At the same as it’s gotten colder (making camping an even less attractive proposition), a lot of the motel/resort type lodging options along my Adventure Cycling route west have been shutting down for the season. On Tuesday night (9/12), I decided to stay put through Wednesday at the Vacationaire Resort about eight miles north of Park Rapids in order to do some alternate route and accommodations planning. On Thursday (9/14), I biked 67 miles to Detroit Lakes, MN, where I got a room at the Fairfield Inn.

While hanging out at the Vacationaire on Wednesday, I walked down the road to Foxy’s Bar & Grill for lunch. Unfortunately, Foxy’s owner, Cody, had closed the kitchen for the day because his kitchen manager had been working seven days a week and he wanted her to have a day off. Thankfully, however, he was still able to make pizzas, so that’s what I ate.

There weren’t many other customers at Foxy’s that afternoon, and while I ate pizza and drank Arnold Palmers, Cody and I chatted for about an hour about all kinds of topics: hunting and wolf packs, crime, gun ownership, and (of course) food, among others. Cody is proud of the food at his restaurant (they’ve won some awards) and takes care in their ingredients and where they source them. He and his employees have permits to carry guns, which he believes is important in outlying areas where criminals might otherwise see businesses like his as vulnerable targets.

Cody hunts deer and grouse. He says the deer population in the area has dropped significantly since wolves repopulated the region. While out deer hunting, he himself was once hunted by one of the three wolf packs in the area, and the wolves weren’t fazed by a handgun he fired at nearby branches to try to scare them off. When he ran out of ammo, he picked up his pace to make it back to his car.

One of Cody’s favorite books is Helen Keller’s autobiography, which he finds amazing and inspirational. Here he is, standing in front of his bar before going out for a smoke. I was getting ready to leave before I took the photo, and he told me I could just leave my money on the table before I took off.

There was a lot of rain in the area as I rode to Detroit Lakes on Thursday, but other than a 30- to 40-minute light shower in the early afternoon, I mostly avoided it. And the rain nearby that morning did yield a nice rainbow as I got on my way–so in that case, I avoided the rain but still got the rainbow. It is a bit faint in this photo, but you can see it on the horizon aimed at the road ahead.

Later that morning, I stopped at the Two Inlets Country Store in Two Inlets (pop. 189), where they had a garage set up as a lounge area for travelers like me. Nice! The owner/manager showed me the control for the TV and said I should feel free to use it while I ate my breakfast.

Later that morning, as I passed the White Earth Nation Reservation and the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, I met Anthony, who was headed east and crossed over to my side of the highway to say hello. We chatted for 15 minutes or so. Anthony is 27 years old, runs ultra marathons, and had biked from Idaho. He is originally from New Hampshire. On this trip, he bikes 80 to 100 miles a day, and one day recently, in North Dakota’s Badlands, he biked 150 miles, which he said was really exhausting. I was impressed by how light he was traveling. As you can see in the photo below, he had only one rear pannier bag. Anthony was on his way to Bemidji that night and plans to get to Milwaukee, and also talked about trying to catch a ferry to Isle Royale if he can. He has biked in 33 states and his goal is to bike in all 50. His job is in retirement planning, but he knows as he advances in his career and takes on other responsibilities in life, it will get to be harder to take a trip like the one he’s on. He has a girlfriend who likes biking, but in much smaller doses.

I stopped for lunch at the Ice Cracking Lodge, established in 1934, near Ponsford, MN (pop. 765). This is one of the lodges in the area that has closed its resort cabins for the season, but their restaurant, “home of the thunderburger,” is still open. Yes, I ordered a thunderburger, and it was good.

This is a glimpse of the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge from the side of the highway.

In Richwood, MN (pop. 824), I stopped at the Farmer’s Daughter for an ice cream cone. For the second time that day, I was quite impressed by the customer accommodations in this remote part of the state. Rocking chairs and rugs–yeah!

My hotel in Detroit Lakes, MN (pop. 9,795), the county seat of Becker County, is very close to Detroit Lake, where there is a mile-long city beach shown in the photo below. I learned that when the city was originally established in 1871, it was known simply as “Detroit,” but then changed its name in 1927 to avoid confusion with Detroit, MI.

Thursday was my last night in Minnesota on this trip. On Friday (9/15), I’m planning a 50-mile ride to get to Fargo, N.D.