July 19 Lake Itasca to Becker’s Resort

Traditional dunking of the tires to begin my journey down the Mighty Mississippi

Distance 69 miles, averaged 12.3 mph ride time 5 hours,
37 minutes total time on the road 8 hours and 12 minutes. Total Expenses today $115. 74

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I had set my cell phone alarm for 6:30 AM.but it felt like I had just gone to sleep when it sounded.  It felt like I had just gone to sleep a few minutes earlier but looking out the window the sun was a shining.  Arising still very tired we managed to drag ourselves out of bed, got ready due haste, went out for breakfast as I needed more food than a Continental style breakfast to fuel my body this day.  After breakfast it took us a little time to figure out the route to Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi.  Lake Itasca State Park is the oldest one in Minnesota and 2nd oldest in the nation.  Other interesting Trivia learned while changing into my riding clothes in the restroom: The Mississippi River is less then 20 foot wide at Lake Itasca and as you can see in the accompanying picture can be walked across easily.   A drop of water entering the river here only takes 90 days to make it’s way to the Gulf of Mexico.  40% of the watershed in the continental USA empties into the Mississippi.  WOW!  After walking the short pituresque distance to the Lake we took a few photos.   My regret was that due to the distance I needed to cover there was no time to explore the State Park fully.  You could easily spend a few days or a week or more in this beautiful wilderness of the great north woods.  As it was, it was near 11:30 before I mounted Spirit, the name I have given my bicycle,and took my first pedal stroke.

Stacey and Alaya did a little sightseeing of the park and drove back to Bemidji where we were going to meet up for a late lunch.  Spirit and I were quickly surprised that the country backroads we were riding were not entirely flat as we had read in the “Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail” by Bob Robinson.  Spirit can handle just about any hill but this Old Guy is vertically challenged and even a two percent grade slows me down.  It wasn’t long until I was totally drenched in sweat from the additional effort on this hot humid day, temperature in the 90s.

Meeting up with Stacey and Alaya at the Bemidji visitor center we took a few minutes to explore the visitor center exhibits of Paul Bunjan’s artifacts and of course a picture with the life size statue of Paul and his ox Blue.

Alaya and me with Paul and his ox Blue

Stacey had found a nice gourmet Bistro to try for lunch, “The Wild Hare” just a couple blocks from the visitor center.  The food was wholesome and delicious.  On the way to the Bistro, I made a quick stop to pick up a bike safety flag to attach to my bike as I had forgot to bring the one I had used last year from home.  I had also picked up a small American flag to replace the bright orange flag which comes on a bicycle safety flag.  Having an American flag flying from the back of Spirit definitely brings attention to motor vehicle drivers who almost always give me a wide birth when they pass.  Plus it is a conversation starter with folks.  Definitely one of the “Best” ideas I’ve  come up with for my adventures.

After lunch Stacey and Alaya left for Minneapolis via Becker’s Resort.  Not wanting to begin hauling the 60 lbs of gear I carry any sooner than absolutely necessary I had phoned Becker’s Resort and spoke with owner Doug regards to dropping my gear off before I actually arrived on my bike.  I was glad I did was long, I was tired, there were hills for the first 55 miles and I had to outrun Deer flies.  Yep, them pesky little critters can maintain a speed of 12 1/2 miles per hour.  A speed I would not have been able to do riding up the many gently rolling hills.  Thank you Doug and Stacey for saving the Old Guy from a torturous afternoon from the blood sucking monsters.

Finally arriving at Becker’s resort about 7:20 I immediately checked in, set-up my tent and took a shower in order to get to the office before it closed to chow down on pizza.

While I was setting up camp another bicycle tourist stopped by to invite me to her campsite for a visit.  Gina, who appeared to be in her 40s was touring with sons Chase and Dakota from the headwaters to as far as they could go south for three weeks.  I learned they were averaging about 30-35 miles a day.  Her daily mileage is a better idea than mine but I’m on a tight schedule to make it to St. Louis and then onto home by Aug. 6th.

I never knew a frozen pizza could taste so good.  Arriving at the office after my shower, only 20 minutes before closing, Gina and the boys were already enjoying a pizza.  Gina offered and I accepted to help them eat their pizza while waiting for mine to cook.  Then the boys helped me eat mine.  We enjoyed a good time visiting and learning about each other’s touring style.  All three of them use and swear by a “Bob” tow along trailer over using panniers, saddle style carriers I use.  Maybe I’ll have to find one of them trailers to borrow on a future adventure.

I did stop by Gina and the boys campsite before retiring for the night and was impressed with the amount of gear they were toting on those “Bob” trailers.  Gina said she likes to camp in comfort and they appeared to be compared to my spartan set-up.  Visiting with Gina regards to the difficulty I have trying to convince folks to SAG, Support and Gear, drive for my adventures she told me she was thinking about advertizing in Adventure Cyclist Magazine that she would be willing to do such for folks for the cost of covering her expenses as it would provide her an inexpensive way of seeing the Country, too.  I took her phone number and may just have to get together with her on a future adventure.

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