Root River Trail: Lanesboro -Whalan - Peterson

This is what I saw.

Beautiful country views?

Bridge-over-the-Root-River views?

Child trailing and chattering behind me?

Yes. All that.

Opportunities to add to collection of pictures of road signs?

Yes.

Miniature horse?

Tee hee. 

On the outskirts (ha!) of Whalan.

Home of the stand still parade.

Peterson - home of the snake?  

The DNR had a tent and Roman got a chance to actually hold it. 

Zoe was happy to let him go first. And let him go only.

And before we left the region: another photo for my collection! And yes, you really do see the horse and buggy (Amish population) going down the road. It does make you think.  There were actually horse and buggy rides in Peterson, but by the time we could have done it they were done for the day. We had the 13 mile return bike trip to tackle and I for one wasn't looking forward to it. Eight miles back we figured out why.  As I got back on the bike for the last 5 miles my bike felt like it was dragging. A lot. It was. The back brakes were rubbing against the tire. Mike fiddled with it a bit and I finally said "just undo them...I can use the front brakes."  There aren't a lot of big hills,  and I wasn't exactly setting any speed records, so I figured we'd be fine. I went to get on the bike again and the and same thing. Dragging. Further investigation revealed the entire wheel was about to fall off! Holy smokes. Mike got it fixed and we had a slightly easier ride back to the car. I felt better knowing that I actually HAD been working harder than I had to. I was dying. I hadn't been on a bike in I don't know how long, but I didn't figure it should be that hard. 

Could your Dad or I move a few hours later without feeling every muscle? No. And actually two of my fingers went numb after that ride (2 weeks back) and one of them has yet to return to normal. Oldster.