Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 19 May 1997
Day 49 - West of Duluth, MN
19 May 1997 (cloudy; rainy; cloudy; rainy; rain spurts; spotty sun; mileage
= 60.5) -- X - We woke up nice and early and got ready reasonably quickly.
The weather looked bad from the start. The fly was soaked. I put on gaiters
that I didn't realize had a slug in them. That was a mess by the afternoon.
We wore rain gear the whole morning. Nothing heavy, just Cincinnati-like
drizzle. We stopped at a picnic shelter in Brule, WI for coffee and
breakfast. After some more drizzly miles, we found ourselves on a freeway
and saw a sign that said no bikes, pedestrians, etc. There wasn't any exit
or anything, just the road seemed to change status. We rode 5 miles on it
anyway to the next exit. There was a trail for snowmobiles and bikes, but
it was coarse gravel and that 5 miles would have taken us 1 hour instead of
~ 20 minutes. We also didn't realize the trail was mandatory. Then we
realized that the bridges to Duluth were freeway types. We looked at our
lame maps and figured out what to do but the maps kept misrepresenting our
situation. Grr!! We finally did manage to escape Wisconsin 6 miles longer
than planned on a wood-paved bridge that was easily as long as Ohio River
bridges. Oddly enough, this Oliver Bridge route was VERY unpopulated. We
missed the Duluth-Superior metro area completely! Then we were in a small
suburb south of Duluth. We were trying to get back to 2. We asked a guy for
help and directions and he was nice, if not super helpful. We were battling
a nasty wind, enjoying sunshine that turned into spitting rain as clouds
passed overhead. We crossed over a bike trail (paved) and thought "Hey!
That's where we need to be." We were very tired and hungry as we rode down
the trail. We stopped at a bar/restaurant off the trail and sat outside and
had a snack. We didn't like that area. So we got back on the trail and kept
going. We found a very nice spot that caught the sun and blocked the wind
and had a little H2Ofall and stream. We picnicked there and I cooked
pancakes which was an experience. We relaxed and rested there in the
intermittent sun for quite a while. We then packed up and kept going down
the trail a few more miles. We found a dirt horse/bike trail that was
labeled as part of the park system. We went down that a bit to a clearing
and put up the tent. It blew away while we were drying the flysheet. Very
amusing and lucky to be non-critical. I can hear traffic on a major
highway, dirt bikes and dogs barking, but I'd be surprised if anyone came
by and had a problem with us being here. April's washing now and I'm next.
We're getting better at this and it's a good thing!
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
