Hard work

Ortonville to Clara City – 66.66 miles
Average Speed – 11 mph

We reconsidered our original route plan after receiving advice from the locals. We don’t know if we made a good decision or not. The first person told us to continue on US 12 because even though it had no shoulder, it had little traffic. Another told us to avoid US 12 because it had no shoulder and enough traffic to make the riding unpleasant. We opted to take Route 7, because it had a shoulder and lower traffic than US 12. Well, the shoulder wasn’t so great, but probably better than no shoulder and the traffic was pretty insignificant all the way to Montevideo. That changed as we headed east. There was quite a bit of traffic and the shoulder leaves much to be desired.
We had breakfast in Montevideo, which gave the wind and heat a chance to increase. Fighting the wind gets old after a few days, but this is really the first day since Hood River that the temperature was so high. We made it to Hood River before we had to deal with the late afternoon heat. Not so today. It was above 90 and humid when we reached Clara City. We spotted the motel and found a note on the office door advising us to call a number for a room. We don’t have cell service here, so we had to go back to the BP and feed the phone lots of change as the number was long distance. The guy on the other end of the phone said that somebody should be there. When nobody showed up within the hour, we called again and were told that there were keys in the mailbox and that we could choose a room. During this time, huge, dark clouds filled the sky and the wind kicked up even more. The storm blew over, but there were warnings. We arrived here just in the nick of time.

Nothing is open in Clara City on Sunday except for the BP. Their sign said that they had pizza, so that was on our menu for dinner, until we tried to buy it. Seems that pizza isn’t sold after 1pm. Seems rather strange, so we found a pre-wrapped sandwich.

We should inspect the bagels that we bought in Lemmon. Even though they don’t expire for another week, I am not so sure what shape they are in. They may have been doused in the last storm.

Tomorrow is another long day and possibly another night without internet. Motels are few and far between in these parts, as is everything else. Our destination tomorrow is at the start of a rail trail, the first that we have come across so far this trip. That will take us pretty close to a pathway that goes into the Twin Cities.