Saturday, September 14, from Saginaw, Minnesota

hi everyone! greetings from beautiful northern Minnesota, where the aspens ('popples' if you are a native Minnesotan) quake and the lakes are clear and the air is cooler but the sauna's hot. came up here to see my friend Nick, a fellow San Francisco Bay Area Notre Dame AmeriCorps person (i.e. we were on the same volunteer team this past year in California). from the rolling plains of Iowa, now to the lakes and rivers of Minnesota. from the deciduous greenery of the midwest to the coniferous forests of the north. from countryside and cities of good people to more countryside (but fewer cities) of good people.

we are definitely moving north, and fall is definitely in the air. several days ago in Iowa a rain front came through and it turned cooler. borrowed sweatshirts to venture out into Duluth last night. the folks up here tell us the heat is past and frost may come any time. now beautiful days to ride--a little chilly mornings but afternoons of perfect cool air. will soon be thankful for the cold-weather gear we brought along.

and on to the daily puzzle:

9/9, day 21: took slow morning in Cedar Falls getting breakfast, working on our bikes. both of us put on new bar ends, handlebar extensions that allow us to sit in different positions. when one is on a bike as much of the day as we are, it's good to have a variety of ways to sit. otherwise the back and the wrists get extremely tired. hung out some at the church that friend Jennifer pastors, ate lunch with her and Kent at their apartment. reluctant to leave place of peace, laughter, rest, and quiet chatting, but did get out of town around 4 in afternoon. found it nice to have waited till heat of day passed to ride. though started late, i was feeling good and we still pushed out 50 miles in around three hours. stayed night on small farm, middle-aged man brought us water and told us story of just having married old high school friend and moving down to the countryside from the city.

9/10, day 22: spent the morning sitting in a stranger's garage and watching the rain. our "host" had told us the night before that precipitation's projected, but none fell until just after we got up in morning. ducked into handy garage, cooked breakfast, still raining. wrote poems, still raining. just sat and watched it rain, still raining. actually nice to sit and watch water fall, something i hadn't done for awhile. wishing for a bed and covers to curl up under, rain napping being the best kind. around 11 the rain stopped, and we packed up and started out. a little chilly, rain bringing a break in the heat. winds also changed with the storm, and we had one of our first real days of fighting headwinds--not fun on a bike! instead of our usual 15 miles an hour, we struggled to go ten. so desperate in afternoon that we tried to draft off of a tractor, then off of a pickup pulling a load of hay. neither attempt worked, but did cause some humor... crossed into Minnesota, stopped for lunch. no town to buy bread, so we asked farmer if we could buy a loaf, which he of course gave to us-- "ah, the freezer's full of those," he said as he came out with a newly defrosted loaf. stopped at post office where mail person was rushing around to meet 4pm deadline. later Glen said, "that woman rushing around caught me by surprise; i'd forgotten that people have to do that, that there are deadlines to meet." stayed night with farmer who offered us his shed, apples, grapes, and six slices of zucchini bread.

9/11, day 23: i had wanted to maybe take this day off to remember and think--out in San Francisco last year i felt so far away and detached from the events that happened in my hometown and in New York. but we needed to get to Minneapolis, so we kept rolling. winds calm, so made good time into the twin cities. came across Minnehaha river and into city on great bike trails. could live in Minneapolis, i think, a very green city. as we rode, saw and heard a hawk thud into a house window, then fly away. stayed with friends of Kent and Jennifer--Pat and Patty, a couple who pastor a Mennonite church. (three stops and four different Mennonite pastors. it's been awhile since i've been that close to my denominational heritage! :-) they put us up in fine style--great food and a good bed and interesting conversation. went to a 9/11 peace and remembrance service at local Lutheran church. got little flags to put on our bikes that say "pray for peace, act for peace." on the back of mine i wrote "respect 9/11--end war." i do believe that the best way we can honor those who died is to recognize the horror of such violent acts and choose not to use weapons again against any population. and do what we can to end violence and conflicts wherever possible--on a personal, national, and international level. war seems to only breed more war. peaceful solutions have been proven to work. give peace a chance.

9/12, day 24: had slow morning trying to get in touch with a friend of mine, waiting for laundry to dry, running errands in Minneapolis, etc. (we love slow mornings, and seem to take one whenever we are in a comfortable place. if you host us, beware, we will stay the morning then eat your lunch before we leave!) decided to go up to Duluth to see my friend Nick instead of heading straight for Winnipeg. went through downtown Minneapolis on the way out, i invigorated to bike through city streets again. have realized that we mostly just bike through lots of countryside, which is great, but it feels good to me to see tall buildings again after awhile. felt a bit of a tug to be in one place again, to be stable; but it didn't last long. :-) found lots of bike trails to get us out of city snarl. once out of city laid down a nice charge to make up for our late departure--felt great to push hard. (i'm still trying to figure out why some days it feels wonderful to push and other days we just drag along. one of those traveling mysteries...) set up our tent behind a store for the night, hoping no one will notice us.

9/13, day 25: woke up behind Lee's Pro Shop outside of Pine City, beside the interstate and across from big gas station and a McDonald's, one of our less pretty nights out. when employees came to shop in morning, we still there with our tent set up, eating breakfast at their picnic table. they all so tired and bleary-eyed that no one even looked our way. very glad we don't have to drag ourselves into job like that every morning. rode a wonderful paved bike trail most of the day, the longest paved trail in the country, supposedly. biker who rode and chatted with us for awhile was the man who built trail. had fun talking about biking, our trip, politics, family; made the miles fly by. now north into aspen and pine country, beautiful forests and lakes and swampy spaces. arrived Nick's house early evening, welcomed warmly by Nick and parents. after great spaghetti dinner, went into Duluth--lovely small city on a hill sloping down to huge Lake Superior. saw a ship come in, a big iron ore boat cruising through the canal and into harbor under an aerial bridge that lifts the whole roadway straight up when ships come in, then back down for cars to cross. excellent sunset, sky and clouds on fire. came home to hot sauna. threw water on the rocks, sweated, stood naked outside in crisp fallish air.

9/14, day 26: Glen's birthday, the winds against us, beautiful country here to see and friends to spend time with, so we took the day off. ate buttermilk waffles made by Nick's mom in the morning, lounged for awhile then took off driving up the shore of Lake Superior. beautiful blue water and forests of birch, aspen, spruce, pine. hiked along a few rivers and falls. met Nick's parents where they were camping and had dinner with them. drove home after dark with moonlight glinting off of water, beauty enough to keep my heart going for awhile. tonight another sauna, so will soon go to bed and sleep well! hope you all are sleeping well, too. peace

Keep in touch - Joe (lappjoe@yahoo.com) and Glen (glapp@juno.com)!