The Trail ended but the transition on to the road that would begin my journey to St. Cloud was easy. I set out through the MN farmlands in bright sunshine. The roads went from flat to rolling, from good to bad, from paved to hard packed dirt. I began the journey with some Gatorskin slicks so I was a bit anxious on the dirt surfaces even though I was carrying 2 Schwalbe Marathons on my BOB.
This anxiety led me to reroute quite a bit thus my day grew longer and longer. I had been in touch with Jacque Breman throughout the day; he and his wife were going to meet me at the Campground and take me to dinner. They were jetlagged due to just returning from China so I felt bad for them as the day started to move toward evening and the longer I rode the farther away I seemed to get.
My last reroute took me from the country roads I had ridden all day to busy Highway 52. I could now see the light at the end of the tunnel but would have to endure lots of traffic and a rough shoulder. I finally got to St. Cloud and to the Campground. I checked in, got my campsite and then found Jacque and hiswife asleep in their car.
I woke them up and we set out to my campsite. I was blessed to be setting up camp under a pole barn shelter because the weather was turning bad. No sooner did I pull under the shelter did it start pouring. I locked up my bike and trailer, showered then set out to dinner with Jacque and his wife. They treated me to an awesome all you can eat Pasta Dinner; it was fantastic!
After dinner we returned to my campsite. Jacque directed his headlights inside the shelter so I could set up my tent. The land was a bit low so I was strategic in where I set up so I would not be flooded in the night. After I was finished setting up I thanked them for the dinner and said goodbye; it was great to spend time with friends after a tough second day of riding.
It rained all through the night but my set up strategy worked and I remained dry. How awesome it was to check in to a Campground that happened to have a pole barn shelter on a rainy rainy night. Once again God had my back.
Day 3 of riding would return me to Minneapolis and allow me to get some work done on my bike and hopefully visit with Joel Bidderman.
