To St. Paul, MN

This morning I enjoyed the luxury of a hot breakfast followed by the luxury of staying indoors while a thunderstorm passed by.

I had planned to ride northwest and cross the St. Croix River into Minnesota at Stillwater, the same way I came in August, and ride into St. Paul on the Gateway State Trail.  But I missed a turn and was in Hudson, Wisconsin before I knew it... and so it made more sense to just cross the river there.

There's a bike lane on the Interstate 94 bridge, and once I found the way onto it, I was pretty much home free... a signed bike route led me practically all the way to the home of my friend Matt, where I'll be staying while I search for an apartment.

Really the only eventful thing that happened on the way in -- I got here at 2 PM -- was that I stopped to refill my water bag at a convenience store's soda fountain and got soda water by mistake... so I was belching all the way into town!

So far I've seen very little that's changed since I left, so it's easy to forget that I went away at all... and then I woke up and it was all a dream!  As I write this, the beautiful Minneapolis skyline is staring at me across the urban forest, and I know there have been big changes there, so maybe it'll hit me when I ride across the river!

32.5 mi