Day 91 Traveling Story Tellers

Erskine, MN to Bagley, MN, around 40 miles. More headwinds, a little cooler.

An earlier than normal day lately. We were saying goodbye by a quarter to 9 and left the grocery store in town just after 9am. Eating a sticky bun (will have to give those up when the trip is done) we were given a terrain report by a local. The old boy relayed that it was only 23 miles to Bagley. A younger guy contested that and said it was much farther. The map said 30 so we took anything else the older man said with a bag of salt. "Well, it's all down hill after Langby!" Riiiiight.

We stopped for lunch in Fosston, MN at the city park. Heather tried to nap but just as she laid down a couple kids began their recess on the squeaky park equipment. When she'd given up hope of sleep it was time for their nap and they left. We got back on the bike and rode to Bagley. Outside of Kubiak's Family Foods while we were enjoying a chocolate malt each, Keith came out. He was a fellow cyclist that owned the store and knew the person we'd met through warmshowers. He loved to talk to cyclists passing through and one he rode lead for a couple of guys who were heading into the wind as the rode out of town.

We pushed off the curb and headed out the last few miles before our break for the day. We zig-zaged a few miles off of Rt 2 and found ourselves at a lovely setting. When I called to let our host know of our ETA we were promoted from camping to sleeping in the spare room but we would have happily camped out in their yard. As soon as we stopped in the drive a pack of dogs barked our arrival. While being inspected our hosts came out to greet us. From there we stood for a half hour or so talking in the drive and just enjoying the feeling of not moving down the road.

Whether we meet cycling enthusiasts through warmshowers.org or random people who never cycle but take us in anyway, we're always taken care of beyond our wildest dreams. The whole evening consisted of talking, then an amazing dinner and more talking, then talking until we just had to go to sleep. We often feel like the old stories tellers that roamed the land, in exchange for a song or story of an amazing adventure we're given food a place to lay our heads. Sometimes we can't wait until our trip is over so that we can repay the favor. For now we try to earn our keep and are making new friends in the process.

Oh, and by the way, we climbed for a mile after Langby and never seemed to come back down!