St Joseph to St Cloud, MN (a mere 6 miles)
Hi all—
I'm sitting in the lobby of the St Cloud Super 8 listening to the weather news—there are wall clouds and rotation in the area so the sirens have gone off. It has rained HARD all day and now we are getting hail. The good news is that tomorrow should be windy and cloudy but no rain, AND the wind is supposed to be out of the west. Please let that be true. We've been fighting strong headwinds ever since entering ND and heading east.
We made only 6 miles from St Joseph to St Cloud today—in a drenching rain—and then checked into this motel at 9 am or thereabouts. I was wearing my rain pants, and when I took them off in my room bath, I found that the baggy legs had trapped about 2 gallons of water--only slight overstatement. Flooded the bathroom. I’d wondered why my rain pants felt so strange when I was pedaling, but could really only think about riding safely in the downpour and traffic. I was cold, soaked, and couldn't see well. I knew the cars--up to their hubcaps in water that was sheeted onto me--could not either.
The motel manager had to mop up the entry and lobby after we checked in, and then we had to tote our bikes and BOBs to our 2nd floor rooms. No elevator. There was a washer and dryer just down from our rooms, however, so after warming up in fantastic hot showers (wonderful after two dirty days), we spent the first hour or two doing laundry and drying our gear and clothes.
After getting organized, it was about 11:40, so we walked to the Perkins Family Restaurant next door and had lunch—or at least I did. Bill had breakfast. After lunch/breakfast, we walked across the street and shopped in a mall that also had a small Scheels. I bought a new pair of Tevas and threw out the WalMart shoes which were dreadful. Bill bought a pair of athletic shoes. He pedals in cages and wears only old athletic shoes. Then I stopped at a little nails place and had the woman there try to revive my dry rough hands. She wasn't very skilled, but she did mend some nails and shape and clean them. Human skin doesn't do well out in the open sun and weather day after day.
We both snacked from our food lockers for dinner and then tended to our bikes and repacked our BOBs in preparation for tomorrow. Now we will each relax in our rooms and watch a bit of TV and enjoy being inside and dry for the night. This is the closest we've come to a rest day in 22 days. Even if it was forced upon us, it feels great.
Glad to hear that TOP [Tour of Payne] was a success and that all is well—if HOT—in Stillwater.
Took no photos today in the soggy scramble. In the deluge, I didn’t dare stop, take my hands off the handlebars, or pull the camera out of its protective plastic bags.
