Camping by a lake after nice day

18th July: Baudette to Northome

Odometer: 117 km, Start: 9.15am, Finish: 4.30pm, Avg: 23.3 km/h,
Weather: Sunny, NW wind, Temp: 17-28°C
Mosquito Bites: 73, Hills walked: 0
Road Conditions: #72 0.5m shoulder, light traffic, reasonable road surface, some perpendicular cracks from time to time. #1, 0.75m shoulder, light traffic, good road surface. Small services at Waskish (63km), Gas station at Kelliher (95km). Ascent: 80m/50m.

I gave the Brooks saddle tensioner a half-turn tighten-up last night and that's made a big improvement. I guess after nearly 4000km my saddle had softened a touch and that's why it hadn't been so comfortable these last few days.

River at Baudette. Bridge to Canada in far distance

That's Baudette, "The Wall-eye capital of the world"!

The weather was perfect for today’s ride. Around 28 degrees, but not humid and mostly sunny. A refreshing breeze kept things comfortable as I pedalled south. I thought it was going to be another lonely ride on a long straight road, but the pine forests along the route made for a refreshing change from the open farmland of the last three weeks!

Rapid River... on a quiet day

I had a 3/4 tail-wind and that made the ride pretty easy. I’d stocked up with food and water as I wasn’t sure what the tiny towns (< 500 people) ahead could provide. I didn’t really have a problem though. Small town America isn’t as small as small town Canada. There are certainly more gas stations around for a start.

I have started to see a lot more water towers in this neck of the woods. There were a few in SK, MB, but more here. I remember the water towers well from my ride across America in 2007. They were normally the first thing you’d see approaching a town.

Water tower in Kelliher, MN

Close up of tower

I reached my destination town, Northome, around 3.30pm. I went to the motel but it was closed for Sunday. Probably thought there would be no custom that night! It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The grill house next door told me there was a quiet campsite by a lake just the other side of town. I had a nice pasta meal and then went to find the campsite.

Bailing up the hay

It was on the shore of Bartlett Lake and was completely deserted and relatively bug free! I’ll take it! I’ve set my tent up on a small hillock to catch the nice evening breeze. I can see out over the lake from the tent door. I’m not sure the love affair with camping is back on, but this will do for this evening…  

Bartlett Lake, Northome where I camped tonight