After breakfast at the picnic table overlooking the lake, we put some snacks in our rack boxes and hopped on our bikes. We could ride directly out the campground, up a short hill and onto a spur trail leading to the Lake Wobegon trail. The pedaling was fairly easy but constant, as is typical of rails-to-trails. Most of the terrain was slightly rolling and varied from cropland to prairie. There was a light cloud cover which was nice. With more open space than treed canopy, it could be an intense sun if there were no clouds.
We stopped briefly at each town: West Union (horrid outhouses), Osakis (nice lake), Nelson (don't blink), and finally into Alexandria. We found that Minnesotans just call it Alex. There we rode right to the old railway station now a restaurant. We got a table outdoors, under an umbrella, overlooking the lake and right next to our bikes! The beef noodle soup was excellent but we should know better than to order popovers that come without a wait; they were soggy.
After a photo session in front of a GIANT Viking (what is it with Minnesota towns and giant wooden figures?), we headed back to Sauk Centre. Uh-oh. I guess that gentle railroad grade we thought was uphill to Alex wasn't. Can a trail be uphill in both directions? Maybe that little headwind we now had was a tailwind we never noticed this morning. Maybe it was just a longer ride than we were used to, but the ride back was a lot more work. We were slower and took a couple of extra breaks. When we got to our campsite, the odometer read 52.7 miles – a personal best for both of us!
We made a quick trip to the local coffee shop for ice cream (John) and a smoothie (Marilyn) so we could check e-mail and investigate campgrounds for our next stop. Showers revived our weary bodies and big salads with banana bread filled our tummies. After a nice walk along the lake, it was early to bed. Ahh.
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