Day 30

Picture 1 - Sunflowers growing in a field. Picture 2 - Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji, MN. Picture 3 - Paul and Babe but this time in Oregon taken several days ago. Picture 4 - Large Muskie outside of a bar in Minisota.

This morning I started in Minot, ND and rode to Grand Rapids, MN; a total of 325 miles altogether. The riding was easy and fast. With the speed limit at 70 in North Dakota I was usually running at 75 mph most of the day with spurts up to 80 from time to time. The terrain started out much like yesterday, mostly flat farm land or grazing land. The farther east I went, however, the more I began to see some ponds in the fields, then bigger ponds, and then lakes and bigger lakes. It was nice to see some lakes along the way, but the lake were pretty much wide open. That is, there were no trees around most of them. They were just lakes in a field. Once I crossed over into Minnesota, that is when the landscape really changed. Northern Minnesota looks a lot like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Covered with trees and the lakes are surrounded by trees. I felt like I was home again; and it felt good.

Let me say something about highway US-2. Before I started my trip a number of people warned me that US-2 might not be in that good a shape because it is not the primary rode for cross country travel like it used to be. I was, in fact, a little apprehensive about taking that route at first, but now that I have been on it from Seattle, WA to Grand Rapids, MN I can tell you that there is nothing wrong with this road. Ever since Montana, the speed limit on the road has been 70 mph (except for in the towns) and 70 is a comfortable speed for the condition of the road; which is good. What I like most about it is that you can travel just as fast as on the interstate, but with much, much less traffic and very few trucks; and you get to see all the little towns along the way. In Montana, US-2 was a two-lane road for the entire state. But with so little traffic, it presented no problem because there was hardly ever anyone to pass along the way. In North Dakota US-2 becomes a four-lane divided highway, but it is not limited access. The four lanes obviously makes passing easier, but still there were very few people on the road to pass anyway. There are only about 30 miles that are not four-lane but they are currently working on that section and it will probably be done this year. Once I got to Minnesota the speed limit dropped to 65 and in Bemidji, MN the road again turned into a two-lane road. In Minnesota the towns are a little closer together than in the other states.

As I rode today, and also a few times yesterday, I came across several huge areas of sun flowers growing in fields. It was quite nice to see some color other than the tannish brown wheat fields that I have see ever since Washington State. I stopped to take a picture of one of the fields, which you can see above. In Bemidji, MN I had to stop to take a picture of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. This is not the first time I have seen these characters. There was a statue of them in Oregon as well; right near the California border and the redwood forests. I have included both pictures above. Halfway between Bemidji and Grand Rapids, I came across a bar that had a huge muskie outside of it. The muskie was actually a building. The doorway was in the mouth and you can see windows on the side as well as a small chimney coming out the back near the fish’s dorsal fin.