Bike on back (rather than in back) I took to the road. Not long after, I stopped for gas and snacks at an Amish market. I bought some oatmeal raisin cookies, which were pretty good.

A few hours later I stopped at the Blue Earth Rest Stop. This stop had a bike path that led all the way to the town, about 2 miles. I decided to ride down there and get some coffee. This didn’t work out exactly as planned.

The ride was nice, through some trees, out by some cornfields, past baseball fields and the public fairgrounds. But I didn’t see a place to get coffee besides the DQ. So I rode over to the DQ but couldn’t find a place to lock the bike. Sure, it was probably safe sitting out there, but who knows. I rode up to the drive-through window and asked the lady if I could either bring my bike in or order coffee at the drive-through. She sold me a coffee through there, which cost 30 cents. It was about 30 cents worth of caffeine too. I rode the bike halfway back with a cup of hot coffee in one hand, drinking along the way, which was probably not safe.

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I had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. It wasn’t the hotel’s restaurant, but the hotel gives you a coupon for pancakes, eggs, bacon and coffee. I skipped the eggs of course. The waitress brought over three syrups. She said one was honey, one was maple, and one was ‘the twin.’ Twinberry syrup is a mix of raspberry and blueberry. It was pretty good.

After breakfast I decided to take the bike around town. As I was getting the bike out of the car and preparing, a guy in a folding Dahon mountain bike rode up and asked where I was going to ride and how long I was in town. He suggested a route that would take me over the bridge into Wisconsin.

I rode through town, a town that is not particularly bike friendly, and over the bridge to Wisconsin, though I don’t think it’s the same route that the guy suggested. It was about ten miles in all. On the way back I rode past Winona State University, which I didn’t know was there.

Back at the car I called the local bike shop to check on racks. He had one so I headed over there to buy it. He told me about how they were going to make 7^th street an all bike street, but there was serious public opposition—an editorial in the paper, postmen upset, people wanting to drive. They wouldn’t even let them make half of the street for bikes.

There was a big purple bike on display that towed a seat. He explained to me that they built that for an old guy who used to ride in the town’s parade every year for 40 years until he got too old. After that he would just ride on back of this one. He died recently.

It seems no one wears helmets here, not for bicycles, not for motorcycles.

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This morning was cold, but not too bad. I packed up my tent and headed to Chicago. On the way I had breakfast at the Iron Skillet. The food and drink portions were out of control big. Fox News was on the TV there.

The Cubs game was pretty good, though they lost 5-0. It turns out that it was a makeup game with the White Sox. So Wrigley Field was filled with Cubs and White Sox fans, seemed like half and half. But because it was a makeup game, there were seat problems. Four people showed up with the same tickets as four people in the row behind me. So they took four other seats and when those people showed up they took other seats and so on. The original people had gotten their tickets free from the guy who sang the national anthem and I think that’s how the problem started. Everyone got seats eventually.

There was a young girl, 7 or 8 years old, in the row behind me that kept trying to start a White Sox cheer: “Let’s Go White Sox. clap… clap… clap clap clap. Let’s Go White Sox.” Her voice was loud, but no one joined in except to clap. Her father encouraged her to shout louder, stand up, and even go to the aisle. Still no one joined. But she’ll make a good cheerleader one day.

I drove until ten then looked for a place to stay. Winona, MN was the first place that had lodging. The Quality Inn here is not a great room. She said “Is it okay if you don’t have an outside window?” Sounds weird right? Well, my window looks into the conference room.

I left Mercer at 10am as planned and headed for Chicago. I made reservations at a KOA campsite about 70 miles south of the city. Somehow I missed an exit and ended up in Chicago rush hour traffic. That was about a 90 minute detour. I finally made it down to the campsite around 7pm (central time now).

Camping here is a lot like camping in your back yard. They even have wifi, which is how I’m posting this now. I had to buy firewood for $5. It was good wood though; burned hot.

I cooked my soup over my stove because the fire was just too hot. There are no rocks around to build a platform for the pot and the site doesn’t have a grate. So stove it was.

I’ve been listening to the Red Sox game the whole time on the iPhone. I got a ticket for the Cubs game tomorrow afternoon. I’ll see that before continuing west on 90.

I think I’ll probably stay at a few hotels on the way out west. Since want to get west soon, I’ll drive into the night and I don’t really want to set up a camp at night. Tonight I’m at a Comfort Inn near Mercer, PA, about 360 miles from NY. I’ll go into town tomorrow to get two gallons of water and a small bottle of olive oil from the grocery store.

It’s cold at night. I’ll likely buy a new 0-degree sleeping bag and 4-season tent along the way, and also a parka.

I’m almost ready to leave NY for two months. The car has almost all of my stuff (just not the stuff that shouldn’t be waiting in a hot car). Everything fits with room to spare. I have a 1992 Jeep Cherokee with ~147,000 miles. Here’s my pack list:

In trunk (back of Cherokee)
- Long hike back pack (with tent, sleeping bag, etc.)
- Day hike back pack (currently holding hiking/camping clothes)
- Plastic bin with other camping supplies (like hatchet, knives, hammock)
- Duffle bag with normal clothes
- Little bin with cleaning supplies
- Normal car stuff (battery jumper, coolant, tools, blanket)
- Spare tire

In back seat
- Bicycle (fits across seat without front wheel)
- Camp chair
- Hiking boots, shoes

In front passenger seat
- Flat cooler
- Camera bag (on floor)
- Computer bag (on floor)

If I need to, I can put the back seat down, stand the bike up on the side, and sleep in the back.