Mission: North Dakota

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Day 2 - Red Wing to Princeton, MN by way of some very large things. Monday, June 27, 2022

Until I started planning this trip, I assumed that the Mississippi River divided Wisconsin from Minnesota from the Iowa border on the south almost all the way to Duluth on Lake Superior to the north. Turns out that Big Muddy (aka The Old Man River, aka The Great River, aka the Mississippi River) flows from its headwaters at Itasca Lake southeast through Minneapolis before it connects with the St. Croix River near Prescott, Wisconsin. It is the St. Croix that serves as the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota from Prescott north. I figured this out because I was creating a route that avoided the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and still got us to the headwaters of the Mississippi. My route north would skirt past the the metropolitan area to its east roughly following the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers until we were far enough north then move west northwest from there.

[url=https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/78b3-112b4e8-1383/view]Day 2 Spotwalla Trip Map
Interactive map of the day's ride.

[url=https://imgur.com/SWf6CXs]
Screenshot of interactive map of the day's ride

Monday's ride would be comparatively short at 155 miles. I planned for a short day because Cheryl and I had just come off of back-to-back 250+ mile days and were facing 4 consecutive days of similar length starting Tuesday. A 250 mile day is not grueling for us, but 6 out of 7 days could be rough, especially if the weather turned bad (aka hot, aka rainy, aka windy). Princeton, MN was the spot on the map was about the right distance and which had a decent and decently-priced hotel - The AmericInn by Wyndam (one of the goofiest hotel chain brand names I've ever seen).

The day's route would take us back into Wisconsin to continue north on the Great River Road on that side. There is a Great River Road on the Minnesota side, but because of its proximity to larger cities, it's been widened and modernized for higher traffic flows. Further north and south, the Minnesota segment of the GRR is quite beautiful. We'd cross back into the Gopher State at Prescott and then continue up another "river road", the St. Croix Trail for 60 miles or so past Taylor Falls.

St. Croix Trail is a lovely 50 mile ride along its namesake river. It has, for me at least, a nice balance of curvy, scenic vistas, small towns, and light traffic. The last part was not as light as it might otherwise be due to some road construction and being that we passed through during Monday morning "rush hour". The towns of Stillwater and Marine on St. Croix had lovely downtown areas that will warrant future visits and explorations.

On the northern outskirts of Stillwater, with 4 or 5 gas stations and a couple of convenience stores behind us, I was informed that some of our group was in need of a comfort stop. It would have been more convenient to know this when entering the town rather than after having left it since it's 15 miles from Stillwater to Marine on St. Croix where I knew there were gas stations. I asked Cheryl to keep her eyes open for a wayside, park, or anyplace else that looked like it might have a potty. As luck would have it, there was a scenic overlook with chemical toilets just a few miles down (or I guess up) the road. We had a nice long "helmets off" stop that included snacks and a truly scenic view of the river. In hindsight, the request for a break that seemed to come a little late could not have happened at a better time.

This is as good a point in my report as any to mention that Ferret rode behind me in the 2 Slot for almost every mile of this trip. He didn't bring the same smile to my face when I spied him in my mirror as Cheryl does, but it was comforting to be reminded that I was leading a collection of very competent riders. Offroad commented at one point that it was cool to see the two CBs winding through the curves together. It was pretty cool being one of the two, too.

When we were in Ohio for the CB1100 Rally last year, InhouseBob and his friend "Mustache" Mike mentioned that they, or one of them - or someone they know - or someone, when at a loss for someplace to ride, would search Google Maps for "World's Largest" and pick out a roadside attraction as a destination. Mike, Cheryl, and I actually did this at the rally and took a lovely ride to Chester, WV to see the "World's Largest Teapot" (see below). I found while preparing our routes for Mission: North Dakota that much of days 2 through 5 would be along the mostly flat and mostly straight roads that are prevalent on the Great Plains of the United States. Bob's and Mike's comments and our visit to the Teapot provided a solution to adding interest to the tour. Once I had a rough idea of where we were going each day and staying each night, I searched for "World's Largest" and, as luck (I'm not sure if the die-hard riders in our group would call it "luck".) would have it, there were several on or very close to route I was planning. The first of these was the World's Largest Walleye in Rush City, MN.

[url=https://imgur.com/wOj1HjB]
World's Largest Teapot, Chester, WV. Here is the handle, here is the spout.

Now, if you look at the map of this day's route, you can plainly see that Rush City is nowhere near the direct line, or even a scenic line, between Red Wing and Princeton. I could have cut off that segment of the ride, but we'd have arrived in Princeton, pretty much a dot on a map, at around noon with nothing much at all to do. I wanted to lengthen the ride just a little bit, but needed some attraction or another to help decide how and where to stretch things. Enter the World's Largest Walleye, the at least somewhat curvy roads around Rush Lake, and the intriguingly named restaurant, The Grumpy Minnow.

[url=https://imgur.com/pNfGfz0]
World's Largest Walleye, Rush City, MN - Up until this photo was taken, I might have described Offroad as the least goofy of any of us.

[url=https://imgur.com/XdHMG5t]
The Grumpy Minnow, Rush Lake, MN - I don't have a better picture from here. Perhaps Ferret or Offroad does. We ate outside with Cheryl and Ferret finding the sunny side of the table and Offroad and I wisely protecting ourselves from melanoma (and heat) beneath the shade of a mostly-functioning patio umbrella.

I thought our lunch was worth the short trip down a gravel road. We had a delightful view of the lake, the food was good, our server was attentive and polite. The food took a bit too long to arrive at our table, but we were in no hurry and in any case, were lowering our customer service expectations to meet the reality of a post-pandemic Midwest.

We finished lunch, uneventfully navigated the gravel exit to the Grumpy Minnow and headed to Princeton. Unfortunately, we were detoured around what was, or at least looked like on a map, the most scenic roads of the afternoon. We arrived at the hotel around 3:00. Ferret and Cheryl took a dip in the pool. I lit up a cigar in the smoking area in front of the hotel -- I smoke cigars, but am constantly baffled as to why the hotels subject ALL their patrons to tobacco smoke whenever they enter or exit the establishment. There's almost always a space further away that would still be convenient to all.

The AmericInn was very nice and the managers and staff very helpful. However, it is not particularly close to a sit-down restaurant. Correction: not close to a sit-down restaurant that is open on Mondays. The nice folks at the hotel directed us to the Fore Seasons Golf Club which has a grill/restaurant for us. 4/10ths of a mile walk each way. Ferret grumbled a bit and Offroad offered to call an Uber for us all, but we made the walk. The food was just OK, in my opinion. The service was slow and I thought the server seemed disinterested. There was a nice view of the golf course and we were able to watch several groups finish their rounds as we dined. The walk back was pleasant as the temperature had dropped a bit. We sat for a bit in the lobby of the hotel and discussed the next day. Rain was forecast for the morning and then again in the early afternoon. We decided that we'd be ready to leave early, but might wind up hanging out for a bit if there was rain. The side trip to the headwaters of the Mississippi River was in jeopardy, though. We would sleep with fingers crossed for safe and relatively dry Tuesday ride.