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Day 4 - Tuesday, July 1, 2003 Luverne, MN to Munising, MI 698 miles for the day, 2,819 miles traveled so far. 12:08 in the saddle, 13:40 total time check-out to check-in. Average speed while riding was 57.5 mph. Parks visited this day:
Stamps: Daily Journal: I left the motel at 7:30. My new path took me east on I-90 to MN-60. Near Mankato, I switched to US-169 for the ride into Minneapolis. Overall, I remember this as quite a pleasant ride, except for the traffic in Minneapolis. I made my way over to the east side of the Mississippi River in Coon Rapids. At the Coon Rapids Regional Park, a county park, one of the stamps for the Mississippi NRRA can be found. I arrived at 11:00, talked my way into the parking lot for free, got my stamp, looked at the exhibits on the dam, and left. On to St. Croix Falls, via I-35 and US-8. I had read that the VC for the St. Croix NSR was closed for mold removal, but I stopped anyway just in case it was open. Well the ranger station was open and it had the stamp. I also picked up a second stamp thinking it was for the Ice Age Scientific Reserve. I went back south through town and then continued east on US-8, passing a small ranger station just outside of town (more about this at the end of the day). Turning north on US-63, and then east on US-2, and then north on WI-13 brought me to Bayfield, and the VC for the Apostle Islands NL. I arrived here at 4:00, which was good since the VC closes at 4:30. After touring the VC, I returned to US-2 and continued east. I pulled over at a rest stop on the Michigan state line to make reservations at Munising. In a few more miles, I crossed into Eastern time and lost another hour. In Wakefield, I missed the turn for MI-28 and had continued on US-2 for about 5 miles before I realized my error. I backtracked and got going on the correct path. In Marquette, I put the clear shield on. Just East of Marquette, I saw a beautiful sunset in my rear view mirror. A number of cars were pulling over to watch the sunset. I did also to take a picture. The sun was fiery red and setting over Lake Superior and the Keweenaw peninsula. At that time, I found out my second camera battery was completely dead, it was the oldest and I guess it couldn't hold a charge anymore. Pissed off, I just got back on the bike and continued east to Munising, 40 miles away. As it started to get dark, I realized that both of the lights for the tach were out. Bummer since I use the tach to keep a steady pace. Also, a number of cars flashed their lights at me. I didn't figure out why until the next day. It was dark when I got to Munising, 10:10 Eastern time. I knew I had quite a ride the next day, and I was glad to have been able to make it as far as I had that Tuesday. I couldn't go any further, because the only stamp that I was getting in MI was there in Munising. In the motel, I realized that I had gotten the stamp for the Ice Age NS Trail, not the Reserve. Oh well. Since I hadn't hiked on any part of the trail, I crossed that stamp off. And to top that off, I was found out while perusing through the printouts of the Lincon web site, that the small ranger station just east of St. Croix Falls was where the stamp that I thought I got was. Map: |
