Bob Mann's N.A.R.T. Ride Report
Got up bright and early on Saturday morning, showered, ate a bowl of cereal, drank a cup
of coffee, checked in with the newsgroup and took off for parts south.
The direct route would have been to head straight down Highway 59 which runs about 3/4 of
a mile from my house all the way down past Thief River Falls to US Highway 2. The
problem with that being that I needed gas and there isn't a gas station that way for a
while so I went to the Co-op where I'm a member and then headed straight through downtown
to take highway 75 which
leads to Pembina North Dakota and the site of the only duty free shop on this side of the
border. If I'm going over the line I might as well pick up some duty free while I'm at it.
I got going at about 8 o'clock, the gas receipt says 8:01, and immediately started to
freeze my butt off. The temperature was about 5°C, which is damn cold for August,
and the wind was howling. Once on the highway I was shivering until I got to the duty free
where they hadn't turned the heat on and I still couldn't warm up. I had my leather jacket
with the liner in plus a sweatshirt and t-shirt. I had my cold weather gloved and lined
bandanna which helped a bit.
At the duty free I went right to the Scotch section and to my dismay they only had half
bottles of Red Label. I was looking for some single malt. I could have bought a whole
litre but I wanted to be able to get up the next day so I settled for the Red. It turned
out not to be too bad but I'm getting ahead of myself.
At the border I noticed that the guards were checking the trunks of every vehicle so I
expected to have them look in my bag. He asked where I was going and I told him Laporte
MN. When he asked "What's there?" I resisted the temptation and gave him the
straight answer without mentioning internet, NART, or any details and just got waived
through with less fuss than all the grey hairs heading down in their cars.
Once in North Dakota I immediately swung over to Minn. and worked over to #59 which I rode
all the way to Thief River Falls. Along the way I crossed a stream bearing a sign saying
"Two Rivers" I could only see one but I figured if they called that a river
maybe they couldn't count or there must be another one just like it. Sure enough, about 3
minutes later I crossed another one. About 5 minutes after that I crossed another, then
another and on and on. Either there are about 15 Two Rivers or this is the snakingest
little stream ever.
The wind continued to howl and I continued to freeze for about another half an hour.
Eventually It warmed up a but and then my head started to itch. gradually more and more
until it felt like hundreds of pin pricks. As I gassed up in Thief River Falls I strapped
the helmet to my pack and thanked the government of Minnesota for giving people the
choice. I ran bare headed the rest of the way. It felt pleasant after years of enforced
helmet use.
As I traveled east along #2 towards Bemidji I was passed by a sporty Mitsubishi, an
Eclipse I'm guessing, with three young ladies in it. As they went past they slowed down a
bit and then all waved at me through the sunroof. I reckon I'm at least as old as any two
of them added together but at speed probably look a lot younger. They pulled in front and
slowed down so after a minute or two I passed them again. They all smiled at me and then
came back and passed me again. This continued for about 20 minutes with the driver blowing
me a kiss at one point. At least it made those few miles pass faster.
Once I reached Bemidji I turned south on highway 71 and started hitting lake country. The
scenery in that part of the state is very
nice. Slightly hilly with lots of trees, lakes etc. I turned off on county 200 and then
county 39 towards Mark's in-law's cabin. As I was shifting up through the gears I noticed
a NART symbol at the last minute and two guys running down the approach towards me.
I recognized Mark and Pooder from Mark's web site. Hands were shaken, names exchanged and bikes examined
while we awaited Don Calgary. He arrived a few minutes later and we exchanged more
greetings, unloaded and decided where to go for lunch. Mark recommended the Café Zona
Rosa, a mexican restaurant in Walker and off we went with Mark leading the way. We took a
slightly scenic route which was fine by me because, a) I didn't know the way, b) I didn't
know it was the scenic route and c) it was scenic.
We were all pretty hungry but decided to do the shirt signing first. Then Don Pooder took out his own NART shirt for us to
sign and Mark decided we should sign his too. That must have looked fairly odd since he
was wearing it at the time.
After the signing we ordered lunch and Mark insisted in picking up the tab. We insisted
that since he was the host we should buy his lunch but Mark insisted harder and won the
bill.
Like Pooder said in his report, the food was excellent. The best Mexican
food I have ever tasted and lots of it.
Plug:
Café Zona Rosa
P.O. Box 366 ˇ Walker, MN 56484
(218) 547-3558 ˇ Fax: (218) 547-2802
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Large selection of Mexican and American favorites with a full bar, specializing in
Margaritas.
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Location Information:
Conveniently located on the Paul Bunyan Trail 5th street N. Downtown Walker
Local Phone: (218) 547-3558 Fax: (218) 547-2802
Towards the end of lunch the Dons both announced that they had to leave right away. Pooder
because he was busy and had work stacked up or some similar lame excuse and Calgary
because there was a forecast of bad weather on the way and he wanted to miss as much of it
as possible.
We stood outside and said or farewells, got a passerby to take our picture and headed off.
Back at the ranch Mark set to making a hole in the ample supply of beer he had laid in. I
was too full from lunch for beer so I opened the scotch. We talked for quite a while and I
think we hit it off really well. We both worked on the scotch and watched some vintage
Avengers with the delightful Mrs Peel.
Next morning after we got up we headed back to Walker for breakfast at the Outdoorsman
which is quite well named judging by most of the clientele. The real stars though
were the two waitresses. I have rarely seen any take care of a full restaurant any better.
The coffee cups were never empty, not for long anyway, the food came quickly, plates were
cleared, more coffee was brought. They were very easy on the eyes too if not the heart.
After breakfast we said our last goodbyes. I have to say that Mark is a great host and I
would love to meet up with him as well as the Dons again.
Unfortunately I figure Calgary's assessment of the weather was spot on as I once again
froze my butt off on the way home. This time I headed straight up 371 to #2. 371 is a nice
ride but the weather was starting to get very dreary. It had started off at 59 but I think
it dropped a few degrees as the sun disappeared. I had gotten a sunburn on the forehead on
the way down and wasn't looking forward to wearing the helmet on the way back. As I was
gassing up another biker came in to get coffee and I asked him where I could find a cap
like he was wearing, forgetting that it was Sunday - vacation, got to love it - he wasn't
from around there either but reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a knit cap. Not
quite what I was looking for (he was wearing a thin spandex type that I could have worn
under the helmet) but it was better than having an exposed head in that cold and better
than suffering the incessant itching from the helmet for 5 hours. I looked at it a
little closer later and saw that it said "Stone Cold Steve Austin" on it. No
wonder he didn't mind giving it away.
After a while it started in with a fine drizzle and even though I wasn't getting wet I was
so cold I stopped and threw on a second
larger sweatshirt and my rain suit which kept me just warm enough.
This time I headed up through the Red Lake Indian Reservation. They have a beautiful
lake there but nothing much has been done with it unless it is back in the other
direction. At one point as I rounded a bend there was a black bear cub in the road. He
scampered off pretty quick and mama wasn't around (phew) so I just kept going. A
little while later I saw a hawk or small Eagle on a hay bail.
Once you get to northern Minnesota, up past the lakes, it gets just as flat and boring as
Manitoba. The highlight was seeing the Polaris factory in Rosseau.
I crossed over into Manitoba and was asked the inevitable questions.
How long were you in the US?
Did you make any purchases?
None at all?
Nothing?
Okay, go ahead.
Of course now I had to put the helmet on and I wished I had gone back the way I came
because it's about an hour shorter in Canada. The helmet started the itching up right away
again and I had to pull over twice to get relief. Now I know why people wear those
bandannas under their helmets.
Strangely, once in Canada it started to warm up and I changed the gloves for my summer
ones (Stanley spandex backed work gloves, very comfy and they have a ridge of leather
across the knuckles and soft leather palms).
At long last I made it home whereupon my wife showed me what she had bought while I was
gone (1 day and she has to go garage saleing). It seems she found a decent entertainment
unit for a good price so I can't complain.
So, there's my story. The good, the Bad and the Ugly.
--
Bob Mann
We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then
things get worse.
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