Day 6 – a shorter ride

Knowing we had a shorter distance to ride, we spent more time relaxing and catching up on blog stories, etc in the morning in Brainerd.

We finally got rolling after a brief stop at the Fire Department to pay our bill for the community room and the Post Office to mail a letter then on to the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) – nice to be next to rather than on the busy roadways.

The treat of the day was riding through Crow Wing State Park on the Paul Bunyan Trail – mostly down hill on the winding path through the North woods. Interesting to see how different the woods looks here versus the vegetation along our route from St. Joseph to Fergus Falls.  We paused in the park for a snack to enjoy the beauty as long as possible.

The next stretch of the MRT put us along the busy highway 371 – a nice shoulder with a rumble strip between traffic and us, but still loud and fast traffic.  We pulled onto the frontage road whenever it was available – amazing how much difference a hundred feet makes even in the sound of traffic.

We were welcomed into the Leisenheimer home in the countryside outside Little Falls with time to shower before our community conversation ay Zoomski’s Coffee Shop.  Another small but mighty crowd had a great conversation about opportunities to get involved and what they savor about Little Falls.