Life On A B-I7

Route

• Osakis to Saint Cloud

Metrics

• Miles: 57
• Average Speed: NA mph
• Ride Time: NA hours NA minutes

Notes

• All trail today. No need for metrics.

Thought #8

• Be gentle. It is the strong that are gentle.

Today completes 110 miles of bike path riding. It was a huge relief to be off the road for a couple of days. It occurred to me that it might be fun to ride a bike path all the way across the country. After I thought about it a bit more, I realized that’s not such a good idea. The reason is simple, when you’re on the road instead of a path, you pass right through the middle of towns. You meet people and you see things that you don’t see from a bike path.

It was a rough night last night. I’m going to blame it on mosquitoes, but it’s entirely my fault. When I got to Alexandria at the end of the day, I went to the visitor center to inquire about motels. The lady there told me they had a few in town, which were about 4 miles off the trail. Then she said there’s one in Osakis just 10 miles ahead and it’s right on the bike path. We called the number, but there was no answer. I figured what the heck, I’ll just show up. They’ll have a room for me! Just as I was arriving in Osakis, my phone rang. It was the motel calling. The nice lady informed me they were completely booked. There is a slight difference between Alexandria and Osakis, Alexandria has four motels, Osakis has only one.

There wasn’t a campground close by so I found the city park. A lot of city parks, especially those on the ACA route, allow tent camping… this one did not. The sun was starting to set so I was faced with a decision. Should I press on, or should I try and make a go of it here. I decided to try out my stealth camping skills. I managed to keep a low profile and no one threw me out of the park. When it was starting to get dark, I unpacked all my gear and put up my tent. I didn’t pitch it completely, just enough so I could keep a low profile. I forgot to mention the mosquitoes. I crawled into the tent and soon realized that a large number of mosquitoes had followed me inside. That really wasn’t working for me all that well. I got out of the tent, packed everything up and got back on the road. By now it was 11:30 PM.

Did I mention I’m not a big fan of mosquitoes? Did I mention that the mosquitoes in Minnesota are the size of elephants? As bad as that sounds there is more to worry about than the big ones…There’s also the swarming tiny ones. In other words, they come in all shapes and sizes and they’re all hungry. One sidenote with regard to Minnesota mosquitoes, they have an uncanny ability to set up an intravenous line before you can even swat them away.

Fortunately, I have a dynamo powered front light on my bike, which allowed me to negotiate the bike path after dark. I got to the next town 10 miles down the road about an hour later. There was a City Park there right alongside the bike path. There were also mosquitoes, but they were fewer in number. Once again, I set up camp and crawled into my tent. This time far fewer mosquitoes followed me inside. I managed to get about 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep. I’m going be tired today, but I survived. I fixed myself my morning breakfast, instant oatmeal and instant Starbucks coffee, then I hit the road.

On the bright side, I’m getting to the point where I can drink instant coffee without grimacing.

About 30 miles from Osakis, the ACA Route turns north to the city of Bowlus. I’ll be continuing on to the end of the path, to the town of Saint Cloud. I’m now leaving the ACA Route for a couple hundred miles. I’ll reconnect with the ACA Route on the east side of the Mississippi River, about 60 miles south of Minneapolis. I will explain the reason for this in another post. I think you’ll find it interesting.

Sunset on Lake Osakis. The lake should’ve been my first clue there might be a problem camping at this location.

This is where the ACA and I depart ways. (More to follow.)

Itinerary / Maps