UpperMiss

Day 2

Sunday, 30 May 2010
Little Marais, MN to Duluth, MN
71.2 miles, 5h08m, 13.9 mph
Elapsed Time: 7h38m, Max speed: 31.1mph
Total Climbing: 2494ft, Max elevation: 878ft
Total mileage: 158.2

Another day of good riding in favorable conditions--sunshine (except when it rained), tailwinds (except when we went the wrong way), and good roads (except when they were laced with spine-jarring cracks). We really had enough of the cracks--to the point that we would ride on an unnecessary bike path just to get away from the cracks. And we didn't call them spine-jarring--we had another more appropriate--but less politic--name for them.

We passed a few oddities that seemed more at home in the UP than in Minnesota.

I get the music and the dancing, but what's with the pull tabs?
And yes, that is a barrel jammed in to a maple tree with a sap
bucket hanging from the tap.
Maple syrup is a big deal around here. And beer, I guess.

I have nothing to say about this.

Note: riding the unnecessary bike path to avoid the ass-pounding...I mean spine-jarring cracks.
Also note the tailwind, and the sunshine.

Actually, it was cloudy in the morning when we rolled out of Little Marais. Soon the clouds burned off but there was a cool breeze blowing in off the Lake all day. After about 15 miles we stopped in Beaver Bay and met Linda for a buffet breakfast at a Norwegian restaurant called Northern Lights. It was fantastic.

I didn't really want to stop. I don't really eat very much during the ride, but Mr. Balint would eat continuously if he could. If he keeps that up, he'll be 240 in no time. And even though I wasn't hungry, I managed to polish off a couple plates. Did I mention the food was fantastic?

We next met Linda for a tour of the Split Rock Lighthouse, which was cool. Apparently this is the only lighthouse that still uses mercury for something to do with the lens and turning and such. Also cool was the Edison Amberola they had in the keeper's quarters. That's one of those pre-grammaphone record players that plays wax cylinders. The guy had some original cylinders and played a bit of one. Sounded pretty good. And we went up in the lighthouse and all the usual lighthouse stuff.

Not everyone enjoyed the lighthouse. So frustrating!

And it was windy.

You can almost feel the mercury circulating up there.

We left the lighthouse and stayed on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. The GGST someday will run the length of the north shore, but now there are little pieces up it here and there. We stayed on it until it dumped us back on Route 61.

This is what the lighthouse would look like if you missed it and ran your ship
aground just to the south.

From there we stayed on the road until we reached Gooseberry Falls state park. There's a nice bridge there with a display that talks all about how hard it was to build the bridge. The visitor center was jammed.

Then we got disoriented leaving and got on the Trail again, which took us around until the Lake was on our right--which is very wrong. We should have been on the road. So we turned around, climbed a big hill, and got back on the highway. Neither of us understood what happened. I just now figured it out.

Then we stopped at Betty's Pies for, well, pie. The place was too crowded so we got our pie to go and ate in the car with Linda. The pie was fine. I expect there will be more pie before this trip is done.

Then we got serious and started cranking out the miles. We cruised through Two Harbors and got off the highway onto "Scenic" Route 61, which was pretty much the same as regular Route 61 but crappier. Then it rained for a few minutes. Then it dried off. Then it rained again--a bit longer this time. Then we stopped at possibly the least interesting historic site ever.

There was a poorly maintained monument to a town called Buchanan. The plaque tells the story. President Buchanan opened a Land Office at this spot. Some people moved here to be near the Land Office. Then the Land Office closed and everybody moved away. I think the story of why somebody put up the money for this monument would be more interesting. I doubt even Buchanan scholars are at all interested in this site.

The Buchanan monument. People park here to get to the lakeshore.

A few more miles and we could see Duluth. We passed a local rider and then were confronted with a big highway. I turned and looked but the local was gone. We had missed our turn, and then we saw the local riding on another road nearby. So we corrected ourselves and continued. A little later we passed the guy again. Then a bike path appeared. I looked back, but the guy was still on the road. Then the road turned away from the path. I had a sneaking suspicion, so I looked back again and he was gone. D'oh! Back to the path, which eventually took us down to the lake.

Balint rides in Duluth.

The lakeshore path (which was particularly spine-jarring) eventually took us to the trendy Canal District, and our hotel. Dinner was Italian, followed by a visit to the DQ, where Balint was denied sprinkles for his waffle cone. We spent the next 20 minutes speculating on the reason. Yes, we had wine with dinner.

Tomorrow Linda leaves us and we'll have to carry our own bags. <sniffle>.

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