Day Three and the Big Highway Bicycle Blues

The video as always is at the bottom of the page.

We woke up in the most comfortable bed in the Air BnB we rented in Mountain Lake, Mn and 
lazily put our stuff together. If you remember from last week we’d gotten a flat but having fixed 
it we were curious if it stayed inflated through the night. To start this series from Day One go to 
this Place. The new tube had stayed pumped all 
night and we were in luck. The sun whispered it’s promises for a beautiful Summer morning. 
Like most mornings its kisses were hopes for an even better day. This turned out to be one of 
the most memorable days on the road. 

Shortly after starting out we stopped for a drink of water and a staring contest with a cornfield. 
While we were so engaged a lady in spandex riding a very expensive bicycle zoomed by so fast we 
barely saw her smile and the two finger salute she gave as she touched her helmet. 

     “Well, that’s not something you see everyday.” we said and went back to our staring contest only 
to be interrupted by a gravel truck with a hangover. So we swapped some spit (that’s kissed to all of 
you single folks out there) got on our bikes and meandered down the country road at comfortable ten 
miles per hour.

Now some folks will sit right there in a comfy chair and tell you that one country road’s as good as the 
next. We know better but we let them think that. It just means there will be less people on our beautiful 
Rubenesque roads stretching into forever. My Minnesota is filled with just such beautiful roads as 
these. It turns out that a group of cyclists who were traveling across the country happened to be on 
these same 

byways. Which meant every so often we would get passed by someone. They tended to be older, male,
 and had huge muscled legs. They were going from Washington State to (I think) Massachushetts. To
 make it on time they had to do one hundred and twelve miles a day. UN-Fing-BELIEVABLE. There is 
still hope for me.

The first town we entered St James and were we glad it was there. We got to stop at the local grocery 
store. We bought egg salad croissants, blueberry muffins, and a liter of water which we shared. These 
are the best places gang. If you ever end up riding like this or just driving through a small town go to
 the local places. While I stayed outside Elissa met several people one of which ended up donating 
money and told us to buy a burger or something when we got to Mankato. We ended up with burritos 
in Mankato, but thanks to that lady. 

After leaving the grocery store we ran into those folks on bikes again and just ended up chatting and 
we ended up going the same direction to Mankato. It really was fun to bump into people going the 
same way we were; as a matter of fact, it was because of them that we disobeyed the Google Maps 
Mistress and stayed off of MInnesota Highway 60 for a little while longer. 

 We ran into their Sag wagons occasionally, and I really wish we would have stopped to say howdy to 
the people driving. For that matter I wish we would have thought to interview a couple of them, but we 
didn’t. Oh well live and learn right?

This was the day we hit our hundred mile mark. It’s funny because those other travelers were doing 
more than that every day but it took us three days to just get to a hundred. Hey we’re not shaming 
ourselves it’s just a funny thought. 

Madelia, Mn came as an oasis to a camel for us. We needed a break and some food. You burn tons 
of calories while doing this sort of thing so it is said that you can almost eat anything darned thing 
you want. Which we did. Anything which was intriguing went “in my belly” to quote an Austin Powers 
movie. We sat under a tree and ate two pieces of pizza each, a giant kitkat each, and there was 
something else I can’t remember and a lot of water. I have to say I really felt naughty eating like that 
because I never ever do.

Back on the road and getting so much closer to Mankato and our arch nemesis the Big Highway Bicycle
 Blues. Minnesota highway 60. 

On the map it looks mundane and gentle. A short cut diaganally through a large portion of the state, 
but it’s not. It’s a snake, a lier, a hell of a good road if you’re in a car, truck, or tractor trailer but not on 
a bicycle. When we eventually got to it we loved the shoulder. It has a huge shoulder while almost 
none of the other roads on our journey did. It had gentle hills, and large vistas for viewing the world in. 
It also had wind. Oh but not just from in front it was from all around. Wind from the semi’s going near 
eighty miles an hour just six feet from you. Zoom zoom zoom. I saw a map once which stated Mn 
Highway 60 had ten thousand vehicles pass every day. We were only to glad when our turn off came 
and we back to our gentle country roads.

Mankato has a lot of bike paths going hither and yon and if you ever get a chance to stop there and 
try them I really recommend you do just that. The good towns folk have spent a lot of money to keep 
the paths in good shape as have the people of Minnesota. Everywhere you go here you can find a 
nice bike path. It would be worth it for you to make a trip. 

After we got here we found our hotel, had supper and went to bed. We had riden more miles then 
we’d ever expected we could do. Sixty one miles in one day one bicycles. This was big for us and 
we loved it. 

Thank you for spending your time here with us today. We hope that you will return next week when 
we ride the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail. 

Thanks for popping by. 

   The Marty’s

Day One The Journey Begins

DAY ONE

The Journey Begins

Hello, I hope this blog post finds you and your family healthy, happy, and filled with Groovitude. 
What follows is a true account of Elissa and my journey across our home state in Minnesota on 
our bicycles. 

Day One, The Journey Begins:

Here is a map of our entire journey. Link

We decided to start on the far Western side of Minnesota in a smallish but very historic part of the country
 called, ‘Pipestone’. It’s named that for the stone which is found there.  The Pipestone National Park and 
Monument is so titled because of its rich and historic significance to the Native peoples of the United 
States. This is where we began. It’s seemed like a significant spot to start because of Elissa’s native 
heritage, so we camped near the park and visited it before we left hoping for good luck. 

If you go please stop at the park and see what we’re talking about. It’s a beautiful part of Minnesota. 

Pipestone had just suffered through an incredible storm and half of the town was without power and there
 were downed trees everywhere. 

We ate at a small restaurant named Lange’s and you could do a lot worse.  It really is THE place to go
 if you’re going to eat in Pipestone. 

We slept okay but it’s always hard to sleep the first day of an adventure. I’m to hyped up and just can’t 
drift off. 

The next day we ate again at Lange’s. Then went back to camp packed up and left. 

We started off at the Casey Jones State Trail which is in three parts. The trail head in Pipestone is easy
 to find and has beautiful and informative signs about the history of the trail. 

We traveled on the first part which was paved and ran between farmer fields, some tree’s, and roads. 
The day was terrific and we were making great headway.  We found a lot of little animals which didn’t 
seem to freightened of us some even followed along. There was this one Chipmunk which I’m thinking 
about who was particularly curious until the camera came out.  

Eventually the pavement ended and we continued on county highway thirty.  Highway thirty was busy
but the trucks, cars, and semi’s gave us plenty of room as we traveled straight east. That part of 
Minnesota has all sorts of windmills everywhere. It really is a treat to stand on an empty quiet highway 
and listen to the tone they make. 

The plan was to make it to a small town by the name of Avoca where we would stay the night. The 
town has just 147 people and is around thirty-seven or so miles from Pipestone.  We figured it would be 
best to try and have a nice easy day to start with. I like starting things with successes which aren’t all 
that hard to get. It gives confidence and eases your muscles into the work. 

When we got to Avoca we found a cute and small rural town surrounded by bean and corn fields. The 
campground was on the outside of town just beyond a beautifully kept cemetery. The ground at the 
campground was much softer than at the Pipestone campground. The sun had been out all day and 
burnt us right through our sunscreen so when we got to the campground we were tired, hot, dirty, and 
did I mention tired already? 
The campground is right on Lime Lake so we were hoping to do some skinny dipping at night but we were 
to tired. There was also some sort spill way between one side of the lake and the other and the current 
would have been way to much. **cue sad face emoji* 

Instead of skinny dipping we ate huge from our stores, drank tons of water, and went to bed. I didn’t think 
we would be able to sleep but we did. We slept great that night. 

Here is a video which tells the story from Pipestone to Avoca. This video is part one and is a bit longer 
than the others will be, but we’ve made it interesting. 

Have a great day and don’t forget to subscribe to our videos and this blog because there are way more 
videos to come in this series. 

Next week we leave for Mountain Lake, get a flat, ride through miles and miles of gravel and curse the 
Google Lady. ***throws fist at the sky***

The Coming Adventures

Hello everyone-

It has been awhile since we've published anything on this page hasn't it? I can see I need to dust off the shelves and get the cobwebs out of the corners, but the coming adventures bring us back.
As a matter of explanation I can only say that it is difficult to keep two blogs going, book gigs, write new music, teach/tutor music, work a regular eight hour day job, and keep up on owning a home, and being married.

This blog therefore has become something we do when we are having an adventure. We will continue to post videos and a blog entry when we do post something.
Now having said that you can always go to our YouTube page and find our older adventures, subscribe, and repost them all over your own personal social media sites.

We are about to embark on an adventure of grand and huge proportions for us. We will be riding our bicycles from the Pipestone, Mn to Red Wing, Mn which is a distance of around two hundred and fifty something miles. We will hopefully be accomplishing this in a five day period and videoing a lot of it from July 21st to July 25th or 26th we will be riding.
If you keep up or want to you can find our

• FB page here Link our 
• Youtube page here Link

As far as Instagram goes we don't have time before our big adventure to make people aware of who we are and what we do so for the time being it will be under my

• Instagram page Link. 

Now on Tuesday the 23rd we hope to be doing a live stream from a hotel room in Mankato. Feel free to hang out on any of those links and we will be there.

We hope to start our journey in Pipestone, Mn. It's near the South Dakota border and from there go east and south to Avoca. Then on to Mountain Lake, and then we will have our first fifty plus mile day as we journey onto Mankato, Mn. where we will have our first hotel stay. The next day we will be riding on a fourty pluse mile long bike path to the next hotel stay in Faribault, Mn. From there we will be on our hopefully last day of riding and we will be riding our second fifty plus mile ride and most of that will be on a bike bath as well. We will be going to Red Wing. That last day we will be on the Cannon Falls to Red Wing trail and we want to invite y'all to get on your bike and come along. We don't have the time we will be there but watch the FB page and Insta page for the details. Also that is a pay trail but I think you can pay the day of.

Well, keep watching as we will be publishing this adventure and have fun.
   Trevor, Elissa, Marley, and Mama Macy