Mitchel, South Dakota!

Sorry, there will be no pictures for this post due to my inability to work with the race of computers.

Okay, so it's been a while. I am currently in Mitchell, South Dakota. When I last wrote, I was in Granite Falls. That was last wednesday. The evening of that rest day my dad was on business in the area and joined me for a dinner of pork chops, potatoes, beer, and pickled herring( I don't usually eat that well). The next morning we ate at a resteraunt, the ever delicious and auspicious 'DeToys' estabalishment in Granite Falls. Then I continued on my way. Thursday I battled a headwind and made my goal of Canby. I met a very nice old man who talked to me at my camp in the park for nearly an hour, telling me about how things have changed for better and worse. His name was Curtis, and he was very kind.

Friday brought an even stronger wind straight out of the south. I made very few miles and camped exhausted in Toronto, South Dakota. At least I had finally crossed the border! I was feeling pretty dicouraged that night in Toronto. That blasted loniliness coupled with days of much effort and little progress was a soul drink to down. Late that night, as I was setting up my tent, the wind stopped, and the park was totally still. Then the wind picked up again, but now it was from the North! I felt like throwing a party!!! I didn't though.

That north wind held throught the next day and whisked me down to Madison, where I found a Chinese resteraunt with an all-you-can-eat-buffet. I can't remembver what the resteraunt was even called. Those of you that were with me when we went to the 'Great Wall' Chinese reaseraunt in Minneapolis will recall that I got my money's worth then, and that doesn't come close my performance at this place. I walked in smiling, paid the guy at the cash register (after double checking; "it is an all you can eat buffet, right?"), and picked out a table near the window. Then I calmly got up, got a plate and, trying no to start laughing out of pure glee, began to fill my plate. I laid waste to that buffet. I was a viking raiding party and it was england. I was a Bandit and it was a poorly guarded stagecoach carrrying gold bars! It was glorious, beautiful , and horrifying, like watching a lion take down a baby gazelle on the discovery channel.
That day of good progress, abundant food, and a couple of good conversations on the phone saw my loniliness running, tail between it's legs! I was finally in tremendously good mood!

I stayed at a state park outside of madison( the first tinme I've paid for where I've slept) and took a day off so that I could stop at the farm of some relatives, Roger and Adel. They were exeedingly welcoming and fed me well. I learned a bunch of family history, and got to see the house where my grandmother grew up, and the land that my Great, Great, Great Grandfather bought when he moved to South Dakota from Illinoise. I got to see the cemetary where these ancestors of mine are burried. Plus, I got to meet my living relatives! Thank you Roger and Adel, and Sarah and Isac, and Jerome and Barb, for a great stay! I met another great guy during my stay. Mitchel was a guy who I had coincidently asked for directions to the campground in Madison. He was at a church dinner we went to, and upoun hearin gabout my trip, he went and got a book out of his car for me! It's called 'The Road of Dreams' and it's about a coupl ewho bike/hike around the world in two years. I had just finished my last book, so this came just in time.

That brings us to today. I left the farm by, oh, eleven, and was on the road again. The wind wasn't bad for the first bit of the day, but as I turned west and headed toward Mitchell, my progress slowed as I met head-on with what I expect to be dealing with for several days at least; and strong wind out of the west.

So now I am in Mitchel(l?) ending the day a bit early in terms of mileage so I can updat e this blog thing and communicate with you folks. Also, it's windy, remember? I asked a women for directions to a library and she not only gace me directions but a big piece of delicious chocolate cake!
Thanks for reading, folks!

Granite Falls rest day

Hello out there!

I am in Granite Falls, taking a rest day. Yesterday was s tough day, and the lonely factor was getting to me, so I decided to spend aday in town, doing some laundry, hanging at the Hardees, and writing to whoever is reading this.

That first picture on the upper left is from the morning after I left Cosmos. th eland was flat, as you can see. I got to enjoy a decent headwind whenever I was going south and a really fun crosswind whenever I was going west. The hardest part about travelling in that sort of farmland is that my maps don't work. They are too large a scale to deal with half of the roads, both paved and gravel, in podunk central. This, coupled with the fact that the roads and ofeten not labeled at all, or go by different names, makes it rather difficult. Also, my spedometer is out of commission for the time being, so I had no way to know how fast I was going or how many miles I had traversed. I stopped for directions twice, and recieved good directions and smiles, so that was nice. finally the Granite Falls watertower came into sight and I knew I would make it. A day of riding on wet gravel roads into the wind will make appreciate the site of even the littlest towns, and Granite Falls isn't even that small. Apparently, as my phot shows, Granite Falls is a star city. Well, whadya know!

I cruised through town looking for food. I have food with me, mind you, but I carry no donuts. I found a bakery and bought a loaf of bread and a glazed donut. That donut never had a chance.

Continuing my tour of town I spotted a gas station that had a sign on it that said 'Groceries Plus'. I needed to fill up my waterbottles, so I went in and used there bathroom. Teh old women behind the counter had seen my bike as I leaned it up outside and inquired about my destination, wher I started, etc. She recomended the Memorial Park for a place to sleep, because tents can stay for free( RVs and Trailers cost $$). She then gave me two coupons to Hardees, one for a breakafast sandwich and one for biscuits and gravy (hence the hanging out at Hardees). Yeah!!!

That night (last night, the night of the 23) I was feeling pretty low. mornings are easy, and during the day the work is distracting, but at night the loneliness can creep in for a bit. Part of it is the start of the trip I think. You know, an adjustment thing. I know another part of it is that I left someone very important to me back in the city. ( there are a lot of people that are important to me in the city, but right now there is this one person in particular, you know who you are). I have been warned by freinds that have done the solo-travelling thing to give it time, as much as three weeks, for the alone-ness to become normal, so I'm ready to give it all I've got.

Aside from the bit of morale trouble, the trip is going well. I am considering dumping most of my food to lighten the load because I have the money and the resources to buy as

i go. Plus, the act of buying food from stores means human contact! I'm only half joking. In all seriousness though, dropping the food would make riding more enjoyable, as I would either be able to do more miles, or the same amount of miles in greater comfort. We'll see.

A couple people have expressed an interest to join me at some point. Anyone is welcome.

I almost to tell you all about the phone thing! Geez, that would have been rough. Close call. Sometimes I feel like I'm writing on eof those school newsletters, or directing a PTA meeting. "Next in the order of business...." Anyway, my phone will be off for most of each day. I will, however, try to turn it on for about an hour each day to let any voicemails or texts or what-have-you get to me. I will return calls at this time if I can ( if my phone has the battery power), so feel free to leave a message.

Tomorrow I will set out for Canby. I hope to be in Salem S.Dakota in three to four days.

Hope school is going decently for all of you, until later, so long.

I'm in Cosmos!

I am writing form the public library in cosmos, and they close in about ten minutes so this will be a short post! This is my second day on the road. After over two hours of circling around trying to find the Luce Line start, I finally found it and got on my way.

Today was a much longer day in terms of mileage, although only in comparison to yesterday. I had a light headwind for most of the day, But near huthinson my luck changed and not only did headwind become a tailwind, the path went from dirt to asphalt! Praise the good taxpaying people of Hutchinson, Minnesota, for their silky smooth portion of the Luce Line.

That paved path didn't last forever though, and then something terrible happened. Something truly terrible folks. The path went form crushed limestone/dirt, to grass. Bumpy grass. I spent the remaining miles until Cosmos on the shoulder of Hwy 7. Cosmos seems nice enough.
I must go, the library is closing. I love you all, thanks for reading.

leaving late, but leaving all the same.

Actually leaving

It's happening. It's just past 3 in the morning here in Minneapolis and I think I may actually be ready to leave. Holy crap. This is actually happening. I'll be honest; I'm nervous.
Tomorrow morning I will get up around 8, aimlessly worry about whether I've packed this or that, and then I'll head over to Sunrise Cyclery to catch those folks as they're opening to say goodbye. Then I'll head another block down Bryant, coast down the entrance ramp of the greenway, and take the Luce Line trail as far as it will take me. So that's that.

Thanks to everyone participating leaving comments, I'll have some cool pictures to put up soon so you all won't have to endure plain old words.

Also, if anyone has Cryul's number (I don''t know how to spell his name), I have some money of his and would like to get that settled.

Finally, for anyone who has read this and is still at southwest (I am so sorry for you), spread the word. It would be totally awesome to have a couple teachers checking this thing out.

I don't know when I'll next be able to update this blog thing, but until then, you have all been and continue to be wonderful, I love you all.

For Cyrul/Cyrl/Cyril/ however his damn name is spelled.

I owe you money man! I am leaving sunday morning, and I still owe you! I have the money in my hands, But I have no cell number to contact you with! I will do my best to find you before I leave, otherwise I will just leave the cash with my parents so you can pick it up.

contact information

We want............information.
If people would be so kind as to send me their phone number and email address, that would be great. If you want to give me your mailing address you might even get a postcard! Mostly I'd like to flesh out my phone number list, because I have hardly any of your folks phone numbers. The email address may come in handy as well as I'm working on a way to update you all with a google earth location every once in a while. See, I'm using this GPS thing called Spot. My parents got it or me so they won't worry as much, and I won't have to call tem all the time. Spot works by sending a pre-written message to a few chosen contacts when i push one of the buttons on the device. The message says "Everything is a-okay," and the email includes a link to google earth and a mark of my exact location at time of 'button-push.' I can't and don't wish to send all of you my 'a-okay message, but we can set up a list of people to forward the google earth link to. You can send your info(if you want) to my email, Woodcanvas@aol.com, or you can post it here.

Another announcement. i don't know how many people are reading this blog, but it would be fun to see how many of you guys are. So, if everyone who is reading this blog could leave a comment here, that would be sweet. It could be as siple as "I'm here," I just think it would be fun to know.

In further news, this blog will be read by people other than friends like you guys. My whole family will have the address, and whether or not they actually ever look at it, please keep in mind that people like my college admission couselor, my grandparents, and other adults, will be reading this. So far nothing that anyone has said has been too much, so I don't think there's really anything to worry about.

More? Good god this cat just keeps typin! I am looking to places to stay! The majority of the camping on this trip will be 'Freelance' camping Which involves asking people if I can sleep in their yard/field, sleeping behind banks, on unused state land, public parks, etc. It will be great to have some places on the way that I know I can stop. I'll start with south Dakota. Does anyone have relatives/aquaintances in south Dakota that mght be cool with a very dirty cyclist camping in a corner of their yard?

Lastly, I am looking for a trumpet or cornet to buy for around 25 dollars. It can be really dented and ugly, it just has to play. If anyone's parents have an old horn siting up in the attic, I would love to know.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Update

Today is an auspicious day. Today I learned that my now-complete Long Haul Trucker cost me less than 500 dollars to build. That's including racks, panniers, a new wheel, tires, shoes, a ton of tools,....everything!!! Go to the surlyville link and check out what ths bike costs if you order it from surly! Long live used parts, long live Sunrise Cyclery!!
Preperations lurch , bit by bit, departure approaches. Not enough time to say enough goodbyes...

Bike sizes.

The Schwinn is 22 inches from middle of the bottom bracket to the middle of the intersection of the top tube and the seat tube. In other words, the seat tube is about 22 inches. I am about 5 ft 9 inches and it fits me well.

The blue Hiawatha has a 16 inch seat tube and if it had a straight top tube it would be 22 inches.

The red Monarck has a 16 inch top tube and would have a 22 inch top tube if it were straight.

Pictures of the schwinn on the way.
Both the cruisers need to have the coaster brakes worked on.

It's comin together!!!

The cruisers

BIKES FOR SALE

I am culling the herd. Pictures will be up tomorrow. I am selling three bikes. Two are old coaster brake cruisers, a red boys Monarck and a blue women's/step-through Hiawatha. They are not in perfect shpe, and could both use a tune up. the real prize is an old schwinn from, oh, probably the 80s. I know you will skoff at this Nick Ray, but this is a good bike. It is a good lugged steel frame, with decent components and upright straight bars. I don't know what the model is, but it is similar to the Traveler, World Traveler, and Sprint models, so it is not one of the older super heavy schwinns and is not one of their newer pieces of shit. It has nearly new kevlar tires, and the wheels are straight. I am selling it at Sunrise Cyclery for a normal $150, but I thought I would see if any of you folks are looking for a bike. If you are, I will take $100. I anyone is interested I'll put pictures up. Also, if anyone is interested in the cruisers they are also going to sunrise, but if anyone wants one I'll sell them each for $20.

loneliness can be a fleeting feeling when you've got friends like you guys!
I spent a good chunk of today packing my stuff. It won't be the final packing, but I need to know whether I've got enough space for all my crap. Sleeping bag, tent, wok, stove, fuel, clothes, certain bulk foods(noodles, oatmeal), repair tools and replacement parts, first aid kit, blah blah blah, you get the picture. The whole thing was terribly exciting. Nothing like putting stuff in bags to really get the adrenaline going!

Warning, the following will probably only be interesting to bike nerds, and even they might not be interested.
For those of you who know of my single-speed bike, my hexagonal-tubing Jupiter King. I have taken all of the few components off, and taken the fork and headset out. Now I need to strip the paint off. I am going to take every bit of paint of the frame and fork so it's just bare metal. At that point, I will face a difficult decision. I have been playing with color ideas, but I also think I may just leave the bike bare metal and then put a clear coat on. That way, the frame will look unpainted. Of course, all this will have to wait as my spare time is generally used up by trip preperations.
bike nerd portion of post ending

How is school going for everyone? Hows the food? What classes do people have? How are people's roommates? Hows the food? Any really crazy professors? Is the food any good?

Also, for people still in the city, we could hang out! Im not sure how many of us there are, but if we include people at the U I think we have a decent group.

It's lonely here folks. It's really lonely. it's not the same as camping on my own. I'm here, living my normal life, except all my friends are gone. The few that are here are busy with school. It's my same old life, but with huge holes cut out.

the pull

When I talked about defermentt with folks some people always brought up the point that I would "start a life, get a job, start buying things, get rooted, and not want to ever go to college. I can see the appeal. I want to build a cargo bike. I want to get a job as a bike messenger. The owner of sunrise has practically offered to let me live in the second story of his garage. I want so many things that seem just within reach if I just stayed in the city. Therefore I must go. It is comfortable here, it is safe. Although most of my friends have left, a few really close ones remain. It would be so easy to stay here. It would be fun. I have to get one the road before I become stuck here, too in love with the people here and the life that could be mine. I must go I must go I must go I MUST GO!!!

More of the exhibit

'The othe 90% percent ' exhibit

So, I Headed over to the sculpture garden around noon today to check out this "Designs For The Other 90% " exhibit. Luckily it was free. The idea is this: we in the USA are generally in the top 10 percent of the world population in terms of luxury of life. That is to say, 90% of the worlds population does not have acces to the huge amount of services such as clean water pumped to our homes, electricty, natural gas, sewage systems, cars/buses/trucks, basic building materials, and all that good stuff. The products in this exhibit are being used currently by communities of the other 90%.
The blue thing is a water pump that you operate by walking on it like a stair master. The plastic buckets are several examples of water filtration using ceramic filters. The other pictures shoud be pretty self explanatory.

police and anarchist playdate in downtown st. Paul

Changing the world, one very slightly late bus at a time.

september 1

the bike share program!