Day 12 Up To Duluth

It was only a short run planned for today.  Our primary destination was Aerostich motorcycle gear shop in Duluth, Minnesota.

With a good night's sleep for both of us, we had a leisurely start to the day.  There was a bit of traffic to start with to get out of Minneapolis and find our way onto Hwy 169.  This was generally taking us north.  It would have been quicker to use I35 but there's only so much slab work we can tolerate, even in a car.

Minnesota's state slogan is "the land of 10,000 lakes".  The scenery had changed from fields of corn and soybeans to lakes and marsh lands.  

In the K-Bob Cafe

We stopped for breakfast in the town of Princeton.  The cafe K-Bob has been run by the same family since 1961.  There werre some real characters inside. In one group there was a lady with a cackling laugh.  At the bar style table near us was a group of older men.  The group with the lady must have been telling funny stories, because they were having a great laugh with her topping the decibels.  We overheard one of the local fellows cheekily say something along the lines of "where's that rooster?"

I like to give Karen weird waypoint names to say

Often to get Karen to take us the way we want to go, not necessarily the way she calculates we should go, Clint will insert way points or via points into the route.  Each of these points need to have a name.  Some of the names have been quite mischievous.  This morning we had Karen saying "gobbledegook", "eeeek" and "qwertyuiop".  She handled herself quite well and provided us with some laughs, too.   I have been following our route on the iPad, too.  It has helped at times with the general direction of travel and town names when looking for the right off ramp.

Charleen's iMap

Using Hwys 23, 65 and 210 we drove through State Forests and little villages some with populations of maybe 100 people.  We saw out first deer of the trip.  It calmly walked across the road from one side to the other.  The approaching cars slowed a little.  No one seemed overly perturbed.  

Just on lunch time we were at Cloquet and then into Duluth.  Duluth is undergoing some major changes to the on and off ramps.  It was a little tricky trying to get through all of this with Karen telling us to use a non-existent off ramp.  We made it though and soon we were outside the unassuming entrance to Aerostich.  Yay!!

Aerostich warehouse in Duluth

We found our way inside and started to check out the gloves.  Aerostich had designed a glove with a thread stitched into the pads of two fingers to enable  the swipe motion needed for iPhones and iPads.  Clint was interested in a pair, but decided against them as the cuffs weren't right for him.  I was looking for a good pair of winter gloves with a generous gauntlet to fit over my jacket sleeve.  I found a pair and so did Clint - he liked the same glove that I did.

Next it was pants to keep us warm and dry.  Clint tried on the Darien model.  They fit him really well.  He was suitably impressed with the side zippered leg access to make for easy on and off with boots on.  To make sure the fit was right, Trina our sales assistant had Clint sit on the simulated bike.  It's part of a Honda 500 with a rocking wooden cradle instead of wheels.  Here Trina checked the knee armour was in the right place and that the leg length was right.  All good.  Now for me.

I tried the Dariens on but the leg from hip to knee was wrong for me.  The knee armour would not have been in the right place even with adjustment.

Trina suggested the AD1 brand.  They fit really well and they were cheaper.

Ok now it's time to see if all of this is in stock.  All of it is except for Clint's size in the Dariens.  He tried on the AD1 and was happy with them too.

Our little shopping excursion to Aerostich helped boost the US economy.  I know now why we are in a car.  It's to carry our our purchases around.

The roadworks again played havoc with Karen.  We followed her instructions only to find ourselves in a dirt road beside the highway and headed for private property.  Better get out of there and find another way for   Karen to direct us back to Cloquet.

Back on track and we found the travel information centre.  From up on the hill, there is a commanding view of the workings of Duluth and the edge of Lake Superior.  We also met one of the staff, a lady who is interested in coming to Australia.  We had quite a chat about what the Lakes area offered as well as her interests in Australia.

Finally back in Cloquet, we managed to get the last room in the Super 8.  As we have reached the half way point of our holiday, we have decided to stay here for two nights as it will be good to have a decent look around Duluth.

Duluth Panorama

My friend.  I find her in all the good looking places

Self portraits