Blow Out

You can probably guess what the excitement was today.

Joe left Pelican Rapids at 7 am heading to Alexandria.  He took a picture of one of the fields and the crop lines/circles.  Once he was on the Central Lakes Trail, which goes from Fergus Falls to Osakis, MN there was a sign with some of the upcoming distances.  Fun fact, at Osakis the trail becomes the Lake Wobegon Trail which continues on to Waite Park, MN. Right at the beginning of the Central Lakes Trail he traveled through a tunnel and found Waldo!!  He also saw a red fox. The day was starting out on a winning note.

When Joe arrived at Dalton, MN he came upon the Purple Heart Chapel.  Please look at the pictures.  It is humbling and there really are no words.  Joe commented on how he just came upon it and people seemed to respect the chapel and the surrounding area.

Soon after Dalton the tire blew.  Joe and I were actually on the phone when it happened, and I could hear the pop.  It was a catastrophic inner tube failure followed by a rear tire side wall tear.  He removed the rear tire and saw that the inner tube was completely blown and put the spare inner tube on, that’s when he discovered that the side wall was torn.  He’s not sure how it happened.  The trail was extremely bumpy, but he can’t pinpoint exactly what caused the catastrophe.  He had his fingers crossed that he could continue to the end. And he made it the 32 miles! There is a picture of the tire bulge when he left Dalton and then how much it had grown by the time we met up 30+ miles later.

As for Neptune and me, we packed up a bit quicker than usual because we weren’t sure if we’d need to meet up with Joe to offer support.  Which means driving to him with more tools, etc to fix it himself.  Neptune and I stopped at a rest area for a nice walk about and timed our ending perfectly to meet up with Joe at the same time at the camp.  It was a more challenging back-in spot, but Joe and I are learning to work together with patience and kindness. And teamwork made the dream work!  Honestly, I’ve discovered I’m a bit crabby when I get to the campsite because I’ve been white knuckling the drive.  Once I was able to acknowledge that, I’ve been able to be more patient with this final part of the daily trip- the parking of the RV.  Alexandria has had a lot of rain recently and not only are there a ton of mosquitos, but we ended up needing to put the truck in 4-wheel drive to get through the gravel and mud. 

Joe and Neptune relaxed together watching Stage 11 of the Tour before Joe worked on more permanent fixes for the rear tire.  We went to Alex’s Bike Shop for an extra inner tube.

And of course we found a local brewery, Copper Trail Brewing Company, to enjoy a beer and a snack.  Mom- they have a cribbage league and the wooden tables have cribbage boards built into them.  You’d love it!

We’re leaving Alexandria tomorrow and heading home after a final ride.  Looking forward to seeing family and friends and cats.  And Costco (for Joe- who's wishing Thomas was with him).