Hutchinson to Northfield MN July 23, 2022

Hutchinson to Northfield MN

July 23, 2022

With all of the heat and high winds which we have experienced are bound to come thunderstorms.  It looked like today was going to be the day we were going to get it.  All of the weather services were predicting major storms with very high winds and potential hail.  The route was 87 miles in a generally south east direction. The route took us south west of Milwaukee and skirted the metropolitan area.

Looking on the weather radar in the morning I could see a huge storm front off to the south west and moving in a north easterly directly across our path.  However it did appear that if I moved fast I could get far enough south that it would miss me.  So I rolled up my tent and loaded luggage as quickly as I could.  Breakfast wasn’t going to start until 6:30 Am and by the time you actually got breakfast and got on road it would be close to 7:00.  Skipping breakfast would buy me an hour so I rolled without breakfast being on the road at 6:08.

The wind was directly out of the south to south east at about 10-20 mph, directly into your face.  This really hindered progress.  The best I was able to do was between 10 to 15 mph.  However at this time of the morning on a Saturday there was almost no traffic which really helped.

As I was pressing as hard as I could I didn’t even take any photos. I skipped stopping at the bakery which was on route and for me to skip a bakery just tells you how much of a hurry I was in.  The route was extremely complicated with a lot of turns so being in a hurry only increased the odds of missing a turn so I was being extra careful to watch for arrows.   

Picnic came up at the 48.8 mile mark and I was there by 8:30 Am.  The radar didn’t look good and my chances of escaping it were getting smaller and smaller.  A quick sandwich and I was off in under 10 minutes.

At New Prague which was at the 65 mile mark I caught up with Scotty Two Shoes (my nickname).  As I got up to him I said “Hey lets go into that service station and I’ll buy you a coke”.  So we pulled in and as we were coming out a fellow was just getting out of his truck talking on a cell phone.  He then said to us; “ I just spoke to my friends who are 5 minutes east of here and there is golf ball sized hail coming down you two better take cover fast.” 

As we were just on the outskirts of New Prague, I said to Scott lets go have a nice lunch in a café.  Two blocks later we were sitting in a very nice pub. I was looking at the radar and could see that an hour later the storm would have passed.  Sure enough not five minutes later the storm hit.    The wind was just whipping the trees and everything else and the rain was lashing down.  I ordered the smoked brisket sandwich with chips and an Iced tea. 

It was great sitting watching the storm and having lunch.  Scott turned out to be a very interesting fellow having worked on the US nuclear weapons program until he exploded and retired. 

An hour later the storm had passed and Scott and I got on our bikes to ride the last 22 miles into Northfield. I think we caught 80 rain drops on the final segment.

We rolled into camp we heard all sorts of stories from the other riders who had taken shelter in old storage sheds, gas station, bus shelters, and everything else, but I think Scott and I made out the best.

I have been invited to stay at Kevin’s place as he lives close by.  

Tomorrow is a rest day. 

Terry