Day 29 – Home sweet home.
Owatonna, Minnesota to Winona, Minnesota
Today was a wonderful day, and a wonderful day of ironies. Last night we slept under the stars in a little row of four sleeping bags. Ane got fed up with the flood lights of the recreation center next door, and moved into the Beer Garden building where everyone else was sleeping. That’s right, the Beer Garden building. The remaining three of us finally fell asleep under the stars to passing lightning in distance. About three o’clock in the morning I woke up to a few sprinkles on my face. Deciding not to take my chances, I instigated a move to the Beer Garden, and just as we approached the door it began to pour outside. Not exactly a great night’s sleep, but an adventure nonetheless.
After a truck breakfast in the Beer Garden, we were off to an on-again-off-again rainy morning. The sunrise was gorgeous with the intense color around the clouds that washed out to either side into to the horizon. Beautiful. We sure knew how to make that first twenty miles last: 3 flats and one punctured tire. So the one morning we had somewhere we wanted to get to fast, we were almost the very last ones to Rochester. All we could do was laugh. What a sign was this? At least there was a great rainbow by the last flat we were fixing.
Finally, finally, we made it to Rochester. As we came down the hill on Country Club Dr., I saw my grandmother’s assisted living home, and across from it some yellow tents with people milling around—our welcoming committee! Ane’s family and mine were there with muffins, strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp, lots of fruit, cake, gatorade, and water. What a treat. It was so wonderful, and it was apparent by the empty trays that everyone else before us enjoyed it as well. Not to mention my generous father greeted the four of us with espresso drink orders, what else could we have wanted? It was so much fun. I went up to see my grandma and my aunt Kady for a little while as well, which was so nice.
After a long period of eating and socializing we moved on to ride through downtown Rochester, and Ane and I were tour guides for Ben and Sean pointing out St. Mary’s, the Mayo building, where I bought my sunglasses, where we used to get our hair cut, where I once saw an accident, and other such obviously important landmarks. And then I got another flat tire. Another! That brought our total of the day up to four flat tubes and two replaced tires for the four of us, and a grand total of four flats for me so far this trip.
The rest of our day was blissful. I can’t say enough times how much I love Minnesota. We were definitely among the last handful of people in the group on the route today, but it didn’t bother me at all because it was all totally worth it. We didn’t have the best shoulders today, but we spent most of the day riding two abreast talking and enjoying ourselves, stopping often to eat and use “the facilities.” It was fun to arrive at each rest stop throughout the day to see smiling familiar faces of friends and family. And it was beautiful. Of course.
Camp tonight is in the dorm rooms of Winona State University, where we got to do laundry! Washing things in the sink can be so inconvenient. Both my family and Ane’s family met us in Winona and we all went out to the Acoustic Cafe for dinner. Holy yumminess. Just what I wanted and way better than the cafeteria food we heard was served to the group. The Cafe’s atmosphere was so chill and comfortable, just what we needed, and we were so fortunate to be surrounded by both our families. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Today was a wonderful day, and a wonderful day of ironies. Last night we slept under the stars in a little row of four sleeping bags. Ane got fed up with the flood lights of the recreation center next door, and moved into the Beer Garden building where everyone else was sleeping. That’s right, the Beer Garden building. The remaining three of us finally fell asleep under the stars to passing lightning in distance. About three o’clock in the morning I woke up to a few sprinkles on my face. Deciding not to take my chances, I instigated a move to the Beer Garden, and just as we approached the door it began to pour outside. Not exactly a great night’s sleep, but an adventure nonetheless.
After a truck breakfast in the Beer Garden, we were off to an on-again-off-again rainy morning. The sunrise was gorgeous with the intense color around the clouds that washed out to either side into to the horizon. Beautiful. We sure knew how to make that first twenty miles last: 3 flats and one punctured tire. So the one morning we had somewhere we wanted to get to fast, we were almost the very last ones to Rochester. All we could do was laugh. What a sign was this? At least there was a great rainbow by the last flat we were fixing.
Finally, finally, we made it to Rochester. As we came down the hill on Country Club Dr., I saw my grandmother’s assisted living home, and across from it some yellow tents with people milling around—our welcoming committee! Ane’s family and mine were there with muffins, strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp, lots of fruit, cake, gatorade, and water. What a treat. It was so wonderful, and it was apparent by the empty trays that everyone else before us enjoyed it as well. Not to mention my generous father greeted the four of us with espresso drink orders, what else could we have wanted? It was so much fun. I went up to see my grandma and my aunt Kady for a little while as well, which was so nice.
After a long period of eating and socializing we moved on to ride through downtown Rochester, and Ane and I were tour guides for Ben and Sean pointing out St. Mary’s, the Mayo building, where I bought my sunglasses, where we used to get our hair cut, where I once saw an accident, and other such obviously important landmarks. And then I got another flat tire. Another! That brought our total of the day up to four flat tubes and two replaced tires for the four of us, and a grand total of four flats for me so far this trip.
The rest of our day was blissful. I can’t say enough times how much I love Minnesota. We were definitely among the last handful of people in the group on the route today, but it didn’t bother me at all because it was all totally worth it. We didn’t have the best shoulders today, but we spent most of the day riding two abreast talking and enjoying ourselves, stopping often to eat and use “the facilities.” It was fun to arrive at each rest stop throughout the day to see smiling familiar faces of friends and family. And it was beautiful. Of course.
Camp tonight is in the dorm rooms of Winona State University, where we got to do laundry! Washing things in the sink can be so inconvenient. Both my family and Ane’s family met us in Winona and we all went out to the Acoustic Cafe for dinner. Holy yumminess. Just what I wanted and way better than the cafeteria food we heard was served to the group. The Cafe’s atmosphere was so chill and comfortable, just what we needed, and we were so fortunate to be surrounded by both our families. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
posted by elizabeth at 5:24 PM
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