AT THE HEADWATERS! (Still June 16, and also June 17)

On arrival at Douglas Lodge we learned that there is a lovely six mile trail from the lodge to the headwaters, so we decided to finish our Mississippi portion as originally designed, on the 16th. Linda R and Judy N joined us, as did Jenna. Jenna had already been there, but she had never ridden a century, so the extra 12 mile round trip would achieve that goal!
The trail was beautiful, and it seemed to be running downhill the majority of the way. I just couldn't imagine climbing back six miles, and insisted that I was NOT biking back to the lodge. "I said I'd bike TO the Headwaters," I insisted. "I never said I'd bike back! I'll ask someone to drive my bike and me back."
Once we got there, we were thrilled to see the big map outside the visitor center--it is a huge three-dimensional topo map of the river, from the Gulf to the Headwaters! I saw it before the trip, but it was a lot more fun afterwards. We headed for the water and were surprised to learn that we were not allowed to bring the bikes down to the lake. We had planned to dip our tires in the water, and Jan decided she was not going to be stopped--she popped her front tire off the bike and carried it down to the lake!
Edith walked across the rocks with no trouble at all, but I found my legs were too shaky, so I walked across without the path. The water felt so good, I just jumped all the way in! I felt great afterwards, but I still didn't want to climb a lot of hills. Janet swore I had misread the hills, but Judy and I were adamant that it was going to be six miles of mostly climbing. In the end, Edith told us we simply had to bike back, so Judy, Linda and I sighed and got on our bikes.
And what a surprise--Janet was absolutely correct. We had a great ride back, more down than up in fact! The scenerey was great and it was a fabolous end to a lovely day.

The next day was a rest day, and we woke to a major downpour. Everyone lay in their cozy cabins and lodge rooms listening to the rain and thinking, "I'm sure glad I don't have to get up and bike!" My biking buddy from Minnesota, Karen V., drove over from Grand Rapids and went on a boat ride with the while group. Karen had just finished the Klobuchar ride, so it was fun to share stories. That night we had our final banquet. It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone. There were lots of awards--the group gave Georgia, Ann, Jan, and Stephanie (our Sag drivers), and Vicky (the cook's assistant) necklaces in thanks for their great support. The cook, Linda, got a WomanTours tee shirt from WT in honor of her satisfactory completion of her "probation" with the company. Our waistlines can all support their decision to keep her. She sure can cook! There were several individual rewards--I'll put them in a separate blog.

Good food, lots of laughs and a few tears, and then off to bed. Most of the ladies will get on the bus at 7:00 tomorrow morning, and Edith, Janet, Georgia and I will head for the border!

Happy trails,

Dusty