We took a couple of rides heading west on the Lake Wobegon Trail from our campground. This post documents the longest of our rides west. We had ridden the western portion of this trail (from Osakis to West Union) back in 2014 when staying in Alexandria, MN. Unfortunately, on that day, a storm prevented us from riding as much of the trail as we'd hoped. So this time, we hoped to ride the rest of it. Here's a map of the trail. Melrose, where we camped is close to the center point. To complete the western half of the trail, we rode from Melrose to West Union and back. For an excellent discussion of the Lake Wobegon Trail and the towns and cities along the way, check out this website. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves. Of course, the temperature was in the 90s on this afternoon, which will keep most sane folks indoors! :-) One of the interesting sites along this portion of the trail, just a couple of miles west of Melrose, is "Memoryville". It was quite interesting to see all the well-preserved transportation-related items. I read that there is a museum there but didn't see any signs of it being open when we passed by. Going through the small city of Sauk Centre, about eight miles west of Melrose, we stopped to take a photo of this tidy yard and flower garden. The owner was out on his riding mower cutting his extensive lawn, but I was much more interested in the parts that were not lawn. He obviously puts a lot of work into his yard. When we made it to the tiny town of West Union, we saw these cute barnyard animal sculptures we remembered from our ride in 2014, when this was as far as we got coming from the other direction. So this would be a perfect turn-around point for our current ride. I must have known we'd see these guys again, as I was dressed to match them. Moo moo oink oink! On our way back through Sauk Centre, boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis, we took a trail spur into downtown. We stopped at this pretty park and lake for a couple of photos. I particularly loved the charming center fountain here. And the flowers were lovely. We continued our ride on the well-maintained Sauk Centre Main Street. Perfect small-town Americana. We've been fortunate to drive and bicycle through so many appealing downtown areas on our journey through this part of the US. On the edge of downtown was this pretty Bed & Breakfast in an attractive historic house. We eventually made our way back to the newer part of town and stopped for a treat at DQ. Perfect for a hot day!
Stay tuned as we ride in the other direction east to St. Joseph in our next post.
5 Comments
8/5/2016 10:11:30 am
Looks like a great ride ... makes me miss my bicycle that's been collecting dust. I'm hoping Ken gets into riding once he retires. Dairy Queen is the perfect way to end the day!
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Emily
8/5/2016 10:10:56 pm
I'm sorry you haven't been able to ride more, Cheryl. Definitely having a significant other who rides with you makes it all the more likely that you'll get out for a ride. Thanks for visiting the blog!
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9/23/2019 12:37:45 pm
Hi, "Traveling Twosome"
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4/19/2021 03:06:08 pm
Hello Again, “Traveling TwoSome”
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Miki Peltier
11/4/2019 11:47:52 am
Love all this - and have been or am going to see more of these sites. I lived in Sauk Centre as a young girl. 1960-1968
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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