Our first sign announcing the "Great River Route"!
Miles biked today - 52 miles Ride time - 3 hrs and 52 minutes Ave Speed 13.5 MPH
Before I start the days blog out I would like to share with everyone the amazing gal I met yesterday in the hot tub at the Americinn Inn. When I went into the pool area I noticed that there was one person in the hot tub and I also noticed that there was a prostetic leg near a chair right by the hot tub. After my swim I went to get into the hot tub and immediately this gal says "hi, my name is Lynn" and we started up a conversation. Lynn is about 40 years old and has been married for 20 years. When I first got into the hot tub I also noticed that she was severely handicapped as not only was she missing part of one leg (from the knee down) but she also had two arms that were only about 6 inches long. Her right arm did not have any fingers but her left arm did. Anyway, Lynn and I talked back and forth and she thanked me for staying in the hot tub. She said a lot of times people see her and would leave. How sad is that! Anyway, after we got talking I couldn't believe what an amazing person she was and what a positive attitude she had about life. She was given up for adoption at birth due to her handicap and she ended up being adopted by a couple that had 8 children of there own and had adopted 6 severely handicapped children. However, after talking with Lynn she didn't think her handicap was so bad. Wow, the next time I want to complain about how hard it is to do something I am going to have to put on my "Big Girl Panties" and suck it up! Anyway, this young gal is certainly a inspiration! Now back to the blog!
We set the alarm to go off at 5:40am this morning and we had a continental breakfast at the hotel and on the road biking by 6:40AM. Leaving Grand Rapids we had a few hills but not bad. We had a nice shoulder the first 15 miles but that changed after we bicycled beyond Hill City. We arrived at McDonalds in Aitkins at 11:42 and sat and had a nice cold drink while we reviewed our map and looked over our route tomorrow. We checked into the 40 Club Resort (named that because it was built in 1940 on 40 areas) and will spend the afternoon relaxing and probably bored. Life is Good!
Note the Osprey Nest that we saw on the way to Aitkins - I am amazed it hadn't gotten blown off the pole due to the wind storms they had last week!
While John took a short nap I took a run to the down town area. It was hot and I was tired but I knew there was a Dairy Queen downtown so I told John I was going to run to it so I wouldn't feel so bad about having a cone. John met me 1/2 way back and so we turned around so he could go to Dairy Queen. He had a chocolate malt - later he said he probably hadn't had one of those in 30 years. What a sheltered life he must have. lol We played some cribbage and then ate off the salad bar at the 40 Club diner and then called it a night!
Mighty Mississippi river - (the area we biked in today has been heavily flooded from rain and storms over the last several weeks)
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