Day 3 - Cable - East Grand Forks

Had a great time last night chatting about rides and motorcycles, had a good sleep and today had the best breakfast so far on this trip, but I have a place to go and there's no wasting time. Nancy prepared a breakfast for a king, had eggs, bacon, toast, melon and wild rice pancakes with juice, wow, thanks Nancy.

We had just finished breakfast when out the back window I spot a fox in the backyard.  I quickly grabbed my camera from the bike and snapped a few shots while Nancy threw cakes out the back sliding door to the little fox, apparently they like Nancy's cakes too.

Four of Nancy's cats, all very friendly, they actually came to me and let me pet them.

Erik was a good host but it's time to head out.  I will use Erik's photo (without his permission but I suspect he won't mind).

I left Cable, Wisconsin and headed north into the Chequamegon national Forest taking County Hwy N towards County Road 27 and eventually Highway 2 towards Duluth.  The forest roads were beautiful and I encountered no traffic on the road.

Passed Duluth without stopping but pulled over a little later, now in Minnesota when this big fighter jet caught my eye.  It was a monument dedicated to two pilots who died on the crash of the F-101.  I have always wanted to be a fighter jet pilot but life didn't turn out that way, now I ride motorcycles, you get the same freedom as flying but only in two dimensions.

Right next to the fighter was this gigantic locomotive, I think it's appropriate to park one locomotive next to another, mine only has two wheels though.

My next stop was at the first dam of the mighty Mississippi River.  The river starts just a few miles further up but it was out of my way and I decided not to visit the lake where the Mississippi begins it's journey to the Gulf coast.

I continued west on Highway 2 and saw lots of this on the Chippewa National Forest,

and a few threatening clouds but didn't run into rain until much later,

and a really big fish, now this trip is starting to get weird, pink elephants, huge fish, what next?

After a while I felt like stopping to take a break and found this secluded place where I could park my bike on the railroad, why? Because I could, there was no one around and I could hear a train coming for miles if there was one but I never saw one.

Further down the road I pulled into the town of Bemidji when I saw a sign for Paul Bunyan.  I had encountered another giant Paul Bunyan and Babe out in California in 2010.  I walked around and saw the poor Indian guy hiding behind the trees, maybe he is hiding from Paul, he is actually facing Paul on the opposite side of the street.

A little later I saw this dilapidated church and a few rusting old cars next to it, I couldn't resist and turned around to take a picture with the old cars.

I continued west but after running through a rain storm I decided to call it quits and found a nice camp site in East Grand Forks.  I setup the tent, put a few things away and proceeded to walk across the bridge to Grand Forks where I could hear music playing.

The Red river separates Minnesota from North Dakota, Grand Forks is on the Dakota side. This is looking into East Grand Forks.

And this is the Bridge I walked to get to the music on the other side, not a lot of traffic in these little towns.

There was a Blues Concert going on and the place by the water was packed, I stayed listening to the music and then wondered around town admiring the old but still magnificent buildings.

This place caught my eye, thought about my wife, I'm sure I could find something she would like but the place was closed, damn it.

Found a railway track going right through the middle of town, decided to have some fun and take pictures, seemed like there would be no trains coming through.

This building was built in 1891 and looks brand new.

Walked back across the river, it was time to leave the music and return to camp, I still had to eat something and get ready to hit the bed.

A slower way of traveling if you willing to pedal, a beautiful yellow and black Schwinn.

East Grand Forks is a cute little town with a few restaurants by the water.  Saw lots of these animal statues along the water front.

I return to the campsite, take a quick shower and go straight to bed, it was late and I want to get up early and cover some mileage tomorrow across North Dakota.  I will leave you with some nice pictures of the sunset I saw over the Red River.

334 miles for the day, not a very long day, had time to do some sight seeing and smell the roses.

Map:

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To be continued.....