2019, Day 8: That 70's Dad

From Dad"

*Read in a shouty, Eric Foreman voice*

"Hello, Wisconsin!"

"(Barely) As forecast, it rained in Duluth nearly all day. There were a couple of windows of no rain I tried to take advantage of, with mixed success. I started in Adolph about 9:30 and rode for about 20 minutes on Highway 2. As I turned off on surface streets, it started to rain. The wind was also blowing hard. I was wearing full rain gear, which helped a lot, but I still got pretty wet. My shoes and socks, especially, got soaked from the water coming up from the tires.

Duluth is built on the side of several hills. Riding down a steep hill, wind and rain in my face, I noted I was going 25 mph. I should have been going 40+! Then a wind gust hit me and suddenly I was doing 17. I rode to the bike entrance to the Bong bridge, and quit for a while. 8.37 miles in 45 minutes. About noon, the rain stopped, so I jumped on the bike trail over the bridge. It's a good thing my helmet was strapped on or the wind would have blown it off my head into the harbor! Winds must have been 20-30 mph up there. I rode off the Wisconsin side and called it a day. 2.83 miles in 21 minutes, including stopping to take some panoramic shots from the bridge. It felt like my cell phone was going to blow right out of my hands."

Bridge Views:

I'm so glad there was a bike path, after all! With a nice tall fence to keep dad from being swept off.

"Since we couldn't ride, we took a side trip along Superior's north shore past Two Harbors to Split Rock Lighthouse,

"stopping at Gooseberry Falls. Pretty falls, three different levels. It started raining again while we were there. And it just poured on us for the rest of the afternoon and evening. What a lot of water! And wind!"

To cap off the adventure, Mom and Dad also stopped for some Great Lakes pie.