"Where are the breakfast joints in this town?" I asked Margie, our motel proprietor.
"Most people get their coffee and whatelse at the gas station." She responded.
Really? Ugh, we definitely can't start the day on convenience store junk. So we were off in search of the next diner on our route. We thought it would be in Springfield which was 15 miles down the road. Its hard to ride for an hour on an empty stomach!
Luckily we found the J&J cafe in Sanborn (about 7 miles out). We had a great breakfast and great conversation with the owners. As we sat eating our breakfast, an arguement erupted at the table behind us. Two old farmers were arguing about pipe sizes for water flow. I thought they were just having a harmless banter until the one old guy says "I can't take this nonsense anymore. You better get the hell out of here!"
Wow, those farmers are a testy bunch. I though they'd have to take it outside- cinch up those overalls and duke it out! Never all dull moment in Sanborn!
The rest of the ride to Mankato wasn't as exciting as breakfast, but beautiful. I love the gently rolling terrain of the farmlands. The odor leaves something to be desired - hog farms stink! And when you are riding you get the pleasure of smelling them for a very long time.
At mile 73 we arrived at the long gravel road that would take us to the Lorentz's place. This was my first time to Jess's home but it felt familiar as I have been hearing stories of "home" from Jess for the past 10 years. What a beautiful home it is! The Lorentz's live on 75 acres with several horse pastures and a large horse barn. Jean (mom Lorentz) is an excellent gardener and has beautiful landscaping and flowers everywhere.
After a delicious home cooked meal with vegetables (finally!) and key lime pie (my favorite!), we looked at a few maps and planned our route for tomorrow. We are able to take a few paved bike paths along the Minnesota River and through downtown Mankato. After that we'll be heading Southeast along a less busy route than HWY 14. Our hope is to make it to a town about 10 miles South of Rochester by this afternoon. It should be a 85 mile day or so.
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