Stillwater, MN

Our 70 mile ride to Stillwater was supposed to be quick and painless. I think it was anything but that for Parker and I. Soon after our first snack at the twenty mile mark, we took a wrong turn. We were both thoroughly convinced that we were following the map’s instructions, and so we plowed ahead, quite idiotically. The map told us we would hit a certain road, and we did. The map told us that we should cross a bridge, and so we did. The map told us that we should find ourselves in Wisconsin. And we did. The map, however, did not tell us that we should find ourselves facing a six-lane highway by mile 30. That’s when we decided we had messed up BIG TIME. After a distress call to the support vehicle, we had to head back seven miles to take the right turn. After that demoralizing stretch, we once again caught up with the support vehicle, and were able to follow the route.
For the SPS Cyclists though, things are never THAT easy. Naturally, we did not have the last three pages of our map instructions. After hitting Wisconsin, we just had to wing it. And that’s just really not like us. As much as I’m personally opposed to careful planning and organization, I usually like to know where I’m going. Parker and I had to ride the next twenty miles with continuous route instructions from the support vehicle.
Of course, that was all until we hit a big dead end. We ran out of road as we got to the highway. After some initial confusion, we learned that that was our only way to make it to our rest day. The highway.
I remember telling Parker, “Dude, this is ridiculous…”
We rode on the shoulder of the highway, cringing at every car that zoomed by us. Again, this is not like us at all. But during times like these, we just had to get the job done, After a short stint on the highway, we finally got to Stillwater.
That night, Mark Grayson treated us to a great dinner cruise. We had some food and enjoyed the fireworks from the upper deck. As it got to be late, we all grew very sleepy and started falling asleep in our seats. We were finally in bed by 12, lucky to have a rest day to look forward to. It was a great night, a celebration. We did, after all, have many things to celebrate. We’ve reached the 2,000 mile mark in our journey, and if you look at a map of the United States, I think one could say that we’re moving along pretty nicely.