Drive west to the prairie...

Today is one of those perfect summer days which you wish you could pack up and open in the dark of February like a birthday pop up card.  It opens to let out the sun, the blue sky and the soft summer breeze.  We were lucky to have this perfect day for biking.  It was an adventure going back to one of our earliest trails that we biked on our tandem but that we haven't been back to for more than a year.  The Glacial Lakes State Trail http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/glacial_lakes/index.html starts in Hawick and goes south to Willmar.  The trail winds through farm country, dotted with series of small lakes created by the glaciers.  It's the end of July and the sides of this old Burlington Northern railroad bed are covered in wild flowers - yellows, pinks, purples from the giant mullein which can reach six feet in height (and we saw some that tall) to delicate birds-foot trefoil.  As we ride along we are constantly pointing to the next flower.  We discovered a new plant called the lead plant, a member of the pea family.  Tt has a cluster of blue or purple flowers and its leaf is divided into tiny leaflets.  According to my wildflower book, it can live for centuries but will never get more than 3 feet tall.  Its growing is in the root which can delve more than 10 feet into the ground.  Parts of the plant used to be made into tea.  Another of  the hundreds of flowers that were blooming is the common milkweed.  Did you know there are 13 varieties of this pink flowering plant in Minnesota?  It's important to us because it is the only plant that the Monarch butterfly uses to lay its eggs.

We had our share of wildlife sightings including a hawk, three deer (looking but not bolting), a heron, numerous rabbits and ground squirrels plus a toad.  We took one break and sat on a bench listening to the sounds of the trail:  wind rustling the leaves of the cottonwood, bird song, insect clicks and buzzes, and the solitary mow of a cow off in its pasture.

The 36 miles of trail wind through several communities.  Each is marked by a monument that carries its name and something unique about the town.  For Spicer it was Green lake and a picture of a sailboat. Life ebbs and flows in the small towns.  The grain elevator in Spicer is for sale but the junk yard outside New London seems to be busy. We did see the original telegraph poles still standing along the trail outside of Hawick.  It takes some imagination to think of the trains once passing through all these places we are now biking. 

Detours on the Gateway

Today was my first of five voluntary furlough days at the U of Minnesota.  I remembered to turn off my alarm and sleep until 7:30 am!  Crawled out and did my morning yoga routine (thank you Kitty) and drank my first cup of coffee in the backyard while I watched our backyard critters.  One of two chipmunks is featured in this blog.  Will finally woke up and we packed up the bike first heading for excellent lingonberry waffles at http://www.steamworkscoffee.com/ where owners Jeff and Kristine remember your drinks and bring them to your table.  We leisurely read the paper and eventually got on the road for the Gateway Trail in St. Paul.  http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/gateway/index.html  This is a heavily used commuter trail that passes through woodland, prairie and bogs.  In the spring you are serenaded by the peepers.  There is a parallel horse path for part of the trail. Today we encountered quite a few horses.  We were surprised when we hit a "Trail Closed" sign about 40 minutes into the ride.  We followed some other cyclists off to the horse path, then on to a road, across County Road 15 and down a gravel path for a short stretch.  Not the best surface for the tandem or its riders.  A new bridge is being built over County Road 15. This will make the trail safer and easier for riders.  Later (at the Dairy Queen) we discovered that a second bike trail bridge was being built over Century Avenue.  We never go that far west because of the difficulty in maneuvering across the street on our bike.  Great improvements; thanks to the DNR and the citizens of Minnesota that support and fund bike trails.  We are usually on this trail in early evening when we can fit a two hour ride in after work so it was revealing to see it in the light of day.  Butterflies were everywhere; splashes of colorful wildflowers lit up the sides of the trail.  We saw the orange of butterfly weed, the yellows of woodland sunflowers, grayheaded cone flowers, birds foot trefoil and butter and eggs, the pinks of spotted knapweed and wild bergamot, whites of prairie clover and sweet clover.  And the absolute best:  the rare find of a cluster of Turk's Cap Lily which we saw only once before on the Lake Wobegone trail.  That was more exciting than the deer running in front of us.  I've come to realize that being out in the country on our bike is important for my soul.   Not sure why it was so hard to get started this year.  Valuable happiness time lost.

We're back on the bike!!

Most cyclists smile at us as we pass on the bike trail. It’s not clear if it’s the bike they’re smiling at or the sight of Will and me pedaling down the trail. It certainly isn’t our good looks although we always wear matching bike shirts. And on that topic we have yet to find a sensational recumbent jersey. I’m still relegated to putting essentials into back pockets when I really need front pockets. There’s a market out here if only someone will rise to the creative occasion.

It’s hard to confess that mid-way through the summer was our first ride. Blame it on vacations, people visiting us, weather, heavy gardening, too much work, etc., etc. Whatever the obstacles we finally burst out the other end and headed to our traditional first ride: The Cannon Valley Trail http://www.cannonvalleytrail.com/ . We actually left the house by 8:30 a.m., then an hour and hot chocolate and soy vanilla latte later we arrived at the Cannon Falls trailhead. Actually my map reading skills were defective so we drove around Cannon Falls for a while before we found the trailhead. Typically we start at Welch and never go all the way into the town of Cannon Falls. Two issues with starting from town: a U-turn onto the bike trail from the parking lot which is impossible for us to complete and a hill coming back into town. Remember: hills are not our friends.
Clogging up the bike trail was an inordinate number of people on roller skies (or whatever you call them). These are insidious athletes who poke their ski poles into your bike lane. The response is to move your bike as close to center as possible and play chicken with them. Big bike vs. young girl in teeny shorts and sports bra; result – ugly. Our early start tactic to ward off the high dew point was shared by too many people
The Cannon Valley Trail moves from woods to prairie to bog so the quantity and type of wildflowers are amazing. Just a few we saw (not everything) were harebells, purple prairie clover, cow parsnip, Goat’s Beard, Gray headed coneflowers, and wild bergamot. Despite the high traffic we had a pudgy raccoon cross our path headed for the river and off on one side trail saw a mother turkey herding her five poults (young). Several hawks circled over head but not close enough to identify.
At the Welch rest area we were treated to polka music from Ray Sands of the Polka Dots http://raysandsandthepolkadots.com/about_the_band.html . He’s been in the business over 60 years! Grandpa’s Garage in Cannon Falls donated free sugar cookies topped with pecans. We met a couple riding Ran single recumbents and had a chat about the advantages of recumbent bikes and why we like a tandem and they didn’t. They were about our age so it was interesting to get their perspective which really centered on our comfy seats.

Leaving Welch to return to Cannon Falls I was leafing through the wild flower book when our new friends passed us. The Mrs. single recumbent pulled alongside of me to comment on how I was “reading” when she drove a young kid off the trail. When her husband came up alongside of us he commented that he’d try not to replicate her effort.

It was very satisfying to get to pass them eventually since we pedal, never coast, and actually were keeping an even pace. I didn’t thrust my arms up in celebration.
We stopped outside of Cannon Falls to take a photo of the falls and a swan plus cygnets alongside the trail. The single recumbents rode past but Mrs. couldn’t keep momentum going up the hill and fell over. Will looked at me and asked if we should walk it and I said “never”. Off we went creaking up the hill at about two MPH. Success!! We got the pass our new friends again while they patched up the Mrs. Our second attempt to make the U-turn into the parking lot missed again however.
After the ride we strolled through Cannon Falls. The hardware store was closed for Megan’s wedding: congrats to Megan. The Cannon River Winery http://www.cannonriverwinery.com/ was humming. You could get a massage or tan on the main street. We ate at the Old Market Deli http://www.theoldmarketdeli.com/ – food was great but the service was slow and odd. We helped an older couple clear the table and another couple found them silverware. Neighbors helping neighbors.
Hopefully we’ll be out again on my furlough day this week. Keep on biking!