Mesabi Trail Bike Trip

 Wow, this week sure has flown by!

 Over the Labor Day Weekend we went on a biking trip on the Mesabi Trail in north eastern MN. We had a fun time but came home very tired and then this week has been busy with other things as well so I haven't had much online time.

 I did have fun taking pictures on our trip though and so be prepared, here is one long post.....

Saturday morning we left home. After driving (including a detour) we started riding sometime after 1pm.

Away they go!

We were needing to haul stuff for 2 nights of camping (and three days of eating) this trip and so I was looking for every possible way to haul stuff. Aaron ended up riding with a little suitcase on the front of his bike.

 I do wonder if people laugh as they look at us and our interesting get up, but I figure it doesn't matter much. We have fun and figure out ways to use what we have rather than spending a lot of money to get proper gear.

And we are out to make a fashion statement! Just kidding! I don't like sun in my eyes and the baseball hat fit just fine under the helmet. Mighty cute too!

Ken and I did wear special t-shirts. Chip Cravaak is running for Congress in the area we were biking in and we would really love to see him win. We can't vote for him but decided to do a little advertising by wearing t-shirts while we rode.

There were lots of hills. We enjoyed the down hills a bunch and were glad to take a breather at the top of the uphills.

I do so love seeing just a little bit of the beauty that God has made.

We went through a lot of iron mining areas. There was a lot of neat rocks and old mining areas that are now beautiful little (and deep!) lakes.

We thought it was fun walking out into this little "cage" where we could see the old mining pit better.

Such beautiful blue water..

Jonathan who is normally our Mr. Energy. He was on the first day but kind of wore out on the next two days.

On Sunday we road hard to make it 15 miles in order to go to church. We were a little late, but still in time for most of the singing and all of communion and the sermon. I am glad I don't always have to break down camp and ride a loaded bike 15 miles to go to church. It was fun to find out we could do it though.

  Afterwards we had a yummy lunch at Pizza Ranch (other than that meal we packed all our food). I amused myself by taking pictures while waiting for my turn in the bathroom. :-)

A field of beautiful flowers. Purple Loosestrife.

The only one that got to nap as we went along. She had to deal with some pretty cramped quarters though.

The kids had fun getting a little wet in Lake Kelly. We had some beautiful weather for our trip. It thankfully was not super hot, but it wasn't to cold either.

Mara, from my reclining view.

Riding through the very wooded areas was always fun.

Ken taking a well deserved break at the top of a hill.

There is nothing like flowing water to distract kids from what they were doing. In the tiny town of Marble they had a fire tank open and spraying water full blast ( I would guess to flush out the system). It was going down a hill next to where we had to go up. Going up isn't that fun and they kids were easily distracted.

Monday afternoon I caught a shuttle to ride back and pick up our van and Ken and the kids waited for me in a park. This picture is of Aaron at the top of a jungle gym.

Observations from our biking trip:

• Some extra padding on the bike seat would be very nice. Next time I want either a cushier seat or padded biking shorts (which I will wear under something else!).
• My family gets very hungry when they have been biking all day out in cool fresh air! Main course dishes that I thought I had brought way more than enough of got gobbled up pretty fast. However I should have done more figuring on the snacks because I brought quite a bit more than needed which was just extra weight to haul around.
• When I call to check on campsites in the future I want to make sure and ask if they at least have an outhouse. I didn't think that question was necessary but we found out otherwise in the city campground in Nashwauk, MN.
• My children were very happy I packed gloves for the cool evenings and mornings.
• God certainly outdid Himself in making a beautiful world!