The flat tire we fixed in Walker, MN on Friday (9/8) turned out to have another, slower, leak, which fortunately I realized before heading off down the road to points west. I was still at our cabin, but once Trudi headed home on Monday, 9/11, I needed transportation to get back and forth to the Back Street Bicycle Shop in Walker. Thankfully, our friends at Prososki All-Care, who have helped us with some boat and plowing services for close to 20 years, were able to lend me one of their trucks. So, on Monday, my transportation was this motorized vehicle:

Ron Prososki, father of Mike Prososki, who founded and operates Prososki All-Care, gave me a ride back to our cabin after I dropped off their truck. Ron used to operate a large supper club in Mankato, MN for many years and then relocated to the area around Hackensack, MN. Despite battles with thyroid cancer and joint issues, Ron enjoys working, and does some work for at least two of his kids who own businesses in the area, including Mike and his brother, who has a contracting business.

When I realized I would be held up at our cabin for another day while having Paul Nye at Back Street Bike take another look at my rear tire, I looked up Tony, an old friend from Walker, MN, to see if he might be in the area. It turns out he was, and also that (small town=small world) he has known Paul Nye for many years. On Monday, after Paul fixed my tire, the three of us had a pizza dinner at Benson’s Eating and Drinking Emporium in Walker, right across the street from where Tony’s grandfather and father once operated a service station. Here you can see Tony and Paul with Animaa, our server, who came here from Mongolia to work at Benson’s for three months.

Speaking of a chance to connect with friends, before leaving the cabin on Tuesday (9/12), I was able to visit briefly with Linda and Dennis from Iowa, who used to be our next-door neighbors at the cabin but have now relocated to another place just a short way down the road (no doubt to find better neighbors who spend a little more time in the area). Linda and Dennis were out celebrating Linda’s birthday that day. Linda has other reasons for a celebration. She discovered she had breast cancer in May, after getting a mammogram that another doctor told her was unnecessary because she was over 70. Following a double mastectomy, her testing now shows she is cancer-free. Linda wants other women to know about her experience, and her belief that continued mammograms are a really good idea for older women.

On my way west on Tuesday, I stopped at Zappy’s Cafe in Akeley for lunch. A couple of guys, Dan and Mark, who you see in the photo below, stopped to ask where I was headed on the bike, and we had a great conversation about seeing the country that way. Mark indicated that he also enjoys longer bike trips and mentioned a trip he had taken from the Twin Cities to Traverse City, MI through the Upper Peninsula. He also recommended a book, Downhills Don’t Come Free: One Man’s Bike Ride from Alaska to Mexico, by Jerry Holl from Minnesota, which I’ve now ordered.

Have you ever heard of a rock snake? I hadn’t, but learned what this was through the sign and the “snake” of rocks shown in the photos below alongside the Heartland Trail. I took the Heartland Trail for over 20 miles of Tuesday’s 37-mile ride from our cabin to a lodge about 10 miles north of Park Rapids, MI.

Following are a couple more photos from the Heartland Trail, which is quite beautiful. As you can see from the second photo, fall is already underway here–temps have been hitting the 40s and 50s on a regular basis. There were some areas where the trail was completely covered by fallen leaves.

On Tuesday evening, I spent several hours working on lodging alternatives for the coming day with my Chief Navigator Trudi and my sister Karen, a travel agent. I’ve learned that many of the few resorts/lodges in the area have already closed for the season, and there are few alternatives along the Adventure Cycling route maps I’ve been using. There are some campgrounds that are still open, but camping as the thermometer is falling doesn’t seem like much fun, and we are now looking at some alternate routes to Fargo, N.D. that might include a stop in Detroit Lakes, MN (pop. 9,795). Detroit Lakes, which the locals refer to as “D.L.,” offers more options for accommodations that don’t involve a tent.