I passed this buisness on the way. Anybody know where this is? The signs in the town where this is located had little snowmen on all the signs.
My house-Stillwater, Approx. 23.1 mi.
In Stillwater I learned that Minnesota is not all flat. I learned it well. As I bombed the hill into town I used my airhorn for the first and only time on this entire trip. Some lady on a cell phone was oblivious to the surroundings as she rolled through a stop sign. I was carrying more weight than necessary so if I would have hit her, not only would my trip and my good health come to an early end, but Im sure I would have done a moderate ammount of damage to her car... as least as much as a bicycle might do. Thank god for disk brakes.
I ate my lunch which consisted of a can of corn and a can of beans under the bridge to Wisconsin and it was here that I met Dale. he looked like santa clause would if he smoked many cigarettes and was a fan of bad tattoos.
We chatted for a while and I proceded to seek out "The Bikery" which is a bike shop/coffee shop/bakery.
I made the mistake of using my usual technique of biking around in an enlarging spiral to find what I am looking for. this turned out to be more than I bargained for since, like I said, stillwater is quite hilly. I asked quite a few people for directions and oddly enough people seemed to assume I knew my way around despite my having a bike laden down with stuff.
At some point I ran into a friend of mine who knew exactly how to get to said bikery and after a brief chat, I was on my way. the bikery was pleasant little opertaion. I recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in the area. I bought a cup of coffee, a delicious chocolate croissant, and a loaf of sourdough bread.
After that I decided that I was done with stillwater and decided to head north on hwy. 95. My goal was William O'Brian State park (11.8 mi.) . seemed like a nice place to stay. judging by the name at least. I also diddnt want to over exert myself on the first day.
As I headed up hwy. 95 I passed an older gentleman in a small buggy-type-deal getting pulled around by a miniature horse. I determined this to be picture-worthy so I stopped and tried to snag a flick.
...was the best I could do since when I tried to continue on past some shrubbery to his front yard where there were more horses and stuff to get a better picture, I was chased for the first, but definetly not the last time by a dog down the highway. I thought it better to just leave rather than to face the pitbull (which contrasted nicely to the little horses and happy family in front of their house).
I reached William O'Brien state park and booked a camping spot and proceded to head down to the river which I opted out of sitting next to due to a large group of teenagers there for something. Instead I sat next to lake alice for a little bit before climbing the steep hill back up to the main campgrounds.
At my campsite I set up my hammock deciding the first night would be a hammock night (I had the hammock, tent and sleeping bag options to test out).
camp space
hammock setup
as the trip developed, I took less care to record the little things, like finding a wild turkey feather, seeing a dead skunk but smelling it a mile or so before i saw it (which happened at least once a day), and focused more on the bigger pictures. such things happen when you take yourself out of your usual context for extended amounts of time. this might not be true.
either way, here was my gourmet meal.
CONSISTING OF Salemetti secci from lunds, sourdough bread from the bikery, vegetable lasagna entree and a white raspberry cookie (not in the picture) from the u.s. army (MRE) and some cafe sol y luna from nicaragua.
sweet.
I fell asleep early before the sun went down since I had done my weekly tuesday night ride which ended around 1am and i had left around 8 am that morning.
for reasons I Do not remember I got out of my hammock and set up my sleeping bag on the ground. Maybe it was a mixture of it being a bit chilly sleeping in a hammock made of very lightweight material with the moisture thrown in. It was VERY dewy and so I put down the plastic painting dropcloth I brought and folded it over my sleeping bag to keep it as dry as possible.
i saw a few asteroids/meteorites/shooting stars/alien invasion landing ships/whatevers before i conked out for good.
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