Dunes Buried

Albany, MN to Sand Dunes State Forest, MN

62 miles

I have been strictly apolitical on this trip and have been reminded day after day -- in the friendliness and generosity of strangers -- that the red/blue binaries obsessed over in the news are irrelevant to any real sense of personal and national identity. I want to be open to the people around me. But, today it got political.

Fifty miles of relatively anticlimactic riding -- now off the separated bike path -- led me to the city of Monticello and an RV park on the Mississippi river (a river still in its infancy this far north). The RV park was the only place in town that had a campsite available. As I rolled in, a huge sign read, "Support the NRA/No new gun laws."

I didn't bait the proprietor into a debate; I just left. I felt a violent reaction simmering in my blood and so I rode away, stung nonetheless by an ideological ignorance I'd forgotten about during the past few weeks.

With a little phone research, I found a state wilderness park 12 miles from Monticello. I loaded up on water, baby wipes and chex mix, and pedaled my mobile home out to Sand Dunes State Forest. I cautiously rode a sandy road for about a mile, then walked my bike down a narrow trail through reeds, grasses and wild berries before finding enough open space to set up camp. After spotting a couple snakes (the harmless sort) and swatting a tick away from my upper leg, I dove into my tent and have remained here since.

If, for a second, my patriotic bliss wavered at that RV park, it's been amply restored by this wilderness. In the quiet out here, my mind can unspool. To ride my bike into a sand dune forest in the middle of the country and sleep alone under a canopy of stars: this is my brand of freedom.

Once the tent is up, I'm hiding safely in the reeds