Minnesota!

Temperatures today were in the mid-50's. Forty degrees cooler than yesterday. Crazy! We left Fargo and quickly entered Minnesota. I was crushed to discover that there was no "Welcome to Minnesota" sign. Doesn't this state know that I live for those welcome signs? I had been fantasizing for the past three days about what the sign would look like when we got there and how I could take a picture of it. Disappointed, I googled the sign and took one of the pictures from the images cache. I am hoping that when we leave Minnesota I will be able to get an authentic "Welcome to Minnesota" sign picture at the border.

Despite the lack of a welcoming sign, we were in Minnesota. I stewed over the lack of sign and how we might as well still be in the North Dakota prairie. It was still flat and windy. Then, after twenty miles, the mom and I saw a large hill in the distance. The largest hill we have seen in days. We clicked into our granny gears and began the ascent. At the top, we were tickled to see trees. And lakes. And the road turned! The remaining 40 miles of the day were glorious. We happily pedaled up and down hills, around corners, and past nearby lakes, reveling in the fact that we could not see the road extending in a straight line for as far as the eye can see with tumbleweeds being whipped across it.

We saw five roadkilled turtles today. One of them was enormous... probably two feet long. Additionally, we saw two herons (very cool) and a herd of buffalo.

We arrived into Pelican Rapids and set up our camp. Notice the mom's legs in the picture where she is doing the "housekeeping". Looking good. Tomorrow we are headed to Parkers Prairie.