One of the things I love about not over planning a trip is the spontaneity you have and it’s very much how we prefer to roll in our adventures. From Thunder Bay, we decided to take Route 11 instead of the Trans Canada (Route 17) which turned out to be the FIRST BEST decision of the day. WOW. What a fantastic road! Most of the pavement is new and it’s a biker’s paradise of rolling, twisty road through beautiful wilderness that weaves in and around a whole bunch of pretty little lakes. So much fun and NO TRUCKS! In fact, we damn near had the entire road to ourselves until we neared Fort Frances. We had originally intended to head up to Kenora from here and into Manitoba but we both looked at each other and said, why don’t we head down to Minnesota and take the 2 across the States?
Really, it made the most sense. First of all, Route 2 is a very good road, the gas is cheap in the US compared to Canada and, best of all, we can avoid all the heavy truck traffic on the Trans Canada. Plus, we rode the Trans Canada on our way over on this trip so, for all of these reasons, we decided, at the last minute, to dodge back south. We crossed over the International Bridge that goes from Fort Frances to International Falls, Minnesota and stopped there for a coffee and chatted with some nice folks from the Canadian side who just came down for breakfast.
From there, we made some good time on largely empty roads, skirting the beautiful Chippewa National Forest into Bemidji. All through this area are lovely little farms and small ranches tucked in amongst the hills and lakes. Very picturesque. Bemidji is a major center in northern Minnesota so we swung in and loaded up on supplies (read, steaks for BBQing and beer and wine...)
From there, we hoofed it to Eastern Grand Forks, Minnesota to the State Park in the middle of the city. This last leg of the trip got a little tougher as the temperatures soared along with the humidity. The campsite was very beautiful but holy moly - by the time we got there, it was 36 degrees with 100% humidity so it felt more like 46 C. It was BRUTALLY hot. I was so glad to get off the road but once again, I was like the roast out of the oven - I continued to bake for another couple of hours. I tried to cool off by having a shower but alas, it was one of the showers with a preset temperature which was, of course, HOT!! The worst part was that it didn’t really cool off in the night. It remained in the 80s and the humidity was absolutely stifling. We lay in our tent, sweaty and damp, all night, with no reprieve from the heat. It was as moist as some of the sultry nights I spent in New Orleans where the air encases you like a hot, wet blanket. Ugh. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t the most restful night we’ve ever had... Phew!!
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