A Grand Tour Complete

I woke up promptly at O-Dark-Thirty in my motel in Bemidji.  That translates to “way before 6 am” in my book, and yet I smiled just a little.  My alarm for the day was a work truck parked outside my window.  I smiled because I didn’t have to go to work.  Today, I was able to get the last two photos I needed to complete this year’s Grand Tour of Minnesota motorcycling event.  Here are a few photos and thoughts from today’s ride.

The temp was a cool 56 degrees when I set out, and there were an abundance of heavy bottomed clouds filling the sky.  Despite rain being absent from the radar app on my phone, I found myself zig-zagging through and around showers between Bemidji and Garrison.  Here, I stopped to put a rain jacket on because there was a downpour occurring up the road a piece.  Of course, in the time it took me to dig the rain jacket out and put it on, the rain had moved on.  Later, when I decided to take the rain jacket off, it rained on me.  Such is riding a motorcycle.  People often ask me, “What do you do when it rains?”.  My answer is always, “Get wet”.  It’s part of the adventure.

Remer Minnesota, the alleged home of Bigfoot.  Unbeknownst to the powers-that-be in Remer, it is/was one of the 20 locations we Grand Tour of MN riders had to visit and get a photo of their wooden Bigfoot carving at their town sign.  If they had known dozens of motorcyclists would visit their town for this sign, they may have asked a city employee to spend about 30 minutes to fix the broken frame that held their town mascot upright.  Alas, they didn’t.  

Pro traveler tip for those who apparently don’t know:  That little trough on the wall of every porta-potty you’ll ever encounter is not, I repeat, NOT a shelf to set things, such as hand sanitizer, in. It’s also not a good idea to set your purse, keys, or anything that you may touch, in there.  But it’s especially not for a bottle of hand sanitizer.  You’re welcome.

During my travels, I usually look for a sticker to add to my sticker boards in my garage to commemorate my rides.  Remer didn’t fail to disappoint me here either.  I was hoping to find any kind of sticker that said “Remer” and had some sort of depiction of the town mascot.  I thought for sure I’d find one at the local store/gas station, which had signs all over the exterior advertising just about anything a guy would want: Pizza, pop, beer, gas, gifts, souvenirs, etc.  Got any stickers?  Nope.  “Lot’s of people asking for them though”.  Turns out, their bathrooms were out of order too, hence my visit to the porta-potty in the parking lot.  Free hand sanitizer though.  Anyways, so I stopped into this place, the Remer Trading Post.  I chatted with the guys working inside, and they gave me a sticker they usually put on coolers and such that are bought there. It made my day. Part of the adventure.

The Log Cabin Bar in Emily Minnesota.  I think this is the bar my Dad has told me about from back in the Before-Me way back days, when my parents and grandparents, and maybe an uncle & aunt or two, would stay at cabins, fish Emily Lake, and have a beer or two at this local tavern.

My final Grand Tour photo, the walleye in Garrison.  

This mural, found on the side of a building in Crosby Minnesota, depicts USAF major David Simmons who, in 1957, rode a balloon 101,516 feet into the sky as part of the Project Man High II mission to research the effect of sending a human into space.  The mission lasted 32 hours.  The research is said to have benefited space travel as we know it today.  The balloon is said to have been about the same thickness as a produce bag in our grocery stores today.  That’s a long time, and a long ways above the ground, to be dependent on a balloon the thickness of a plastic bag, in my humble opinion.

Thanks for sharing my adventure!