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July 18th Tuesday Thief River Falls to Cass Lake We stayed at the Best Western across the road from Arctic Cat so we were able to get right back on the trail and ride ditches south of town on highway 32. Rod road with me again today and Dan drove the transport. We left town at 9:30. We then road ditches along County Rd 3 for about a mile and dropped south to catch a gravel county road heading east. The gravel and dirt township roads worked out great and you are allowed to be on any of them that are designated township type county roads. It all gets pretty confusing when you’re sitting at an intersection but I think we did good for the entire day. WE ended up in Trail, Gully, Gonvick, Clearbrook and Leonard. Bill Larson and Stanley Townsdin met us at the café in Leonard and THANK GOD they did. They both knew the trails through the area and got us around Bemidji without any issues. I think we would still be somewhere on the south edge of town if they hadn’t come along. Bill is an avid atver and has participated in many trips with ATV Nation. He also owns BenchMark Kitchens in Bemidji so the next time you need a quality kitchen upgrade or are building a new house, give Bill a call. Stanley is a recent college graduate and will begin teaching Vocational classes at Mora High School this fall. I think if Stanley smiles a lot, he will have a class full of girls. We had a great lunch at the Leonard Café and Kim, Dawn and Evelyn say they are in for next years trip. AND I got my second “Oh For” in the restaurant. One of the girls said “oh for cute” so I knew I was in Minnesota. Rod thought she meant him, Dan was sure it was him and I knew she was talking about me. We left before a real argument broke out. I also saw my first seed cap worn proudly by a local person. And another cap that was worn the way baseball caps should be worn. A very high front over the bill so you can get your entire message on the front of the cap. No Nike checkmark, but a true paragraph of what the cap is all about. We ended up in Cass
Lake about 5:45 and had traveled 134 miles. It seemed further than
that due to the ditch riding I think. The community sign was good
to see and we headed for Stoney Point Restaurant and Marina for a few cool
ones. We said goodbye to Bill and Stanley, ate dinner, went to the
casino motel and crashed about 10:00. Tomorrow we have additional
riders that are starting out with us in Cass Lake and some that are meeting
us in Remer. I’m looking forward to a straight railroad grade for
most of the day.
The rest of the trip
was mostly railroad grade coupled with more ditch riding than I’ve done
for a lot of years. I think ditch riding is demanding if there is
no good path to follow. You really have to watch every second to
make sure you’re not hitting something goofy along the way. I was
glad to get out of them and back on a level playing field.
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