Chapter 5: Back in the States

 Chapter 5: Easy Riding, Hard Writing

The next two chapters will be harder to write, and possibly harder to read, at least for those of you who only came for the broken spokes and flat tires. But I don't want to shrink from the challenge. The struggle against loneliness, and the craving for companionship, especially of the female variety, was as much a part of my journey as the struggle against wind and weather. It feels more embarrassing to talk about it, but I don't want to pretend it was not an issue, or gloss over it. If it gets too personal for you, please feel free to skip the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, hang in there with me, and we'll cringe through it together! First, though, let's appreciate the leafing out of the trees!

"In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 May 3, Saturday: 34.6 miles (1594.6)

On the way into Thunder Bay, a woman on a bike caught up with me - not hard to do at my touring pace! Cathy rode with me to the post office, (closed) and then to a bike shop. She left me there, but said if I was still in town tonight, I could stay with her(!) ... and her husband - (shucks!) I could have easily made Minnesota today, but meeting people is an important part of the journey, and I didn't want to pass up the chance to spend some time with folks a little closer to my own age. 

"I tracked Cathy down at the nearby mall where she and her husband Bill were doing a demonstration promoting the rowing club they were in. Hung out there, then had dinner, and Bill and I took his old guide boat out for a row in the bay. Later we went to a bar with some of their friends. Another guy from the rowing club came in with 4 women, and I danced with a couple of them. For a minute there I thought I might get lucky, but I'm sure I was in no danger."

They gave me a bumper sticker, but it wouldn't fit on the bumper of my bike!

 May 4, Sunday 

"I had already decided that I would spend the day here and not ride. I helped with the rowing club work day, mostly fixing the dock. Then some of the guys were going to 'climb stairs' so I went with them. The stairs were at a ski jump, and there were a LOT of them. I climbed them once - they did it 3 times. Then we all went to one of their houses and sat around drinking beer (not me) and talking rowing (also not me.)"

 

 May 5, Monday: 84.9 Miles (1679.5)

"Well, I'm back in the States! Got up early, went to see the grain elevator where Bill works (amazing!) and then Cathy took me to her parents' house for breakfast. She drove with me to the edge of the city so I wouldn't get lost. I thanked her profusely for her Canadian hospitality, and we hugged goodbye."

"Rt 61 in Minnesota goes along Lake Superior with lots of nice views."

 

"It's absolutely beautiful now. The woods are bright spring green with new leaves. I met a pleasant (and attractive!) woman at a rest area, who was from Massachusetts. She was excited about my trip. Of course, she already had a boyfriend. (Rats!) She said as we parted that she'd see me in another life, and I supposed that was the best I could hope for." 

Rather than pay the exorbitant $4.75 fee to stay at the Grand Marais campground, I took the advice of a "Jeremiah Johnson-looking fellow" who suggested the peninsula beyond the Coast Guard station. It reminded me of the Maine coast. The rocky terrain didn't offer much in the way of a place to set up my tent, but it didn't look like rain, so I took my chances sleeping under the stars.

Oh, and I broke *2* spokes today.

 

May 6, Tuesday: 55.3 miles (1734.8)

"Well, wouldn't you know it, the one time on the whole trip when I didn't set up my tent, sure enough at 4:00 A.M. it started raining. Thoroughly disgusted, I set it up as best I could in the rocky, cramped woods, and crawled inside." 

"The weather was weird - from rain to bright sun, to hail, back to bright sun - on and off all day, ending with snow this evening!"

"I broke another spoke this afternoon. I'm getting worried - I only have one long spoke left." (The extra spokes I added to the rear wheel were a slightly different length because they were laced differently.)

"I'm in the Finland State Park, camped with a fisherman to save the outrageous $3.00 fee." (It's possible that I was being facetious here, but I'm pretty sure that in my naive young mind, it was usurious to charge that much to borrow a patch of dirt for the night, when I had a total budget of $5 a day! I'm sure I had no concept yet of the costs of maintaining even a primitive campground.)

 May 7, Wednesday: 51.4 miles (1786.2)

"Got to MOBS! (Minnesota Outward Bound School) It was a cold, windy, rotten day for riding, but I rode anyway, and even managed to enjoy some of it, the scenery was so nice. Especially where Rt. 1 wound through stands of poplars with brand new bright green leaves."

******

At this point, I need to give some background. I had chosen MOBS as a definite waypoint for several reasons. I had done a 3-week winter course there as a student 2 years earlier, as staff development for working at the Wilderness School and also just for the experience of camping at 30 below zero. Outward Bound was the model for the Wilderness School, so the community dynamic was the same - lots of young, athletic, adventurous types living in close quarters and sharing a common challenge, so I knew it would feel familiar, like a home-away-from-home. Obviously there would be great people to hang out with, and I figured that by then I might be ready for a break from riding day after day, and want a safe harbor where I could re-group for the next leg of my journey. 

All those things were true, and good, legitimate reasons for planning to stop there. But any story is better with an occasional plot twist; a complicating factor - an ulterior motive. As it happened, "Laura" was going to be working there that summer. She would probably not be arriving quite soon enough for me to still be there to see her, and yet... and yet... As much as I was hoping the distance would help me get over her, the door was always open just a crack... maybe if I grew enough on the trip, and figured out what I was going to do with my life, we would get back together. And if somehow our time there did overlap, even by just a day, how great would that be?!?

All that will unfold (or unravel, as the case may be) next week, but for now I'll leave you with some pussy willows.

Thanks so much for all the comments and encouragement - it really helps to motivate me! 

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