Hello from within the fires of hell (Day 14)

, 5 min, 803 words

Tags: biking transamerica-2021

I can't believe it – I've been on the road for two weeks. In that time, I've pedaled over 800 miles and within parts of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Thankfully, Minnesota has been (relatively) flat thus far, which has allowed me to cover some serious ground the last few days, despite only biking before noon to avoid the worst of the heat. For those not living in the Midwest, or reading from the future, we've been slammed with a heat wave the last few days. Pros: no rain, relatively little wind. Cons: hundred-degree weather and roasting sunlight. So the last three days or so I've been on the road before sunrise, biked for a few hours, and stopped around noon.

Alas, the last two nights I've opted to shelter in hotels. Pros: not getting heat illness, proximity to places with vegetables. Cons: expensive, indoors. Ah, well. Tomorrow night is supposed to cool off a bit, so I'm planning to still bike early but once again spend the night under the stars.

But enough about the chief challenge for this section of the trip. I wanna talk about how incredibly stunning Minnesota is. At least the parts I've seen. Also, I should apologize for an error in my last email – I entered Minnesota from Wisconsin not by crossing the Mississippi, but by crossing the Saint Croix River. I crossed the Mississippi today, well within the heart of Minnesota. Today I learned!

But yeah, this section of the country is gorgeous. Wide open areas, forests, fabulous bird life, an incredible diversity of reptiles...words don't really cover it. You'll just have to come see for yourselves. Just as a single example, yesterday I spotted a teeny tiny snake wriggling along the white line on the side of a road. If the road hadn't been busy, I'd have stopped for a picture, but since I couldn't stop, imagine a tiny dark wriggling shape (serpentine motion – see this awesome graphic for the ways snakes move), maybe five inches long and just a few millimeters wide, only visible because of the bright white behind it. I've also seen a number of adorable turtles (and sadly, a number of flattened ones as well), many deer, especially thanks to my early morning departures, and of course farm animals. And lots of goldfinches, plus a bird I keep seeing but can't identify with a black cap and white and gray body perched on wires. It holds itself a little like a swallow, but I think it's bigger? Anyway, a beautiful, stately bird.

Sunrise in rural Minnesota. Clouds arch across the sky, which ranges from very pale blue to a pastel orange
Shadow selfie! A biker with lots of panniers casts a shadow on the road. On either side of the road are wooded and grassy areas

The other joy of today and the next two days of biking is an incredible trail system that allows me to bike exclusively off roads for about a hundred miles. The kicker? Today I was on the Lake Wobegon Trail of all things. Highly recommend this system for anyone passing through here in the future. It even has little bike repair stations and water fountains at strategic locations.

Lake Wobegon regional trail sign
A long-ish bridge across a pretty river

Well, if you've made it through this long ramble, you deserve some quick "stats" (all stats for just today, unless otherwise noted):

  • Sunrise: 5:29am
  • Departure time: 5:10am
  • Max temp today: 99 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Species of roadkill spotted: 5 (turtle, snake, raccoon, deer, robin)
  • Times I've been "chased away" by red-winged blackbirds: countless
  • Cow "stampedes" provoked: 2
  • Cute goats: 2 + 7 = 9
  • Rinses required to clean riding clothes: 6-ish (soft water didn't help)
Zeph in reflective vest, helmet, and short sleeves smiling at the camera with early morning sky behind
Two small but adorable goats in a circular enclosure also including two trees

Thanks all for your support and encouragement! Lots of love,
Zeph