On yesterday

 

The day began badly when I microwaved my instant oatmeal in my plastic mug without having remembered to add water. This resulted in a hole being burnt in the bottom of my mug. Also, the motel coffee was terrible.

The weather was quite favourable with semi-cloudy skies, cool temperatures and a tailwind that allowed me to cruise at over 30 km/h for extended periods.  I stopped for coffee at a truck stop where I was a surprised to see they also sold ammunition. The ride until Duluth was relatively uneventful, as the road crossed extensive wetlands, one of which was the home of a family of Canada geese which resented my presence when I tried to photograph them.  At another point, I stopped to photograph an osprey on its nest.

 

I passed a stopped train that I later saw heading down to Duluth with a load of taconite pellets onboard. Sadly, just before I reached greater Duluth, I saw a dead otter by the side of the road.

On the outskirts of the Duluth, I stopped at a bike store I came cross to see if they could provide me with a bike map of the town.  The nice people at Galleria Bicycle could indeed and were quite interested in my trip and my bike. They gave me some suggestions as to which was the prettiest way into town.

Duluth is a town built on a bluff that drops sharply down to the Big Lake they call Gitchee Gummee.  The hills are very steep and I needed a lot of braking power to keep Leonardo under control. I was a mite concerned about overheating the rims so I alternated block by block going level, then down, going level then down.  I was trying to find a tourist information centre so as to find a reasonably priced lodgings near downtown. I failed rather badly in this endeavour, seemingly going around in circles.  Quite by accident, I stumbled on the Voyageur Lakewalk Inn which met my requirements very well.