Greetings from Palisade!

Day began with another glitch.!   Key stuck in the car top carrier and so we used some faithful old ratchet straps to hold down our garb.

Off we went to Winniebigosh to Start our day of riding.  Sunshine, perfect temps and no wind!   Dave and Terry started the day heading into Grand Rapids where we met friends of the Fox Family for pastries and juice.   What a gorgeous town it was.  Nice bike paths and clean old river city.

Dave and  Terry were then joined by a former Austinite who has only been in Grand Rapids for 4 months.  Del & Monica Hennessey.  Del met us on the course and rode into town with them and then treated us to fresh out of the oven cookies and cold watermelon.  Del  then led us back to our course and sent us on our way.

That is when Julie jumped in to do the last part of the day along the river.  We did have to ride on a gravel road for about 1 1/2 miles.  It was packed tightly so not a big problem.  the scenery for the day was pretty much country side for the whole day.

 We rode into Palisade about 4:00 this afternoon into an empty campsite right on the Mississippi River.  It was clean, quiet and charming.

 Terry met another young rider who came from San Francisco who went up the coast and came thru Montana,  South Dakota, into Mn and is heading east to the coast then south down to Florida.   So we aren't so crazy after all!!!

Quiet night in the city and we are heading off to bed!

Night to all!

Smile for every mile

First flat of the trip

Bridge over Mississippi (viewed from our campground)r

First night of camping 

Who needs a Jenn-Air?

We're Off!!

The Morning was as gorgeous as they come!  Fresh morning air and fresh legs.   We started a little late due to a little detour on our way to the start but we managed to be on the road by 8:30am.   Today we all were able to ride Thanks to Jan as she was our support for the day.  Eric VanDenBerg rode with us today also.

We road for about 30 miles into Bemidji then met some family friends for a visit.  Jan and Deb were there with lunch so we refueled and were on our way again.  We rode for another 40 miles and decided we needed to catch the big one.  That was a big cold drink!   We were ready for some cold beverages and low and behold around the corner comes Jan and Deb again with refreshments.

We stopped at a Resort for a tour by Terry as he worked there as a young boy.  Lodge was still standing with huge log beams spanning the inside.

We had an 87 mile day and finished around 4:00 at the Gosh Dam Bar where we met more friends for a cold beverage.

The perfect ending to a great first day was dinner at the VanDenBerg Estate where she prepared an incredible meal of boiled shrimp, corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes and barbeque ribs. Then topped off with desert of a brownie topped with homemade peanut butter ice cream.  We are all like stuffed little piggies.

Well we are fading flowers and ready to be tucked into bed at the Fox cabin where the accommodations are top notch.

Hope to be back on the road on the morning.

Julie, Dave & Terry

Day 1 Pictures

The Headwaters

The 1st Day Crew

Looking at the Mississippi in Bemidji

We think we are on the right road

Stopped to do a little fishing

Deb & Eric's SUPER SUPPER

Softening our bums

Dave and I arrived at the Fox cabin just in time for dinner. Jan had cocktails and appetizers as we entered the cabin! Dinner was served shortly after. We dined in style looking out the window at the peaceful waters of Girl Lake. Loons cruising by and turtles hatching eggs. A great up North Welcome. We have plans of starting the day early, meeting Deb and Eric VanDenBerg at 6:15 am to caravan to the mouth of the Mississippi in Itasca State Park. We hope to be riding by 7:30 or so. It will be a 86.5 mile day. We will end at the Winnie Dam to meet friends for cocktails to celebrate the beginning of a great trip. We are getting excited and going over some last minute details. Eyes are starting to get heavy so it must be getting close to my bedtime. Well time to call it a day and get a good night sleep for the day ahead. Julie

YMCA Send Off

The YMCA had a little send off for us today. They had the TV stations and the media there. The YMCA  will have our progress & blog site information set up in the lobby each day so please stop & check it out. Again thanks to the Y & all there work. For those that have not signed up for the Coasters challenge give it a try.

The 3 Crazy's Doing this trip

YMCA Mississippi Coasters Challenge

The YMCA is having a Mississippi Coasters challenge. Michele Kuddes from the Y is doing a great job of setting this up. Please give her a big thanks for all the work she is doing on this project.
 Thanks  Michele