Day Twenty-Two

Saturday consisted of playing a round of golf in the morning, driving, eating a gigantic Hardee's Monster Thickburger, driving and some more driving. I have included a photo of the burger I ate at Hardee's. I actually wrote a paper in a sociology class my senior year defending Hardee's and their ridiculous sized burger. In my personal book of morals, no burger no matter what size, can ever be claimed as damaging to society. So eating this monster was of particular interest and really helped justify my views.

Here is some riveting reading if your interested. Totally got an A. Hardee's Monster Thickburger Paper

Day Twenty-One

Today started at 6:15am to say goodbye to Andrew and Stephanie and to get my bike onto a trail that led to the Mississippi river, 40 miles round trip from Cannon Falls through Minnesota country. So I rode, and rode, and rode to Red Wing, MN which is basically Wisconsin. On my way over I stopped six times. One time because there was a deer and it's fawn in the path staring at me like a deer in bike reflector, one time because a wild turkey was on the path, one time because I saw two eagles being chased by birds smaller than pigeons and that came off as peculiar. And the other three times I stopped because I was choking on bugs. Once I arrived in Red Wing I parked on a park bench and finished the book Brave New World about a dsytopian future. It was a fascinating read and really was something fun to wrap my mind around as I sat on the river. The book is based on a bleak future of world order by intense social control where feeling and free thinking is totally abolished through caste systems, extreme behavioral conditioning, and just some really crazy stuff that turns people happy all the time, but totally mindless. Society is at peace, there are no diseases, life's pleasures are at a whim.. but at the cost of free will and being numb to life. The optimism of the whole thing is that there are a few who are able to question the system. They realize that in it is not just the happiness and pleasures in life that give us the human experience. It is the pain, the sufferings, the challenges that we encounter in life that make happiness genuine only through the reference points of feeling life's downturns. We have the opportunity to live mindlessly through life's distractions and work through the system, or we can choose to really feel life.

"And that is the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you got to do. All conditioning aims at that. Making people like their inescapable social destiny." - The Director, Brave New World

Day Twenty

Thursday morning I packed up my belongings and left the Nesvig's home. The night's rest helped me recover from my crushing Farkel blow the evening before.

I drove into St. Paul and left my truck in a park to explore the city on bike. I know this sounds a lot like yesterday's post, but rather in the other twin city. However, I assure you that yes it was pretty much exactly the same, except for the fact that I had a Chipotle burrito for lunch making the day totally different.

After reading on the river for a while and conversing with some new friends, I packed up and headed down to Cannon Falls to stay with Andrew Holloway and his wife Stephanie. Andrew and I played football together at PLU, Stephanie didn't quite make the team. It was much fun to hang out and laugh at stupid things and eat good food. Some of the simple joys of my visit came from the stories these two west coasters had about their adjustment to Midwest life. Tatertot hot dish anyone? And from dubunking Waterworld. Here's our criteria: 1) You'd think that if it took hundreds (thousands?) of years for the earth to turn into an ocean, in that time wouldn't all the inhabitants of Waterworld lose their southern accents. 2) If the Earth is all water, why is everybody so dirty all the time? I'm sure the conversation is open to suggestions and theories.


St. Paul from that park I left my truck at.

Day Nineteen

I dropped off my truck in downtown Minneapolis for the day and pulled out my bike to explore more on wheel. I rode around for about three hours within the city and gave myself a pretty good little tour including downtown, the University of Minnesota, the bridge that collapsed a year ago, the Metrodome, Starbucks, and a Barnes & Noble. Later in the day I left downtown and went to the Nesvig residence where I spent the evening with Kirk and Mary, and their kids John and Ben. Kirk and Mary went to PLU with my parents and offered a warm bed and some warm meals for my travels through the twin cities. Upon my arrival, I found a box from Lauralee full of her world famous, and now web famous, monster cookies. She somehow managed to get the cookies to arrive on my one night stay at the Nesvigs, a very narrow window. That's like hitting reentry on an Apollo mission. Many thanks Lauralee- Kirk and Mary would like the recipe. Post cookies, we ate dinner on the deck overlooking the golf course and played a riveting game called Farkel, a combination of Yahtzee and Russian Roulette if you were to ask Ben. Myself being the rookie, only took second to last thanks to his selflessness. The Nesvigs will send me off tomorrow with some worthy reading to think about and pocket Farkel to ensure that I make friends along the way and spread the Farkel magic.


Midwest Mountaineering is an oxymoron.


Downtown Minneapolis, MN


Here is the wreckage from the bridge collapse in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007. Just up the river they are rebuilding. You can see the cranes.


Some downtown Minneapolis bike riding.

Day Eighteen

I left the Anderson lake cabin on Bad Medicine Lake around three in the afternoon after some morning water skiing. Maren and I completed the dangerous "high-five maneuver" which was captured via the magic of digital video below.

I made my way down to Rogers, MN where I met up with my old PLU teammate Max. We hung out and then ran over to Maynard's for dinner and beverages to watch the Lakers get pounded. 131-92?!?! C'mon that's not even respectable. Tomorrow morning I will head down to Minneapolis to tour the town and to meet up with the Nesvig Family.

Day Seventeen

Today started with almost everything going wrong. Boat battery was dead, weed whacker busted, lost internet, fridge shut off, lost all electricity at the house. So we ran into town and got almost everything fixed which provided ample opportunity for a tour of Park Rapids, MN. I've never seen a gas station/bar. But the weed whacker will be another day's battle. Sorry Loren... I guess "universal head" applies to every other weed whacker in the universe, I guess I picked a dud.

The day was full of water sports with the Andersons. I went water skiing today for the first time and totally got up! Naturally I advanced to slalom skiing which was basically me getting dragged behind the boat underwater... so naturally I advanced to hypothermia. Thanks for the tea, thermal socks, and crocs. Again I can feel my feet:) We then took out the mini catamaran for an afternoon sail. It was a cruise of fun questions, trying and succeeding at steering the sailboat with my first mate Maren, and MaryAnn falling asleep... I just thought she was a good listener. Dinner was fantastic, and full of bbq chicken we attempted doubles skiing and were quite successful. Anderson ski school is still at 100% success rate!

Thank you Andersons for a wonderful wonderful wonderful time in the Midwest. It was fantastic spending time with your family and I am glad we all got to know each other better.

Day Sixteen

This morning I woke up to a beautiful Bad Medicine Lake, the "Best Lake to Swim in Minnesota" by Minnesota Monthly. I've only seen clearer water in Hawaii. Here's more about it from the article. The article would not be complete without Don's quote at the the end.

Bad Medicine Lake lacks nutrients. That may be bad for certain types of critters, but it’s good for you, since it means the lake, southwest of Itasca State Park, is extraordinarily clear; instead of phosphorous-and-nitrogen-rich runoff, it’s fed by cool, clean ground water. Indeed, its transparency is more than 30 feet deep in spots—greater than one-third its maximum depth. And while Bad Medicine is famous as a rainbow trout fishery, the lake is also a great spot for swimmers and scuba divers, says Don Tschudi, who has owned the Bad Medicine Lake Resort & Campgrounds for nearly 50 years. “You don’t have to worry about that swimmer’s itch,” he says.

Today we celebrated another 50th wedding anniversary with some other friends down the lake, MaryAnn and Loren's own wedding anniversary, and on top of that Father's day. Maren and myself then stole away and did a 15 mile or so bike ride at Itasca State Park, home of the Mississippi River headwaters. With my elementary school Oregon Trail tendencies, I had to ford the great Mississippi. I only lost one wagon wheel, 200 pounds of buffalo meat, and little Timmy died of dysentery. However the crossing was a great success and my backpack remained dry.