Back to back century rides as well as a welcome visit from my Minnesota friend Bjarne has put me 2 days behind on blog entries. Not to worry though, all is well, unless a night spent being attacked by mosquitoes, being mistaken for a "hobo dude" by some partying local youth, being pulled over by a MN State trooper or 15 extra "bonus" miles " getting lost on a century ride are cause for worry.

I will start with the evening leaving Worthington, MN when I set out after dinner for a night sleeping under the stars. The hotel was wretched and after a great night in South Dakota left Monday evening with great hopes for another pleasant night. I rode the first 20 miles of the 110 mile route scheduled for Tuesday. It was beautiful as the sun was going down and cool, which was a great relief from the mid day heat. All went well until just after the sun set when I turned down a remote, deserted lane between a corn and soybean field to bed down in some tall grass. But the second I stopped and began to set up I was attacked by a billion mosquitoes. Apparently, unlike SD, in MN the land of ten-thousand lakes, the 10,000 lakes bread ten gazillion mosquitoes.

After a quick exit to cut my losses, I rode in what was now a very dark, moonless night about 8 miles to the very small town of Heron Lake (population 678), which turned out to be a very lovely little village. There was a park right in the middle of town with a very cute gazebo in which they had mounted the towns heirloom bell, a huge 3 foot diameter bell with a knocker the size of a volleyball. There was about 2 feet of clearance below the bell and that is where I settled in to sleep. Miraculously there were NO mosquitoes in the village! I was sleeping comfortable when about 1 AM I heard voices of some very obviously drunk and stoned youth. They saw my bicycle and came over to investigate and upon discovering me, were astonished to find what they described as an "old man hobo dude" sleeping under their town bell. The highest of the 4 thought he was hallucinating and was certain that I was "the hippey dude" from the movie "Back to the Future" who put garbage in his car as fuel. They insisted I party with them but when I told them about my bicycle ride across the country, agreed I need some rest. Continuing to call me "old man hobo dude" one invited me to his house for a real bed and another offered up his trampoline, but I wanted the peace, quiet and security of the town bell.

After being woken a few more times during the night by several screaming freight trains that passed nearby and rattled the ground, I arose before dawn to retrace my path back to the mosquito field to retrieve my very critical prescription sun glasses. I was very sad not to be able to get a photo of either site because I arrived in the pitch dark and left before daylight.

The rest of the day was a killer! It was a  brutally hot (100 F+) 110 mile day with rolling hills and a steady wind from the east. After a night of marginal sleep I arrived in Mankato, "looking like shit" as Bjarne described. I did recover with a cold bear and dinner before going to bed at about 7:30 with no time or energy to post a blog.

Moi, "looking like shit" as Bjarne said

Moi with Bjarne and his cousin from Norway, looking a little better after a shower

Richard from Sudberry, MA and one of the ubiquitous MN corn fields