Ok, I'll admit it, it was a long pull to get to St. Paul today (67 miles) and most of it was on roads as opposed to bike paths. But here we are in the embrace of our friends JC and Maryann.
About 15 miles from St. Paul, we were met by the welcoming escort provided by JC's friend Hoppo, who I also know from previous visits. It was great to have a native lead us through all the many turns in the city to our destination.
This picture was taken as we waited at a railroad crossing.
The weather, well, judge for yourself.
Here we are in pretty heavy traffic. There's a wide shoulder but the cars are going by at 60 mph.
Fortunately that was only for a few miles, then we had secondary roads and then bike paths.
We are noticing a lot more touring bicyclists. However, I'm disappointed that we have virtually no interactions with them other than waving as we pass. It's hard to carry on a conversation in that circumstance.
We saw lots and lots of motorcyclists and talked to some of them. Lunch was at a biker bar named Nauti Hawg. One of the locals told the waitress to give us whatever drink we wanted. She said, well they're drinking water. We had a nice conversation after that. It was a lot of fun.
Now for a couple of well-earned rest days.