This time we are riding upstream. Our goal is to reach the Headwaters of the Mississippi so that we can say we completed the entire length. Minnesota, fortunately, has done a great job of marking several bike trips , including this one, officially called the MRT as well as the US Bike Route (USBR) 45. We actually live about two blocks from the MRT, so that’s where we began today – riding down the hill to the river and crossing the Lake Street Bridge.

We rode out of Minneapolis, through many suburbs, into cornfields, and north on a county road that parallels Interstate 94. It was sunny, but beautiful, not too hot. It seemed like the river was never more than 100 yards to our right, with lots of nice houses on both sides. We pulled into Clearwater around 4:30, picked up some groceries and headed out to our Glampsite 6 miles out of town. Those 6 miles were the most hairaising of the day – on narrow roads with no shoulders, and the last 1/2 mile on gravel.

We’re staying in a yurt on a farm called Dancing the Land, a CAS run by a young couple (this was her family’s farm, though they moved back here from Mendocino County in California.) They offer this huge tent with a lovely bed and an insect free (mostly) cook tent to people like us, I guess.

We are listening to all kinds of birds – including owls, peacocks, roosters – and hoping they’ll calm down at some point. We picked up some groceries in Clearwater and will make a little supper after showers.

PS – we are now having breakfast – Friday AM – where we have a cellular signal again. We are going to be short on connections and probably power, too, on this trip, so our posts may be a little erratic. (Also, that yurt was incredible.)