Covid Cross Day #25 Dalton, MN to Fargo, ND

Covid Cross Day #25

June 28, 2020

Dalton, MN to Fargo, ND 72 Miles

Start 7:47 AM Finish 2:05 PM

Ride Time 5:10

Ascent 472 Feet

Descent 921 Feet

Tour Total 2201 Miles

Details at: https://cyclemeter.com/3f1ef27914a4c684/Cycle-20200628-0747-07749

I slept well last night in my tent in the Dalton City Park. Last evening, after the Dalton Days fireworks display, locals continued to light fireworks and rev their motorcycle engines and make noise. The mosquitoes were bad, and I was quick to brush my teeth and climb into my tent.

I woke up at this morning at 7 AM. The sun was already bright and warming my tent. There were hundreds of hungry mosquitoes right outside my tent netting. It was a quick dash to the bathroom and a fast pack-up. I flipped my paper map section and realized that the wonderful Central Lakes Bike trail that I had enjoyed for a hundred miles was about to come to an end. The sun was blazing and the clouds were wispy. It was a perfect temperature and a great morning for cycling. A cyclist approached me on the trail from the other direction and passed me. He had a good size dog riding on the back of his bike. Imagine that! A dog on a bike!

I was halfway through the tour and had reached a point where I needed to pause for a moment to bitch about the challenges of publishing a blog while bike touring. Google Blogger on the iPhone native Chrome app absolutely sucked. I was jumping through a million hoops to publish these reports. Firstly, when starting a post, the title window was only two characters wide. I had to have a title ready and copied into the clipboard, and then select all, and then paste. I was unable to see the page title until after I'd published and viewed the post. Often Blogger would crash and undo all of my work. Secondly, It was a pain to paste into the windows. WTF Google!? I was using your native app! I had to tap the screen a dozen times until it recognized that I was trying to paste. Text formatting was a train wreck. The font was often extra large and the wrong one, or it was inconsistent. I was usually unable to get the post straightened out until days later when my laptop was connected to WiFi. Come on Google - you essentially own all of my images and text. You're tracking me and all my readers, and you're pitching stupid ads. Your publishing medium sucks. My next complaint was the iPhone Notes app. The dictation function was abysmal. Come on Apple! I was using the same vocabulary every day. Hell- each post was practically identical. The weird surreal interpretations drawing from my contacts and text stored on my phone were frustrating. Sometimes I was unable to decipher what I had dictated. The Notes app was unable to learn. Please allow me to add touring vocabulary. Lastly Crazy Guy, where I was mirroring the blog. Oh my goodness, it was too complicated to use from the road. And now Neil wanted me to use KML data instead of my Cyclemeter map links. There wasn't enough time in the day, and that's why my reports were always published days behind. Ugh! I don't call myself Crusty Crank for nothing.

Coming into Fergus Falls I noticed numerous large nice homes. They were probably vacation homes. I saw a bald eagle flying over a lake hunting for fish, and also saw a mallard duck making an amphibious landing into a lake. I knew the end of the trail was imminent. I went through an under-cross beneath a highway, and on the other side was an active train track with idle train cars. Bye bye rail trail. The railroad grade was now in operational use. I took a left up onto the highway and found myself in Fergus Falls. What a great trail!

I passed a giant painted concrete otter lakeside in a park. I pulled over to take a photo. The real nature upstaged the fake. A nearby dead tree was filled with large birds, black crows and large white birds of equal measure. A large turtle was trying to burrow into the sand next to the concrete otter. I rode into town in search of breakfast. Fergus Falls was a nice vibrant little town. I passed a Mexican and an Italian restaurant, a movie theater, a bakery, a jeweler, and a stationary store. I crossed over the Otter Tail River and saw the dam.

I went to the Viking Cafe where I ordered Eggs Benedict, coffee, and an orange juice. There was a social distancing sign on the door, and every other booth was closed. Distancing marks were taped on the floor. After breakfast, I lathered myself up with sunscreen. It seemed like it was going to be a hot day. I was no longer on a rail trail, and now had to pay attention to navigation. I was on County Road 88, also known as the Viking trail. Listen folks- I’ve been to L'anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and it was 2782 miles from here. There’s no way any Vikings came here in 1362. Sorry.

I passed under I-94. There was a brand new asphalt surface, and motor traffic was light. The road eventually turned crappy, and I lost my shoulder. I cycled through Carlisle, no population listed. I could see the water tower in Rothsay from miles out. When I got to the town I stopped to take a photo of the prairie chicken. I noticed a bald eagle's nest on the edge of the Rothsay State Wildlife Management Area. The eagle was sitting in the large nest and watched me while I snapped my photo. I had a tailwind riding towards Barnesville, where I stopped at an Arco to buy a Gatorade. The strong wind was out of the south.

I was riding alongside train tracks outside of Baker and I could hear a freight train approaching from behind. The train slowly caught up with me and I motioned for the engineer to blow the horn. He obliged, and it was thrilling! I was surrounded by fields of grass, flat terrain, open skies, and puffy clouds. I spotted the blue water tower in Sabin, population 522, from several miles out. I crossed the Buffalo River before I entered town. I stopped at the Arco Station for another Gatorade. I took a left on County Road 12 and was now headed west. The wind was strong out of the south and I had a crosswind.

I eventually crossed the Red River and was now in North Dakota, state number twelve. This was the part of the tour when things would start to get interesting. I rode on a 'path' down University Avenue towards downtown Fargo. I remembered this stretch from last year. I located the Lindenwood City Park where I would be camping, alongside the Red River. I then rode to the Front Street Taproom, where I ordered a DCR Bronze Axe. Main Avenue in Fargo was still torn up and it was a disaster. It was like this last year. There were plastic temporary barriers for pedestrians. I cut a narrow turn too tight and fell down into a construction ditch. I bloodied up my left leg, and used my water bottle to clean myself up.

I rode over to Drekker Brewery where I'd been last year. I once again ordered the delicious Hell Bent American Brown Ale. Servers were all wearing masks, and social distancing was being practiced. I edited and posted this report from the air conditioned interior.