{"id":403,"date":"2010-06-23T04:56:23","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roderick.hostcell.net\/bike2010\/bemidji-mn"},"modified":"2013-12-20T20:14:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T20:14:22","slug":"bemidji-mn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/bemidji-mn\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji, MN"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 23, 2010 7:20 am<\/p>\n

As usual, Elliot is on the netbook at night, and I wake up in the morning to do my stuff. He’s still sleeping.<\/p>\n

So yesterday, we headed for Bemidji, with a stop along the way at Becida.<\/p>\n

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Becida is not actually a place with houses and stuff, it’s basically a Bar and Grill (no store) and defunct gas station. It was deserted when we got there at 3:30 pm. We got juice from the cooler, and rested for a few minutes. Elliot was hungry, so we ordered a pizza. It was just one bartender running the whole place. She had a limp because she had just been kicked in the pelvis by a horse. I didn’t inquire further.<\/p>\n

Around 4 pm, the local fisherman started to show up, and the place got more busy. We discovered that the place had free Wi-Fi, so I took advantage of the opportunity to update the blog. The internet had gone down at Itasca, so I couldn’t update that morning.<\/p>\n

Feeling good, we headed down a freshly-paved, smooth, very fast road. It was 15 miles to Bemidji (beh-MIDGE-ee). We were screaming down that thing.<\/p>\n

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About 9 miles in, I realized we were going the wrong way. We were supposed to turn left at Becida, not continue on straight. God humbles the proud. I followed other roads to set us back in the right direction, thankful for the fact that Adventure Cycling maps show more than the main route. I got confused, because there is a county road 2, labeled as (you guessed it) “2”, which is not the same as State Highway 2. We asked locals for directions on two occasions, and they were EXTREMELY helpful. A local will say, don’t take that road, it’s just sand, this one will be blacktop, and avoid the construction at such-and-such place. I wish we could have taken pictures of everyone who had helped us. The best directions we got were to stay on State Highway 2, past L&M fleet supply, past the Airport, past the Bemidji Theater. The speed limit was 65, and cars and trucks were zooming by, but the shoulder was very wide, as wide as a full lane. I was about to give up, and sorely tempted by a Quality Inn that we passed, and told Elliot that if KOA didn’t show up in 2-3 miles, let’s just go to a motel. KOA showed up on the next block.<\/p>\n

Instead of 16 miles from Becida to Bemidji, it was 35. Elliot was absolutely patient. Not once did he complain. Our total mileage for the day was 58, on a day that should have been near zero.<\/p>\n

At the KOA, I was in no mood to set up a tent. We got a Kabin for $48 (with my KOA card).<\/p>\n

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KOA is the luxury line of campgrounds. They cost more, but have amenities. Free Wi-Fi. Game room for the teens The cabin has 3 outlets, lighting, and beds, although we use our sleeping bags as there are no sheets. At the office, I ordered a pizza, and the lady asked if I would like it delivered to the Kabin. What service!<\/p>\n

\"DSCN0245s.JPG\"<\/p>\n

There is complimentary continental breakfast from 8 to 9 am, which is in five minutes. Elliot is up, and in the shower. When he returns, we’ll go to eat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 23, 2010 7:20 am As usual, Elliot is on the netbook at night, and I wake up in the morning to do my stuff. He’s still sleeping. So yesterday, we headed for Bemidji, with a stop along the way at Becida. Becida is not actually a place with houses and stuff, it’s basically a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pididu.com\/wordpress\/bike2010\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}