BRO QUEST 2009

KONICHIWA from Minnesota!

Though we've only been here for three days, we have had like two weeks worth of fun. Here's Pat saying "HEY!" in the native tongue of glorious nippon at the giant Paul Bunyan statue in Bemidji:

Bemidji bills itself as the "first city on the Mississippi", and here is the lake that the Mississippi both feeds and drains:

Having only ever seen the Mississippi river in the south (St Louis, Memphis, New Orleans), it's pretty funny to cross it way up north, where it's about as heavy a subject as a bag full of farts:

Northern Minnesota is basically rolling hills and swampland/marshes, but somehow WITHOUT the massive bugs we were expecting. The humidity has been relatively low, the winds gentle and unsteady (except for the last day, when Lake Superior tried to HOLD US BACK), and the roads carrying a shoulder big enough for us to ride side-by-side.

Giant marsh

We rode through the Cass Lake Indian Reservation, were again warned that it was a terrible place, and again, had no problems. In fact, there was an awesome bike path that removed us from the highway and allowed us to ride through slightly more remote sections of the Chippewa National Forest, which was X-tremely worth it:

Then we got to Duluth, which totally BLEW OUR FACES OFF. First thing you should know is that Duluth has some of the steepest hills. Ever. As steep as San Francisco. We had to get off our bikes and WALK down them because our brakes couldn't handle the grade, our equipment, and our fat asses all at the same time:

The town, which has 86,000 people and two colleges, looks like it might be a rockin' place to live. Trent, who we stayed with, claims the unemployment rate is pretty high, but cost of living is low and at least in the summer it's pleasant (I'm sure the winter is different). Here's a shot of Duluth:

Apparently in Minnesota, indian tacos are known as "oof-da" tacos. The first time we saw a road sign we had to pedal back and look at it again to make sure we hadn't just shared a hallucination. After talking to a lady in Erskine, we finally puzzled out that it's the fry-bread state fair food that everyone loves to eat. Oof-da is also an expression of unbelief, similar to Oy-vey, as in "So where did ya bike from?" "--Oregon" "Oof-da! Your asses must be sore!" (This is a literal transcription of a conversation we had in Brookston, a small town with a bar that has $2 bacon cheeseburgers on Wednesday nights)

One last reason Duluth is cool--if you go to the grocery store and forget your bike lock, you can totally throw your bike in your shopping cart and wheel it around the store--the clerks thought it was hilarious and talked to me about BROQUEST for a while.

Anyway, we're either going to make it all the way across Wisconsin today or make it most of the way across, so you'll hear from us again in a day or two--we have a rest day scheduled for Marquette, MI.