Day 45: Our Protagonist Laments His Never Getting to See The Mall of America

I am leaving tomorrow morning and thus spend today make preparations for my departure… I ride to REI where I somehow end up in a checkout line with over $200 of cool stuff… Luckily, I come to my senses before making it to the cashier, and decide to get out of there as quickly as possible before I blow a fortune on camping gear. I leave, having purchased only a $14 rear blinking light. I spend the rest of the day on the internet trying to plan my route… and I think I’m gonna stay off the Northern Tier until just outside of Fargo… there are a number of cool trails I wanna check out. This could end horribly. Eric’s landlord/roommate wants me gone, so I can’t postpone my leaving another day… It’s a shame…. I am starting to get the hang of this city…

Oh… So I was going through my stuff today and noticed that the tubes Bicycle Habitat (in NYC) handed me were the wrong size… I know, I know, I’m complicit – I really should have noticed this as well… but regardless, I’ve decided to withdraw my support of this store… This was the final straw… and I’m real sick of every bike shop walking me through every mistake that was made when the bike was built. The employees at Bicycle Habitat have a great attitude and are actually really nice… but they messed up way too much on this bike.

Um… not much else happened besides that… Instead of getting a real early start tomorrow, I’m gonna leave here at 10:00am and pick up the right sized tubes for my tires before leaving town… Damn you Bicycle Habitat… Now I will be battling the midday heat tomorrow! As always… I’m wanting to stay in the city…

It’s supposed to rain for the next week solid… Maybe I’ll treat myself to a rest day in Fargo if that’s the case.

Tentative Schedule:

Thursday Cosmos, MN
Friday Sauk Centre, MN
Saturday Fergus Falls, MN
Sunday Fargo, ND