like a giant hand was placed on my forehead to keep me in the same spot spinning my wheels but not going anywhere!  That feeling reminds me of the old cartoons like Tom and Jerry.

I mean the wind was so bad that we HAD to pedal on the way down or like Nolan kept saying "we may go backwards on the hills!'

Ileana's view of headwinds

Nolan's view of headwinds