July 26- We started our day with biscuits and a delicious egg, cheese, and meat casserole made by the lovely Mrs Gier. Today's goal: reaching Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes! Trip leader Lydia rode over to the only bike shop in town that was open on a Sunday to get some problems sorted out while the rest of the crew made their way out of the city. We met up about 15 miles down the road, where we stopped to do some grocery shopping and rerouting. We met a lot of lovely people as we ate our lunch in town, one of whom gave Tyler, Katie, and Branton hand carved Bambi trinkets! We left the town with encouraging words and boosted confidence and made our way through the beautiful countryside to the border. A short 20 miles later we arrived at the coveted Minnesota state line, where we stopped for a photo. We rode into the town just over the border, where Tyler and Katie managed to find a great little camp spot that was not on the maps where we had our 2nd lunch of the day. We left soon after to squeeze the last of our day's miles in before dark, and ended up enjoying a gorgeous sunset while riding through the postcard-worthy farmland of Minnesota. Upon arriving to our destination, we struck up a conversation with a kind Minnesotan who pointed us to Chandler city park, where he opened the door to the community center for us. No tents!! We made a meat, rice, onion and broccoli dish for dinner and fell asleep soundly, looking forward to another day of beautiful Minnesota biking.
