Iron Roamer, Brian Thiessen, at the KOA Northwest Minneapolis, drying out his tent after washing it.

Entering Minnesota

It was time to ride to Minnesota.

I woke up early to the first day I have had of dew. Fall is on its way! I had to pack up a wet tent. It is time to head south. But first I wanted to get to Minneapolis to change my rear tire, and to go to Itasca State Park to follow the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

Starbucks

Since I was near a major town, my first stop was Starbucks. I actually had to check the door to see if they were open as there was no one there. Back home the place would be packed on a Sunday morning. it was open.

IMG_2047

I have been having one problem at Starbucks in the US. They just got new credit/debit card machines and they will not take my Visa! It keeps saying declined. I think I mentioned this happening in Fairbanks. I called Visa and they said nothing was wrong with my card, but it was the Starbucks machines. Instead of Visa I’ve had to use my Mastercard. Good to carry both cards.

Minnesota

As I entered Minnesota the landscape began to change. Instead of the bald, flat, prairie, of South Dakota, it became more green. Instead of ranching there was more farming. Trees also became more prevalent. Still flat though.

KOA Northwest Minneapolis

My aim today was to get to the KOA in Northwest Minneapolis. It was the closest to Moon Motorsports where I intend to get a new tire. I only pre-booked one night until I could see what the campsite was like. It was great. So I booked 2 more nights.

First thing was to wash my tent and dry it.

Next was to find something to eat. There was a sports bar down the street. Perfect.

Mamma Gs

OK …. now for one of my pet peeves. The sports bar was called Mamma Gs. It advertises itself as an “authentic” sports bar. It does have a unique feature. Outside it has lots of breach volleyball courts and holds tournaments. Pretty cool actually. There was one going on when I was there. It was packed.

OK … my pet peeve. If you are going to call yourself a sports bar, then play sports and not music! The Olympics were on and quite a few of us were watching it on the TVs. But in the background was rock music. I asked if we could have the sound of the Olympics on. Nope! How can you call yourself a sports bar and value music over the sound of what is happening in a major sporting event? Rant done.

Oh … the food was horrible. I ordered fish and chips. It was a slab of frozen fish with tarter sauce in packets. I got plastic utensils to eat it with.

Huuuummmm I am lacking in pictures today. Sorry 🙁

Route for August 14, 2016

codington-minneapolis-map

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