July 18: Out of the Woods

The road out of Big Falls has widened, with the forest held back 50 yards or so from the road, so there is an openness we have been longing for without even knowing it. And the bugs are much better--no horse flies swarming the car whenever we stop. Megan had a great run, and is now only 22 miles from International Falls!

Megan's morning run took her up to Littlefork, a town of 680 people (so three times as big as Big Falls). We had lunch in the Big Spoon cafe in town. The cafe serves a hot dinner to seniors for a suggested donation of $3.00 (but you don't have to pay if you don't have the money). The waitress explained that it gives the seniors some fellowship during the day, as well as a good meal.

We sat next to the senior men's table--the women sit in the other room. The guys talk about birthdays ("If I make it that far." "Oh 80 isn't old--it isn't young, but it isn't old either"), about the storm last week that blew down a bunch of trees and the roofs off some buildings (the same storm that Megan ran in outside of Grand Rapids!) They asked one guy if he was picking any blueberries yet. "Oh, I got about 7 today, 12 yesterday." Global warming was the verdict on that one. About 25 people came in for meatballs in gravy over mashed potatoes and canned pears while we were there.

Thanks to the City Clerk of Littlefork for letting me use her computer during lunch (and gave Megan a donation, along with her friend, who took a picture of Megan for the Littlefork paper, and a coworker!). Dave is joining the crew tonight for the last leg of the trip, so we will try to blog from the road tomorrow in International Falls. We should be crossing the border by noon (or even earlier) tomorrow.