Twin Cities, Twin Blunders, Twin Smiles

We rode from Fargo, ND to Fergus Falls, MN for a delicious brunch at Debbie’s Homestyle Kitchen. We are riding Interstate 94 for a while again today to gain some distance. I94 passes through gently rolling agricultural country with beautiful farms and many corn fields. Minnesota advertises itself as the land of 10,000 lakes and many of them are evident on our route.
One of the great things about riding motorcycle is the connection one feels to the countryside: the smells, the temperature, the wind, etc. In Montana and North Dakota the farmers were mowing hay and although both of us suffer from hay fever, the smell was wonderful. We are always impressed by the prairie farmers in Canada and America who mow and bale the hay just off the shoulder of the highways. We speculate that this service reduces fires and wildlife grazing and we hope the hard-working farmers we wave to get some remuneration for it.
The downside of being closer to the elements are the bugs, bugs, and more bugs. We cover the front of the bike everyday with a large variety of them, which bothers Barry more than me, as he feels responsible for keeping the bike clean. We’ve had excellent weather: warm with cloudy periods, some rain at night but dry roads for riding. We’ve also encountered the occasional stench of a skunk and the heady aroma of manure.
We are compelled to ride I94 through the twin cities of Minneapolis/St.Paul as we don’t have the time to ride around them, so we bite down hard and go for it. Two missed exits out of eight isn’t that bad when you recognize your error and correct it as soon as possible (so I tell Barry). He is a very cool rider in tense situations and I am an anxious navigator but we are still sleeping with each other tonight so it‘s all good.
We leave for Interstates for the calm of Highway 52S to Highway 61S, the Great River Road along the Mississippi River. We actually had our first glimpse of the Mississippi River in St.Paul but we were really much to involved with traffic to appreciate it. Our final destination this afternoon is the charming, historic city of Red Wing located on the bluffs along the Mississippi. Red Wing is on many “must see” lists and it is a very interesting river town with many historic buildings.
We are staying at the very clean and attractive Best Western Rivertown Inn. Advertised as only 6 blocks from the river we are disappointed that walking to the river is not an option because of a lack of sidewalks and heavy traffic on the 4 lane highway that divides the motel from the riverside. We often stay in chain hotels such as Best Western and Comfort Inns when we are doing one night stays as we can depend on them being clean, quiet and accessible. We have travelled 3,489 kms safely, from Vancouver Island to the mighty Mississippi, and we celebrate with a picnic supper (but not by the river) and a 6-pack of Miller Genuine Draft!