Maple Grove to Hutchinson

 First, allow me to give you a brief introduction to this adventure.  The trip was put together by a friend & fellow Coast to Coast rider, although he did it in 2014, and mine was in 2019.  The goal of this journey is to ride some of the paved bike trails in Northern Minnesota.  In order to reach the various trails, we have to do some road riding in between.  We start north of Minneapolis, go west & then north & then east to Lake Superior & then south back to where we started.  We stay in hotels every night & are able to enjoy local restaurants all along the way.  We are fortunate to have the spouse of one of the riders who drives a vehicle containing all of our clothes & gear, some snacks & some tools.  The only thing we riders have to do is pedal 750 miles in the next 2 weeks.  Here is a picture of the group when we set out this morning.

We have quite a variety of bikes including a recumbent tricycle, 4 traditional upright bikes, 2 long wheel base recumbent bikes, and my Cruzbike Q-45.  The beginning of our trip today included about 40 miles of roads getting out of Maple Grove.  It was mostly uneventful.  Some roads were better than others, some traffic was busier, but all of the drivers were considerate.  This area seems to have a lot of plastic animal statues.  2 of the images below actually show statues that double as mailbox enclosures & 1 is advertising for a local restaurant.

This is obviously farm country, with lots of corn & hay growing to support the cattle and dairy operations.  After the 40 miles of roads we came to the Luce Line State Recreational Trail.  It is nicely paved, and provided a great finish to our first day. More tomorrow.