Segment #25 St. Paul-Bloomington, MN.

Seg #25: Ft. Snelling/Crosby Farm/MN State Trl  8/4-5/13

Start	St.Paul, MN	44.94351-93.09251	NS miles 8.2
End	Bloomington, MN	44.84785,93.23011	Trllgth 18.1 Ride 22.6

 

Ride Hrs~3

AVS 9.0

MXS 24.5mph

DST ~25.5

Temp 75

Kcal 2008

 Trixie was able to get us to the start point of the Ft. Snelling trail somewhere along the Mississippi River around St. Paul. By the time we got organized and found the trail, it was late in the day. I asked several people the location of the trail. One guy had been running, a big bazooka of humanity. I don’t know how far he had walked but he was having  a hard time breathing, panting like a dog. I told him to catch his breath and stop talking to me. I was worried he would expire right then and there. Finally I told him to sit down because I was leaving. As I rode away and looked in my rearview mirror, I could see he didn’t sit down and was yakking with someone else. Go figure!  The northern section of the trail was beautiful with sandstone cliffs, wild flowers and petunia baskets hanging from the street lights and the Mississippi lumbering south. There are tons of trails in the Minneapolis so I was asking nearly everyone I could get to stop which way I should go. Cush’s Theorem fit just about everyone I asked. Out of the dozen or more people I asked directions, only one fellow gave me the straight poop. And directions from ladies---FORGET IT. They rarely get anything close to correct. Chris and I rode south on the trail toward Ft. Snelling and turned around after six plus miles. We got back to the car and drove to a hotel before it got dark, an important issue for me.   

Since we were having problems determining what trail was what, we drove to Ft. Snelling and rode back toward downtown St. Paul until we overlapped where we had ridden the day before. If was Monday so like most historical sites, Ft. Snelling visitor center was closed.

Ft. Snelling. Easy to spot hard to get to by car

The Fort is another pre-civil war military instillation not unlike Fort Scott in Kansas. This fort, built in 1805, served to “control” the Native Americans and the important rivers below its wall. Major American water highways, the Missouri and Mississippi river, merge down the sharp cliffs below Fort Snelling. Had the bike trail not have gone through this historical site, I would have missed a unique feature of the area. Not only was the fort sitting on the pinnacle of the surrounding territory it, was a picturesque scene with sandstone turrets penetrating the blue sky above emerald green trees. Near the fort is one of the country’s 131 Veterans Affairs national cemeteries. There are 180,000 military veterans interred here. The grave markers of those that gave their lives for this country go for miles. The largest is, Calverton National Cemetery in New York, larger than Arlington’s 300,000 interments. Seeing these markers gave me pause as I was inline to be drafted in 1966 when I dropped an inorganic chemistry class at University of Northern Iowa, falling into the infamous "part-time student" category. Thank goodness for a left knee torn meniscus from a football injury and terribly flat feet, the army decided to give me 4F status. Thank the Lord I never had to be shot at. I did serve in the Air Force during the Viet Nam War but I was fortunate to have a cushy job as a dental officer. There was talk of sending one of us from the Azores to Southeast Asia but none of dental folks from Lajes Field had to go there.  Maybe the fact that Kenny Hammel, died in Viet Nam has me especially moved by the sacrifice veterans give for our freedom. Kenny was two years ahead of me in dental school and worked on my ushering crew for entertainment events at the University of Iowa. When he graduated, I bought his high speed dental handpiece, a luxury at the time, and his operating stool. Perhaps that bonded us for ever. I have visited traveling replicas of The Wall and found his name and think fondly of him. I know another reason these cemeteries give me pause, is the sacrifice Connie’s dad made in World War II.  Not only was he traumatized by wounds and suffering, but the post war psychological effects were devastating.

 After eating lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, Chris and I headed south from Fort Snelling toward the highway 77 bridge. Again I became “discabobblated” and had to reroute myself several times. I question whether I found all the trails I had planned to ride, but I did make it to the most southern latitude needed for the cross country traverse I am attempting. Chris had ridden half way and then rode back to the car to then drive down highway 110 to pick me up and head toward the Douglas State Trail in Pine Island, Minnesota.