2019, Day 4: Tall Tales

If you remember anything about 5th grade, you may remember Tall Tales like John Henry pickaxing his way through a mountain faster than the steam engine drill, and the tallest of all, Paul Bunyan. He and his incredible feats of smarts and strengths adventured alongside his trusty "steed," Blue, the (literally) blue bull. Well, in this Tall Tale, I'll tell you how my dad biked so fast that he went back in time and met Paul Bunyan.

OK, maybe not back in time. And maybe "Met" is a stretch. But there was biking, and time, and a really big statue.

From Dad:

"Overcast and chilly. High temperature was 53 degrees, pretty much for all the time I was riding. Add wind. I was glad I had a long-sleeved shirt under my jersey. Elevation gain of about 500 feet, but that was over 50+ miles, so nothing significant--certainly not like 5-6,000 feet/day going over the north Cascades. I pushed longer and harder today, knowing I would have Sunday to rest up. Rode 57 miles in 5:45. Ended at Solway MN (pop. 96) about 15 miles ahead of plan. After riding, we drove to Itasca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Where the river leaves lake Itasca, it is about 10 yards wide, but narrows quickly. Water flow in around 6 cubic feet per second. Small start to a big river. This area is beautiful. There is such a variety of trees, all growing together. The leaves are just starting to turn, so I am thinking that in a couple more weeks, we should be seeing some gorgeous colors.

Our hotel has no elevator, so I had to lug all of our stuff up to the second floor on dead legs. Ugh!"

Sights along the way:

A local library

A proud water tower

A great kid's playground

Great Lake views

"When we were at Itasca State Park [today], the man at the general store mentioned the most northern part of the Mississippi River was near Bemidji, and that there was a sign posted on a tree noting the location. Looking at my google maps, it looked to me like the spot was only about 20 minutes away from our hotel. So I printed some directions and we went exploring. At the spot I guessed, we came up empty. As we drove back toward town, we spotted some people on the road walking their dog, so we stopped and asked them. They said we had overshot a mile or so, and gave us directions to an old cabin alongside the river that was being repaired. We found the cabin, and some people were actually there working on it. The lady's father had originally moved a small cabin to the location, and dug out a basement in the bank underneath it. This was around Depression era. At some point he posted a sign on a nearby tree. That is the sign the Itasca Park guy referred to. Some time later, the tree fell over. The family thought the sign was gone, but later found it. It is now on the basement screen door of the cabin, facing the river.

Here is some of the foliage around the headwaters. Note of interest: The couple in the right of the photograph were married standing at the headwaters just before we got there. He is from Bemidji; MN--the northernmost point of the Mississippi; she is from New Orleans--the other end.

Aren't they adorable?