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Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Cornfields to expensive coffee shops
From Claire, Lucia, and Tamara
Sioux Falls to Ruthton- 70 miles
We left Liz Evan's house around 11:30 and made our way out of Sioux Falls, passing through many more corn fields and a couple cute towns on the boarder between South Dakota and Minnesota. Shortly after a late lunch we crossed the border! All of us were relieved to out of South Dakota, a desolate and challenging state to bike through. We turned north onto highway 23, a road that runs along train tracks. While riding we were entertained by large trains and ornate windmills along the roadside. Southwest Minnesota was dotted by the occasional cluster of cows- no longer black angus but with spots and browns and variety!- and long rows of white and gray windmills, slicing methodically through the air like giant plane rotors.
In the early evening we pedaled into Pipestone, a quaint and clean town with square brick buildings. As we packed our bags full of dinner in the grocery store parking lot, an antique open air fire truck drove by with a wedding party sitting on seat tops and car doors, waving and honking.
Twenty miles later, the Ruthton water tower appeared on our left and we turned down into town after seeing a sign for camping pointing towards main street. Large grain mills towered on the road's left, quaint well-mowed lawns and fresh-painted houses on the right. A dog barked, but downtown was still- a happening Saturday night. Later we would wonder at 10pm movements on the street- a car burning out, a man driving a forklift down a back alley in the night.
The camping area was next to the community center and the train tracks. As a result we spent our night alternating between silence and blaring conductor horns, and woke to find a locked community center (it's a small town on a Sunday). So we rolled out and headed towards Marshall, after duct taping Claire's portable radio - thanks Ellwanger's!- to her handlebars.
Ruthton to Winthrop
109 miles (!)
The road we're on is closed; we take a detour
Now we get to bike through corn fields some more!
As we ride by cute farmhouses and small towns,
on Claire's radio we listen to the country countdown.
The music really fits the scenery,
If you want to appreciate country, this is the place to be.
The road we're on is flat, so we go fast;
I wonder how long these fields are gonna last.
Soybeans on the left, corn on the right;
We've seen so many that I dream about them at night.
The weather right now is really top notch,
but it'd be better if I didn't have blisters in my crotch.
The blue sky is filled with clouds like puffy cotton balls,
and so we bike on to Redwood Falls.
After a fun morning with the radio, we took a snack break in Redwood Falls and bought food for dinner. In the afternoon we listen to oldies music and finally encounter some trees! Unfortunately, entering the trees means descending into a valley and then climbing back out. Going up and down the hills feels strange after riding on a flat road all day long. I come up with a list of ways that Minnesota is better than South Dakota.
1) The road is more flat- no more of that "rolling countryside."
2) The road curves, so that you can't see it stretch endlessly into the distance.
3) When you can see the road stretch endlessly into the distance there are trees along its sides and farmhouses. Also, the fields look more lush and friendly. This is possibly because there is a greater ratio of soybeans to corn, or because there is simply more water available.
4) There is more civilization! At the end of our day we start hitting towns every 7-10 miles. It makes riding fun because as you leave one town, just a few miles down the road you can already see the water tower of the next town. We have begun to judge towns by their water towers, "Wow this is a big place! It has two water towers."
Most of the town are small, population 200-400, but some are bigger, population 2,000-4,000. In my opinion they are the perfect size. They all have a main street with everything important (usually at least one subway and DQ), a supermarket and gas stations. Side streets are decorated with cute houses and maybe a museum or park.
We're feeling good, so we decide to go for a century! It was very exciting, since 109 miles is our longest day yet on this trip. We end up staying in a town named Winthrop. I was super excited about this, as I lived in Winthrop my freshmen year at Bowdoin. It had a lovely park where we set up our tents. The park had a playground, a baseball field, a sand volleyball court, and a pavilion with picnic tables where we cooked a mexican feast.
Winthrop to St. Paul- Lucia's house!
A short poem for the morning:
We pass by a factory billowing steam,
A strange edifice of white in the surrounding green.
The smoke stacks are impressively tall,
Turns our the plant produces ethanol.
Then we watch construction on the railroad tracks,
And I discover that I have too many snacks.
We make our way through many more small towns. Lucia gets a flat tire, and we fix it next to a bar with a huge sand volley ball court outside. In Victoria we have lunch in a tiny classy cafe. They give us free refills on lemonade, and Lucia and I enjoy delicious banana bread. Victoria is different from the other towns we've been in; it's trying really hard to be high-end and fashionable. We have definitely entered the suburbs of the twin cities. After lunch we take off on a bike trail made of crushed limestone. It's beautiful! Trees create a canopy over most of the trail and as a result the path is dappled with the shadows of wind-shaken leaves. The trail crosses many small roads, and we see some interesting people, including a young couple on a bright yellow tandem bike with pink streamers, and two intense race bikers who are very interested in our trip, telling us excitedly, "You guys are AWESOME!" At the end of the trail we are greated by two figures enthusiastically waving their hands in the air. It's Lucia's parents! We are all very excited to see/meet them. We ride the rest of the way to Lucia's house on the Greenway, a system of bike trails around the twin cities, accompanied by Lucia's parents and their family friend Jim, Van Iwaarden. Jim has been the leader in the creation of the niceride system in the twin cities. This system works like the yellow bike club at Bowdoin. Anyone can acquire a key that allows you to take out a bike from the locked racks and ride around town. To limit theft the keys allow the system to track who has taken the bike and how long they have had it. The bikes are comfy, wide-seated cruisers, and so far the system has been very successful! Along the Greenway we bike under many highways and streets. It's rush hour, and there are so many bikers! When we go off the trail we zoom out onto busy city streets with excellent bike trails, and soon we are crossing the Mississippi! It's an exciting milestone. We are more than halfway across the country.
In St. Paul the streets we bike on are wide with a expansive grassy center strip and two rows of giant trees. Houses along the sides are large, but artfully done. There are many different architectural styles. Lucia's house is on the longest strip of Victorian homes in the US. It is decorated with fun family photos, paintings and drawings of the family, and other interesting sculptures and paintings. The kitchen (a very important place for hungry bikers) is wide and open with a long table and modern cone shaped lights. Lucia's parents are wonderful, and we feel immediately at home. We meet Lucia's brother Colin and his girlfriend Liz, and enjoy showers and Indian food. After dinner we go to one of the top 10 ice cream parlors in the US, and eat deliciously creamy ice cream.
Sioux Falls to Ruthton- 70 miles
We left Liz Evan's house around 11:30 and made our way out of Sioux Falls, passing through many more corn fields and a couple cute towns on the boarder between South Dakota and Minnesota. Shortly after a late lunch we crossed the border! All of us were relieved to out of South Dakota, a desolate and challenging state to bike through. We turned north onto highway 23, a road that runs along train tracks. While riding we were entertained by large trains and ornate windmills along the roadside. Southwest Minnesota was dotted by the occasional cluster of cows- no longer black angus but with spots and browns and variety!- and long rows of white and gray windmills, slicing methodically through the air like giant plane rotors.
In the early evening we pedaled into Pipestone, a quaint and clean town with square brick buildings. As we packed our bags full of dinner in the grocery store parking lot, an antique open air fire truck drove by with a wedding party sitting on seat tops and car doors, waving and honking.
Twenty miles later, the Ruthton water tower appeared on our left and we turned down into town after seeing a sign for camping pointing towards main street. Large grain mills towered on the road's left, quaint well-mowed lawns and fresh-painted houses on the right. A dog barked, but downtown was still- a happening Saturday night. Later we would wonder at 10pm movements on the street- a car burning out, a man driving a forklift down a back alley in the night.
The camping area was next to the community center and the train tracks. As a result we spent our night alternating between silence and blaring conductor horns, and woke to find a locked community center (it's a small town on a Sunday). So we rolled out and headed towards Marshall, after duct taping Claire's portable radio - thanks Ellwanger's!- to her handlebars.
Ruthton to Winthrop
109 miles (!)
The road we're on is closed; we take a detour
Now we get to bike through corn fields some more!
As we ride by cute farmhouses and small towns,
on Claire's radio we listen to the country countdown.
The music really fits the scenery,
If you want to appreciate country, this is the place to be.
The road we're on is flat, so we go fast;
I wonder how long these fields are gonna last.
Soybeans on the left, corn on the right;
We've seen so many that I dream about them at night.
The weather right now is really top notch,
but it'd be better if I didn't have blisters in my crotch.
The blue sky is filled with clouds like puffy cotton balls,
and so we bike on to Redwood Falls.
After a fun morning with the radio, we took a snack break in Redwood Falls and bought food for dinner. In the afternoon we listen to oldies music and finally encounter some trees! Unfortunately, entering the trees means descending into a valley and then climbing back out. Going up and down the hills feels strange after riding on a flat road all day long. I come up with a list of ways that Minnesota is better than South Dakota.
1) The road is more flat- no more of that "rolling countryside."
2) The road curves, so that you can't see it stretch endlessly into the distance.
3) When you can see the road stretch endlessly into the distance there are trees along its sides and farmhouses. Also, the fields look more lush and friendly. This is possibly because there is a greater ratio of soybeans to corn, or because there is simply more water available.
4) There is more civilization! At the end of our day we start hitting towns every 7-10 miles. It makes riding fun because as you leave one town, just a few miles down the road you can already see the water tower of the next town. We have begun to judge towns by their water towers, "Wow this is a big place! It has two water towers."
Most of the town are small, population 200-400, but some are bigger, population 2,000-4,000. In my opinion they are the perfect size. They all have a main street with everything important (usually at least one subway and DQ), a supermarket and gas stations. Side streets are decorated with cute houses and maybe a museum or park.
We're feeling good, so we decide to go for a century! It was very exciting, since 109 miles is our longest day yet on this trip. We end up staying in a town named Winthrop. I was super excited about this, as I lived in Winthrop my freshmen year at Bowdoin. It had a lovely park where we set up our tents. The park had a playground, a baseball field, a sand volleyball court, and a pavilion with picnic tables where we cooked a mexican feast.
Winthrop to St. Paul- Lucia's house!
A short poem for the morning:
We pass by a factory billowing steam,
A strange edifice of white in the surrounding green.
The smoke stacks are impressively tall,
Turns our the plant produces ethanol.
Then we watch construction on the railroad tracks,
And I discover that I have too many snacks.
We make our way through many more small towns. Lucia gets a flat tire, and we fix it next to a bar with a huge sand volley ball court outside. In Victoria we have lunch in a tiny classy cafe. They give us free refills on lemonade, and Lucia and I enjoy delicious banana bread. Victoria is different from the other towns we've been in; it's trying really hard to be high-end and fashionable. We have definitely entered the suburbs of the twin cities. After lunch we take off on a bike trail made of crushed limestone. It's beautiful! Trees create a canopy over most of the trail and as a result the path is dappled with the shadows of wind-shaken leaves. The trail crosses many small roads, and we see some interesting people, including a young couple on a bright yellow tandem bike with pink streamers, and two intense race bikers who are very interested in our trip, telling us excitedly, "You guys are AWESOME!" At the end of the trail we are greated by two figures enthusiastically waving their hands in the air. It's Lucia's parents! We are all very excited to see/meet them. We ride the rest of the way to Lucia's house on the Greenway, a system of bike trails around the twin cities, accompanied by Lucia's parents and their family friend Jim, Van Iwaarden. Jim has been the leader in the creation of the niceride system in the twin cities. This system works like the yellow bike club at Bowdoin. Anyone can acquire a key that allows you to take out a bike from the locked racks and ride around town. To limit theft the keys allow the system to track who has taken the bike and how long they have had it. The bikes are comfy, wide-seated cruisers, and so far the system has been very successful! Along the Greenway we bike under many highways and streets. It's rush hour, and there are so many bikers! When we go off the trail we zoom out onto busy city streets with excellent bike trails, and soon we are crossing the Mississippi! It's an exciting milestone. We are more than halfway across the country.
In St. Paul the streets we bike on are wide with a expansive grassy center strip and two rows of giant trees. Houses along the sides are large, but artfully done. There are many different architectural styles. Lucia's house is on the longest strip of Victorian homes in the US. It is decorated with fun family photos, paintings and drawings of the family, and other interesting sculptures and paintings. The kitchen (a very important place for hungry bikers) is wide and open with a long table and modern cone shaped lights. Lucia's parents are wonderful, and we feel immediately at home. We meet Lucia's brother Colin and his girlfriend Liz, and enjoy showers and Indian food. After dinner we go to one of the top 10 ice cream parlors in the US, and eat deliciously creamy ice cream.
Group status update
After our rest day in Sioux Falls, due to artistic differences our group of five split into a group of three (Claire, Lucia, and Tamara) and a group of two (Amie and Danielle.) We will be keeping in touch with each other throughout the rest of the trip, and all of us still plan on finishing in Brunswick ME, possibly together. Both groups will still be posting to this same blog, so you can look for updates from all of us.
To clarify, since the GPS tracker belongs to Tamara, it will show the progress of the group of three.
To clarify, since the GPS tracker belongs to Tamara, it will show the progress of the group of three.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
In Souix Falls with the most amazing Bowdoin grad of all time Liz Evans
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