July 15: Another Day - Another Save

Isaac saved another turtle. "Two saves for the Schaenzer/Pollack team." Actually the turtle ran away when Isaac approached to do the good deed--faster than anyone had ever seen a turtle go.

Then there was the stories in Effie's Cafe--a charming 5 table cafe with great food (more pie) and folks who all knew each other. So naturally they were very interested in chatting with someone new in town. After listening to Megan's story, a worker stopped by the table to ask how she dealt with the flies. Anyone could tell with just one look, the flies were driving him nuts. Was it the constant buzzing or all the bites that is pushing him over the edge?

Another male customer said with a wry grin, "Bet she runs even faster if one of them timber wolves comes out of the woods. There are plenty of them in woods along the route you are going. They are not endangered here in Northern Minnesota, ya know."

"And have you heard about the cougars?" another guy helpfully added.

This is just the incentive Megan needs to keep running through the isolated shadows in the quiet ancient pine forest where the bed of pine needles muffle the sounds of wolves and cougars running to catch you my dear. With such big teeth my dear!

Perhaps they have entered the portion of Minnesota where Paul Bunyan and the Great Blue Oxen live on in the quaint local cafe to entertain the visitors and locals alike.

This evening's run ended dramatically with a storm passing quickly through (see the photo). Megan and Isaac were doing the last half mile when it started to pour (but luckily the severe weather passed further south).

July 14; Laundry & Lunch

Louise has taken on the role of support and Dave has returned home. Louise ran with Megan for 3 miles and back to the support vehicle. After the morning run, it was off to find a laundry in the town of Big Fork. The modern coin operated laundry was right next door to Cafe French, so start the wash go to lunch. With the meal done it was time to check for desert. The waitress reported that all the pies were delicious. She should know - she makes all of them. So they order pecan and blueberry pie while the laundry tumbled dry right next door.

Megan noticed that the amount of road kill has been significantly reduced, although the variety has increased. Today's variety included a bat and a porcupine.

They are staying at a Mn State Park just east of Big Fork called Scenic on Highway 7. Their campsite overlooks the lake, where loons and osprey are not uncommon. (The photo is a view from the campsite.)

The nearest Internet terminal is back in Grand Forks and cell phone coverage may be non-existent in the near future.

July 13: Hills and Wind

This morning's run brought Megan to Chippewa National Forest, and the scenic byway of Rte 38. It was beautiful, rolling hills through forest and many lakes. Megan was quite challenged by the headwind, but did her regular 11 miles.

She has done 190 miles!

In the evening, Megan crossed the Laurentian Divide, still battling headwinds and hills.

July 12: High Winds

Running against a strong wind. Biking with gusts
blowing us sideways almost off the road. Boating at MJ's lakehouse and
bouncing high off the water with each wave. Isaac and Dave sailing fast and
furious with just the main sail up.

We had great shelter from the elements last night at Mary Jo's and Jo's in Grand Rapids. Megan's morning run took her right up to Mary Jo's road, and while Megan slept in the afternoon, Dave, Louise, and Isaac went out on the wild water, to our great delight.

In the evening, waiting for Megan to finish battling the wind, Louise went into God's Country groceries and bait out on Route 38. She stopped by a display of greeting cards where an older, elfin man was worrying over the selection. "It's so hard to know," he confessed. "Some of these might be OK for some people, but ..." So Louise pondered the selection for a while and offered him what seemed like a neutral card. With relief, he took it back to his friends standing around the cash register drinking coffee. "That nice woman helped me pick out a card for my mother," he told them. "Did you tell her you couldn't read?" quipped one of his friends.

This is a photo of the view from Mary Jo and Jo's lakehouse--don't know if you can see the whitecaps or not.

Half-Way: Now the Next Stage

Yes, Megan is now half-way--she has run more than 150 miles and should reach Grand Rapids tomorrow morning. We are switching the support team at this point, so the person writing blogs from the field reports will mostly be Dave (unless Louise finds internet access up north).

We have added a new feature that we will start this weekend--Live Updates from the field! With expert help (thanks Carla), we have figured out how to send text messages from our cell phone to the blog. We have joined the Twitter crowd!

July 11th: What on the Road Really Means

That Keroac guy--he was in a car most of the time. He probably didn't spend much time with his two feet on the road--maybe only while he was hitchhiking between rides. Megan is ON the road. And that means she sees everything else on the road.

Unfortunately a lot of it isn't in good shape. A friend who is doing a bike ride to raise money for AIDS says that there is a roadkill crew that goes out along the route each morning cleaning up before the bikers get there. No such luck with Megan. She says the dead deer smell the worse--you can tell there's a deer on the road or ditch a long time before you see it. But the prize for gross goes to the racoon that looked as though it was covered in sand--until they got closer and saw it was crawling with maggots! But Megan says she isn't having nightmares yet!

On the road also means weather--really hot earlier in the week and pouring rain today (with more tornado watches). But Megan had a good wind at her back this morning and ran strong both morning and afternoon. She is now HALF WAY TO CANADA! And she is feeling good.

On the road also means people, and Megan and Dave are having great chats. Megan likes antique glass and silver, so loves to stop at small stores in small towns. At one of these stores today, the owner had seen Megan running along the road and asked what she was doing. In support, he gave her a discount on her purchases, a small gift from the store, and a cash donation for JDRF. These are wonderful moments.

July 10: Back on the Road, Day 8

It was cool and raining lightly as Megan headed out of Aitkin this morning-but that's not bad weather at all for running. In fact, Megan made great time on the run, and even had to wait for Dad to show up at the end!

Last night Megan, Dave, and Isaac went to the rodeo at the Aitkin County Fair and particularly enjoyed the Mutton Busting, an event that the announcer described as the only legal form of child abuse he knew of! Apparently, 4-6 year olds are mounted on sheep, then try to hold on while the sheep express their displeasure. The children wear helmets, which Dave said was a good thing, since the sheep sometimes run for the fence, then stop suddenly, catapulting the kid at the chain links. Dave said there were some tears as kids came up with mouths of dirt and lots of laughs. In this event, even the rodeo clown who rounds up the newly unburdened sheep and chases them back to the pen is small enough to look the animals right in the eye. But what this clown lacked in size, he made up for in endless running- around-the-ring energy.

Later on, Dave was in line to get some candy floss and one of the mutton riders was in line in front with his dad, a rodeo rider. The kid complained that the dirt didn't taste too good. His dad replied "Dirt tastes great! Better get used to it kid!"

The highlight of today for Dave (deviating a bit from our blog raison d'etre, our runner) was the buffet at the cafe in Hill City, tonight's hosting city. Dave proudly announced that he sampled all the hot entries on the buffet (including wild rice casserole, of course) and most of the items on the cold buffet. But the plates weren't that large, and some of the neighboring foods got a little close, to Megan and Isaac's dismay as they watched Dave eat chocolate cole slaw pudding.