Day 49: Moorhead, Minnesota to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota

I awoke about a half-hour before sunrise this morning. I packed up most of my gear and the big yellow lab, Kazu, decided he didn’t want me to leave. In the short time I was there, two nights, this dog had really taken to me. On the second night I slept on a guest bed in the cellar. Rather than mess it up, I just threw a blanket over the bed, the blanket I had used the night before on the couch.

Kazu decided that if he stayed on the blanket, I wouldn’t be able to leave. As I brought gear upstairs he would follow me up, but if I started to return downstairs, he would charge down ahead of me and jump on the blanket. I believe his logic was that I couldn’t leave if I couldn’t remove the blanket. I tried to take the blanket off the bed so they could wash it, but he wouldn’t budge. At 110 pounds (50 kg), I wasn’t going to argue with him.

I went upstairs and drank a large glass of orange juice and ate a banana. As I did, the dog sat right in front of me and whined. The he finally worked himself up into full-scale barking. Everyone in the house, from the various bedrooms, started yelling for him to quiet down. I couldn’t believe it, he didn’t want me to leave. He’s seen so many guests from WarmShowers leave that he knew I was next. Amazingly perceptive and emotional dog. He is a real charmer, I didn’t want to leave him either.

I went outside and Finn, had left a little “present” on the walkway so that I couldn’t leave as well. His method wasn’t as impressive, but I got the message:

It was time to go. I headed south, then east into a rising sun. Today was more of the flat, long roads.

At about thirty miles, I stopped to photograph some workers up on a 1300 foot (396 m) tower. I think they were going up to replace something. There were three of them at about 900 feet, you can see them if you really look. As I was taking the photo I heard someone coming up the road behind me. It was Coner and Aidan again. We keep crossing paths. They too had taken a zero day in Fargo. I rode with them for several miles until we hit the hills, and then I faded.

58.13 miles (94 km) later, I arrived in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. I had contacted someone from WarmShowers.org, but when I arrived in town I had a phone call from them. They were at the Minnesota State Fair, so they were not home. I told them I took a room at the Pelican Motel.

The motel is very nice and the proprietor, Wade, made me feel like family. We started talking about our dads in WW II and before I knew it he was loading me up with a loaf of zucchini bread he had just made, butter and drinks from his fridge. How could I refuse? The bread was very good.

I told him I came to the motel because I saw it on Google Maps. On Maps you can find motels, click on them and see reviews from previous customers, all without leaving the map. The reviews were very good.

Tomorrow I am off to Fergus Falls and then after that it looks like there is about 100 miles (64 km) of bike trail to ride. This should be interesting.

Author: Dennis Blanchard

Dennis Blanchard was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He and his wife Jane moved to New Hampshire in 1980 where he has climbed thirty 4000-foot mountains, biked the trails and enjoyed the wilderness. Never living very far from the Appalachian Trail, Dennis was always aware of the seductive siren’s call to hike it. Dennis is an electronics engineer who has freelanced for amateur radio, technical and motorcycle adventure magazines. He now lives in Sarasota, Florida. View all posts by Dennis Blanchard