Stormy Evening

I planned out the route we would take out of Minneapolis. We were very slow getting out of the house, packing up all our stuff getting ready to go. Lenny and Lee rode the tandem that Joel had in the garage and I rode it with Erin. It was neat.

I was sad to leave, but Minneapolis had been fun and it was time to hit the road again. We rode over to the Rainbow supermarket to pick up food for the day. We spent a lot of time in the bulk foods aisle “sampling.” We rode to the park outside Minneapolis and ate what we got. I pigged out – had two sandwiches, some biscotti, an apple, some other stuff. I can’t really remember right now, my head is kind of foggy from the other night and my legs are burning.

We continued on the Luce Line trail, which wove through Minnesota. We met three female tourists on their way back to Minneapolis who each had their very own tidy cat panniers. There was obvious some sexual tension and the guys joked about it later. “Well, we’re always looking for damsels in distress,” I said to the girls. “You should have been like “rescuing damsels in heat,”” Lee said earlier On and on.  As we rode, we entered tunnels, and like high school kids, we shouted real loud as we entered them. “I like it that you said you two were going to Portland, OR and I was going to college,” said Lee. “Yeah, we’re taking you to school,” I said.

We got to a park reserve and rode around looking for a spot to camp. We took a look at group camping – that’s when the bugs became unbearable. I shrieked at the amount of bugs. We continued until we hit a campsite. There was a pay box and the office wasn’t going to be open until nine, so we decided to stay without paying.

We cooked quinoa, eggplant, onions, and red pepper that night. It was quite a production – all burners were on and we were battling the wind. Suddenly though, after we were finished eating our glorious meal, the wind died and we started to hear thunder and lightning. There was a storm coming. Lee and Lenny were the first ones to pick up on it and we scrambled to move stuff into a dry spot. Lenny began affixing a tarp to our tent to protect us from getting extra wet. Suddenly, the wind hit us and it was enormous. We began to run around moving our stuff under the awning near the bathrooms. The power in the park suddenly went out. I didn’t know where half my stuff was, but I managed to throw it all under the awning, leaving a few dishes unwashed beside the sink and jump into my tent only slightly wet from the rain that was starting to pelt down on us.

I helped Lenny bring his bike under the awning and accidentally got his straps stuck in his chain. Sorry Lenny.

We all lay in our tents listening to the storm outside. It was big – lots of thunder and lightning. Lenny and I talked about his house and housemates and the rain and watching the rain from one’s porch. "Are you guys still alive?" Yeah Lee, we're still alive.