Day 31: The Sun'll Come Out... Tomorrow

Bowlus, MN to Sauk Centre, MN

Stats!
Miles biked today: 38.1
Total miles biked on trip so far: 1188.2
Max speed: 21.0 mph
# of mosquito bites per minute: 12
# of raindrops that fell on us: 2.84 million

Bowlus definitely redeemed small town picnic shelters everywhere. We slept pretty well last night, with the exception of around 2 a.m., when the local bar (about 30 yards away) let out for the night. We briefly woke up to LOUD voices, but they were all friendly voices, not directed at us, so we still felt pretty safe and dropped back off to sleep. Also, it was pouring all night, and Dean said he figured violent criminals stayed in when it was raining, so we were safe.

Unfortunately, the rain went on past the night. We woke up to still more rain, and decided to try to wait it out a little. It was also about 55 degrees out and windy, so choosing to hang out and see if the rain let up was an easy choice. After awhile it seemed clear that the rain would not let up. We used Dean's phone to check the hourly forecast, after two helpfulish locals assured us that it would clear up soon. The hourly forecast predicted steady rain until the afternoon, followed by steady thunderstorms all night. Boo.

Once again faced with the choice of moving on in less than ideal conditions or staying another night in a tiny town under a picnic shelter (with no electricity), we decided to soldier on in the rain.

It was a tough slog. Thankfully, it was pretty flat, and the trail was beautiful. Unfortunately, we were pretty miserable with the pouring rain and freezing headwinds, so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we should have. The headwinds were pretty strong, and it slowed us down a lot, and we needed to push a lot harder. The rain poured hard enough to drench through our waterproof windbreakers. Our shoes and socks were soaked. Water was falling out of our helmets down our faces in non-stop rivulets.

About 20 miles into the trip, we ran into a downed tree on the trail. No problem, we thought, as we'd gone around several downed trees on the Katy Trail in Missouri. We started walking the bikes around it, and partially over it, disturbing some of the branches. BAD IDEA. A cloud of mosquitoes swarmed out of the thing and quickly enveloped us. It really was a full-on cloud. They were everywhere. Dean is now covered in mosquito bites on over 40% of his body. I escaped with only 3 or 4 bites. As soon as I saw the swarm, I hopped on the bike and sped away as fast as I could. I was shouting to Dean to do the same, but he had mosquitoes in his ears (seriously, not a joke). They were driving him so crazy he could only focus on getting the mosquitoes out of his ears, and not on escaping. While he was clearing his ears, the swarm attacked the rest of his exposed skin.

We stopped for lunch at the first opportunity (at Charlie's Cafe in Freeport), and got hot cocoa, lasagna and chili. Waaaaarrrrrmmmmm. The waiter, a couple in their 80s, a single customer, and a father and son all asked us about our trip at the restaurant. I felt famous!

When we left the restaurant, the sun had come out! We started off in the dry, warmer weather, and Dean said, "Hey, this is nice!" It was nice! We really enjoyed the trail and *almost* dried out. Then the rain came back, with a vengeance!

We had originally planned on stopping at Sauk Centre just for a snack and a Powerade on our way to Osakis or Alexandria. But when the rain and strong winds came back, I asked Dean if we could just call it a day. He agreed, and here we are!

The motel where we're staying is in our budget and also has a hot tub -- a first for us! We hit the jacuzzi soon after checking in. It was really relaxing.

I'm hoping that cutting out early today and relaxing in the hot tub will result in feeling fresh as a daisy for a long ride tomorrow.

Is that some kind of threat?