Everything went well until it didn't, typical

Hello Special friends,

We decided to actually do a long ride coupled with some "stealth" camping (you'll find out why the stealth is in quotes later) this past Tuesday.  We went fully loaded and with the overall plan of "heading west".  We realized this last trip our plans should be comprised of more than just a general direction and we should probably plan out a campsite PRE ride...more on that later.  We were sad to find out that our original 3rd for the ride, Brent of Recovery Bikes, was not going to be able to join us due to unforseen dealins in MAKIN' BANK, that just how it is sometimes when you run a sick bike shop out yo crib.  

Lani settin' up the burley 

In his stead Sarah Aune slid into the number 3 spot for the trip, sporting her mid-80's Peogeut with a milk crate zip tied to her back rack.  It was a last minute fix for someone who lacks a trailer or panniers.  WELL DONE if I may say so myself.

Sarah rolls deep

Lani and myself, being that we both had the means to, carried the majority of the gear which was an added challenge since we were packing for 3, but only 2 of us were carrying it.  TRAINING...no pain no gain.

Various things needing compressing and stuffing and strapping. HANDLED.

Lani attaching her trailer, no shoes, Burley takes presidence.

Managed to cargo net my larger items to the back rack.  

After some finagling and and arranging we donned our gear and we were off......to the suburbs.

The cockpit of my bike. Notice the new handlebar bag thanks for REI's clearance sale.  It's really nice going on a trip at the end of the summer, because everything we need is suddenly 50% off.  BAM! We'll see how smart we feel once we're in Oregon at the end of Oct.  SHEEESH.

We bombed through North Minneapolis, without incident, and then careened through Theodore Wirth Park to link up with the Luce Line Trail

Lani catchin' some breath at Wirth Park

OOOOOH HEY!

We are here...the start of the Luce Line in Wirth Park

G'd up from the feet up

Luce Line con amigos

Hitting the rolling hills of Medina en route to Baker Park

Hydrating myself

For being rural MN they had some decently named roads

Lani and Sarah fell victim the the psychological warfare of the woodland mosquito, hence the photo from the inside their tent.

"I slave over this camp stove all night and you give me attitude"

Oh yes we DID make a fire with the hopes of curbing the mosquitos...hopes were dashed.

Despite appearances it was about 80 degrees.  Sarah's wardrobe was  to fend off the bloodsuckers 

YOU BET I WILL!

"I was about the give up on this fire business, but it just kept going"
Lani Hanson

Lani used spit water to wash her face...I'm not so sure that was a good idea.

Sarah, not so sure she didn't hear footsteps

Nothing could ruin this for me.....nothing except.....

Ok...so that's all well and good.  Everything went according to plan.  We hunkered down for the night, Lani and Sarah in thier 2 person tent, me in my bivy tent, then at about 12 midnight we were accosted with a flood of truck lights and Johnny Law telling us to VACATE the area.  Turns out the area we chose to camp in turned out to not be campsite approved, despite being the actual park, it just wasn't the RIGHT part of the park.  He checked out various ID's and then directed us to the actual campgrounds and few miles away.  

Gut check time: do we go set up camp all over again in the dark OR do we bike 8 miles back to my parents house in Plymouth?

Umm.....

We biked to my parents in defeat.  It's not really the "survivor man", screw modern comforts, take on the world we'd been planning for this trip, BUT this will probably be the one and only time we have a safety net such at this, with a full pantry of food and toilets REALLY near by and plush couches draped in fleece blankets.  If that tarnishes our street cred, well then, fine... Sarah summed up our sentiments on the sudden and unexpected eviction quite nicely with "anything at this point feels like torture".  

We all ran the gambit of emotions upon entering the guest bedroom at my parents house

"Yes we would like a snack"

We woke up and rode home debating about whether or not the "full disclosure" policy about this episode applied, I think you know how we ended the discussion.  

THERE, WE SAID IT!