I had an 8:00 AM appointment at the hospital to have my blood thickness checked. Due to my new artificial heart valve I have to be on blood thinners for the rest of my life, which means these coagulation appointments will also happen regularly for the rest of my life.
Because of this appointment keeping me from leaving town any earlier, my morning started like pretty much any other day. My alarm went off at 5:30 like usual. I spent about 1/2 hour brushing my teeth, using the restroom and getting my bearings. Then I head out for some exercise.
Since my heart surgery I've been trying to walk as much as possible. Most weekday mornings I'll walk at least three miles. For the last couple months I've been trying to run a little every other day as well. This day happened to be a running day. I walked 3/4 of a mile to warm up, then I ran 1.75 miles, then finally I walked another 1/2 mile to cool down. My last 1/4 mile of running was up a steep hill, so I finished my exercise very winded but feeling like I accomplished something.
On a normal work day I would then hop on my bicycle and ride eight miles to work, where I would shower and put on my dress clothes. Today though was a day off, so I broke from my usual routine and went back into the bedroom to shower there. I also took a few minutes to cut my hair.
I've been cutting my own hair for about five years now. For forty years I would watch the barber cut my hair the same way every time, and I finally decided that I'd seen it done enough times that I could probably figure out how to do it myself. I bought a clipper with all the attachments for $17. Most of the time it turns out pretty good. Every once in a while I'll give myself a bad haircut, but every once in a while the barber would give me a bad haircut as well so I figure that's about the same success rate. The $20 I save on not having to pay someone to cut my hair is nice, but the big convenience is time. It usually takes me less than 15 minutes to cut my hair and it would take at least an hour to drive somewhere and have it done. Plus I'm not bound by anyone else's schedule. In this case I decided I wanted a hair cut at 6:45 in the morning and did it with no waiting.
Once I was dressed I went out to the kitchen and made some oatmeal for breakfast. I had packed most everything the previous night so I only had to add in a few more items, like my shaving kit that I couldn't pack ahead of time because I needed it after my shower. I also decided to preemptively slather my face with sunscreen.
With the bike packed I was ready to hit the road. I glanced at the clock and realized I was running about five minutes late for my appointment, so I hastily snapped a photo and took off.
The hospital was in the opposite direction that I would be leaving town, so I had to backtrack a bit. I started to take the most direct route there, but as I came over a hill I could see that a large percentage of everyone else was also taking that same route, and there was blocks and blocks of cars standing nearly still in gridlock.
One benefit to being a bicycle commuter is I've gotten pretty familiar with all of the back streets in our city. I turned off the main route and started riding through residential areas. The speeds through these neighborhoods were low, but they were faster than the traffic was moving on the main road. This route also added nearly a mile of distance due to all the turns and times I was traveling laterally in relation to my destination. However, I managed to arrive at the hospital right at 8 AM. There's no way I would have gotten there that early if I had stayed on the main artery.
As I mentioned earler, one of the side effects of having a mechanical heart valve is that I'll have to be on blood thinners for the remainder of my life. As I understand it, the body recognizes the mechanical valve as something foreign, and like it does with other injuries it attempts to "scab over" the valve. As a result, blood clots can form around the valve. Obviously you don't want this happening because if one of those clots lets loose it could cause a stroke. So to combat this risk, people with mechanical heart valves take blood thinning medication so the clots can't form.
Being on blood thinners requires regular appointments to make sure the blood is thin enough, but not so thin that I am at risk of bleeding to death from a minor cut. It's a balancing act to get the right amount of medication to work with your diet. I didn't have to necessarily change my diet, but I do have to try and be consistent with it. Vitamin K is the primary thing to regulate as it is a blood thickening agent, so the trick is to eat about the same amount of vitamin K rich foods every week. If a person doesn't like foods with vitamin K (i.e. kale, spinach, broccoli, etc.) they don't necessarily have to start eating them. I can decide how much I want to include in my diet, but then I need to make sure to always eat that amount. I enjoy leafy green vegetables so I try to eat them about four times per week.
Eventually, the goal is to get my blood thickness stable enough to where I only have to get it checked once per month. When I first went on the blood thinners I was going in twice per week. As they dialed in the right dosage and my body started to level out after surgery I've been able to increase the amount of time between appointments. I'm now at two week intervals.
The appointment went well. It pretty much consists of a short quiz to make sure I haven't missed any of my daily medication, and that I've eaten about the same amount of vitamin K as usual. Then they poke me with a needle and put a drop of blood on a machine to measure how thick it is. 1.0 is normal thickness. My goal is to have my thickness somewhere between 2.0 and 3.0. On this day it was 2.1 so I was within range. No medication changes were needed, so I made the next appointment in two weeks and I was free to go.
Then the pharmacist noticed my helmet and told me that he rides motorcycle too. We started talking about riding, what we ride, where we ride, when we ride and how much we ride. Ten minutes later he decided he'd better get to his next patient and I decided I'd better get on the road.
Back on the motorcycle I headed back across town to the east side of Sioux Falls. I stopped and topped off my tank with gas, which didn't take long because I hadn't hardly ridden the motorcycle yet this year. As I was filling the tank I glanced in the rear view mirror and caught sight of a nose hair that was protruding a good 1/4" below my nostril. Ugh. I wonder how long that had been hanging out like that? There's little that distracts me quite like a rogue nose hair. I couldn't just ignore it, so I proceeded to work on plucking it with my fingers using my rear view mirror as a guide. I successfully extracted it and was admiring its impressive length when I looked up and noticed a lady filling her car at the pump across from me, aghast while watching the whole impromptu simian grooming procedure.
Oh well. She'll probably never see me again. I climbed back on the bike and continued west out of town.
The fast way to get to the night's destination would have been to go down the interstate. I wasn't interested in the fast way. Today was all about a casual ride and to enjoy the sights. For this reason, I opted to take highway 9 east across northern Iowa.
This route took me through several smaller towns. My plan was to frequently get off the bike and stretch. Perhaps not at every small town, but more often than I do on longer trips when I need to stay moving in order to put lots of miles behind me. On this day I was only going to ride about 300 miles, so time wasn't a big issue.
Just a few miles across the Iowa border was the town of Larchwood. As I rode though I saw a baseball field. Seeing as the theme of this year's ride was baseball, I thought it might be cool to stop and take a picture of the field. Then I decided to try and get a photo of every baseball field that I rode by.
About 25 miles from where I gassed up I reached the town of Rock Rapids, IA. As I rode in on the west side I looked to my right and saw tall lights sticking up over the trees. I guessed that was a baseball diamond so I rode a few blocks through a neighborhood and got my suspicions confirmed:
While I was stopped to see the baseball diamond, I saw that a homeowner had carved an eagle into the top of an old tree stump. I thought it was pretty cool so I took a picture of it.
As I rode through town I saw a sign with an arrow pointing to "Island Park." I thought that sounded interesting, and perhaps there might even be a baseball field there? I rode a few blocks over to the park entrance and found it barricaded. I guess I wasn't going to see Island Park that day.
I left Rock Rapids and contined east on highway 9. Traffic was light, which was nice. It's always a more pleasant ride when you're not constantly trying to pass cars, or not constantly getting passed. I could just cruise along and enjoy the day.
One of the few cars I passed on the entire trip was along this stretch. It was a beautiful C5 Corvette convertible. Two ladies looked like they were out doing the same thing I was, and were tooling along at 50 mph with the top down. Just to be clear, it was the convertible top that was down. I don't want anyone to get any weird ideas about northwest Iowa.
Throughout this day I saw quite a few convertibles out on the highway with the tops down. It was a beautiful day weather-wise so I suppose everyone was out enjoying the sun and pleasant temps. Their was very little wind and the day's high was about 72 degrees.
When I arrived at Spirit Lake, IA I was in need of a stretch break. I was also getting kind of hungry, as the bowl of oatmeal I had eaten four hours earlier had worn off. I was going to stop for lunch in an hour so I didn't want to get too much food, but felt a light snack would hit the spot. I saw a Casey's convenience store. They are known for their pizza and usually have it available by the slice. I thought a slice of pizza sounded good, especially if they had a slice of breakfast pizza left. Casey's breakfast pizza rocks.
I pulled in and parked, then went in to feed my pizza craving. Unfortunately, they didn't have any pizza slices available. That's pretty unusual for Casey's. I was going to have to find something else to snack on. I did a couple of laps around the store, but nothing sounded really good. My mind had been fixated on pizza. Finally I just grabbed a Cliff Bar.
I stood for a few minutes outside enjoying the weather as I ate my snack and drank some water. The town of Spirit Lake is located along the western shore of East Okoboji Lake. East and West Okiboji lakes are popular vacation spots. As a result, there was a lot of traffic buzzing up and down the main street through town.
I finished my snack and got back on the bike to head east. The next town down the road was Estherville. I have a couple of memories associated with Estherville.
The first memory was almost 20 years ago on my very first motorcycle trip. I was riding my old 1982 Suzuki GS850 to visit my grandparents in eastern Iowa. Estherville was my first stop on that trip where I got gas and ate some lunch. I distinctly remember the moment after finishing lunch and climbing back on the bike when I realized that I had fallen in love with traveling by motorcycle.
The second memory was nine years ago. I had traveled to Estherville to compete in a triathlon. I was in arguably the best shape of my life and had a very good race. I finished the 1/4 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike ride and 5k run in 1:09:01, which was by far my best performance in a triathlon. I wound up coming in 9th overall (out of 64) and 5th in my age division. That was a good day.
I only had a little farther east to ride and then I was going to head north into Minnesota.
At Armstrong, IA I left highway 9 and headed north on highway 15. As I rode through downtown I caught sight of a baseball diamond about a block down a side street. I pulled a U-turn and stopped for a photo.
On the north side of Armstrong, I came across another baseball diamond outside the high school. Apparently Armstrong likes their baseball. I'm impressed that a town this small would have two diamonds.
Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" and it's not just a saying. It seems you can't swing a cat without hitting a lake in that state. That's just an expression. Please don't actually swing a cat. Especially if it's my cat, because I love my cat. I miss her on trips like these.
I crossed over the Minnesota border and then went about 10 more miles to Fairmont, MN.
Fairmont was my planned lunch stop. When on motorcycle trips I usually like to eat at places that are little more locally owned. Taco John's was sounding good, and they're regionally owned, so I decided that was close enough. I don't eat at TJ's very often these days. 30 years ago I ate there almost daily for a while, so whenever I think of TJ's my mind goes back to those days when I would get off work at 11 PM, hit the TJ's drive through for two tacos, two bean burritos and Potato Ole's, and then go home to my dinky apartment where I would feast and play guitar until 2 or 3 in the morning. When life gets stressful I relish these old memories. Life has been very stressful lately, so TJ's is a comfort food for me.
I ordered some tacos and potatoes. While I was waiting I visited the sauce bar to get some hot sauce, and was pleasantly surprised that they had their super hot sauce out. Usually it's available, but you have to ask for it at the counter which makes it just inconvenient enough that I don't bother. I happily scooped a ladle full into a cup. This stuff is way hotter than their regular "hot" sauce. It's not the spiciest thing I've ever tasted, but it certainly is warm enough to wake you up.
After lunch I continued north on highway 15. When doing the original route planning I had thought about getting gas in Fairmont. Looking at my gauge I decided I had enough fuel to make it all the way to New Ulm. I figured I would be needing a bathroom/stretch break about that time anyway. The ride to New Ulm was rather unremarkable.
I made it to New Ulm and gassed up and used the bathroom as planned.
After I got back on the road, I hit an unexpected detour. Construction on an interchange on highway 15 had closed the road. I started following the detour which took me farther and farther east, past the town of Courtland. I was worried that I had missed a sign when finally the marked detour took me north and then back west. After 20 extra miles of riding the detour eventually joined back up with highway 15 just two miles north of where the detour initially branched off. I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have come up with a shorter detour than that one.
Back on highway 15 I was into the last leg of the day's journey. From here I would pretty much head straight north all the way to St. Cloud.
Roughly an hour south of St. Cloud I entered Hutchinson, MN. I have a lot of history with this town, as for 18 years I worked for Hutchinson Technology Inc at their Sioux Falls location. I would frequently travel to the corporate office for meetings and other activities, and as a result got quite familiar with the city. I hadn't been back since I resigned from that job 13 years prior, so I took a detour to ride over to their building and see what's changed.
The two things that stood out to me were that the company had been purchased by TDK since I left, so the signage had all been updated to reflect the new ownership. The other thing that I noticed was how empty the parking lot was. This location once employed about 3,000 people, and now there may have been 100 cars in the parking lot.
After a short stretch break to relive old memories, I headed north out of town. I noticed that since the last time I'd been there, Hutchinson had installed roundabouts on either end of the city on highway 15. I like roundabouts. There's a bit of a learning curve, but once people figure them out they are much more efficient at moving traffic versus a four way stop.
Further up on highway 15 I saw a sign that said, "Scenic Overlook Ahead." Well, I'm all about stopping to look a scenery, especially in Minnesota where sometimes there isn't much of any. I pulled over and was greeted with this view:
Apparently the trees had grown quite a bit since the overlook was built and the sign erected. Now it's a not-so-scenic overlook.
Just to the south of Kimball, MN, a truck made an unsafe pass and wound up cutting me off to avoid hitting oncoming traffic head-on. The worst part is he endangered my, and other people's lives for no benefit. There were cars ahead of me and he wound up saving himself about three seconds. I was kind of irked.
As we reached town I noticed that we were going to reach a stop light at the same time, and there were two lanes. I was going to have the opportunity to pull up next to him and give him my best "you're a moron" stare. Probably no good would come from it, but I was upset.
Thankfully I then saw a baseball diamond to my right and decided to pull in and snap some pictures instead. I'll let the idiot go on up ahead and crash his truck without me being involved.
At about 3:40 in the afternoon I arrived in St. Cloud. This is much earlier than I normally arrive when on my motorcycle trips, but then again this trip is much shorter than the others I've taken. I checked into my hotel and hauled all my gear up to my room.
I had plenty of time to relax before the baseball game at 7 PM, which was nice. I called my wife to let her know I was still alive, but got no answer so I left a message. Then I looked at some maps to figure out where I was going to supper and the game. Then I took a nap.
At 5:45 I decided to head out and get something to eat before the game. I thought about just eating concessions at the ball field, but I didn't know what to expect. I was hungry and didn't want to show up for the game only to discover that all they sold was popcorn.
I googled "best restaurant in St. Cloud" and looked through my options. I wanted something fairly simple so that I would have room for a snack at the ball diamond. I also wanted something fairly close to where my hotel and the ballpark were located. I settled on a place called "NY Gyros" which didn't look too far from the hotel and got good reviews.
I got on the bike and headed off looking for the restaurant. I turned on the street where I thought it was located, and rode a few blocks when I started to wonder if either the restaurant had closed, or I had made a wrong turn. Probably the latter.
I pulled over and checked the map on my phone. Sure enough, I had turned on the wrong street. The correct street was about six blocks further north. Rather than backtrack all the way to the main highway to head north six blocks, I decided to cut through a residential neighborhood.
Well, much to my surprise I found a rather bad area of St. Cloud. I really didn't expect to find a bad area in St. Cloud. Later I would learn that St. Cloud is the 3rd largest city in Minnesota (not counting suburbs of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area) right behind Duluth. I didn't have any issues riding through this part of town, but I did have a few people looking at me in a rather curious fashion.
I found the restaurant and went inside. When I think of Gyro's I think of Greek food. However, once I saw the menu it was much more middle eastern than Greek. This wasn't a problem, though, as I like all food. I had gyro's on the brain though, so that's what I ordered.
It was good food. I'd eat there again, but I probably would try something different just for variety's sake.
After I finished eating I rode over to the ball park which was about a mile away. The first thing I noticed was that the parking lot was full. I was able to find a spot, but it was among the last available and was quite a distance from the entrance.
I walked to the gate and was surprised to see a line. I really didn't expect there to be a line for a small town baseball game. I had purchased tickets the night before which turned out to be a good thing, as all of the reserved seating was sold out and the only thing left was bleachers.
I got inside and found my seat, then I went to scope out the concessions and use the restroom. There was quite a line for food and I was surprisingly full from the gyro, so I decided to wait and maybe come down after a few innings to get a snack. I went back to my seat and got settled and waited for the game to begin.
I was rather surprised by how "in to" the team the fans were. As I already mentioned, I really didn't expect there to be this much fanfare for a small town baseball team like this. They even had a helicopter fly-over after the national anthem. By the time the first pitch was thrown, the seats behind home plate were packed full.
I sat and enjoyed the game. I saw several people walking by with large baskets of cheese curds, which looked delicious. I really wasn't all that hungry after supper and didn't need anything more to eat, but that didn't stop me from wanting some for myself. I was thinking that around the 5th inning I would go and get a basket. Well, before I could do that, the young girl sitting to my left (I'm guessing about 12 years old) offered me the remaining half of her cheese curds. She said she was full and didn't want them. Now, even though I'm a tremendous pig when it comes to food, normally I wouldn't accept a half eaten snack from a stranger. For some reason, however, her generosity got the best of me and I couldn't say "no." I thanked her and accepted the gift. Then I inhaled the cheesy goodness. They were delicious.
There were a couple players who really stood out to me. There was a left fielder who had some tremendous speed. A couple of balls were hit to the gap and I thought, "there's no way he's getting to it," when suddenly the player kicked it into another gear and made the catch. There was also a player on first base that had a very good stretch and could really dig balls out of the dirt. I wouldn't be surprised at all if either of them got drafted into the minors.
On my other side was a special needs boy who I learned was named David. He is a big St. Cloud Rox baseball fan and comes to all of the games. I'm guessing he was about 15 years old, and was sitting with his mother. David and I had a great time cheering together. Around the 7th inning David's mom needed the restroom and asked if I would keep an eye on him so she didn't have to take him with her. I gladly agreed.
After the game ended, which resulted in an 4-8 loss to the Rochester Honkers, they had fireworks. It wasn't a huge display, but again it was certainly more than I expected for a small town baseball game. I tried to capture some pictures, but my camera didn't get very clear photos.
Upon leaving the stadium, I tried to call my wife again. I figured it might take a while to get out of the parking lot so I might as well use the time productively. Once again I got no answer. This was somewhat expected, so I wasn't overly concerned. She probably went to the fair with her friend who was staying at our house that week.
One of the things I had forgotten to pack was my mouthwash. This seems like an inconsequential thing to forget, but the previous February I had spent a week in the hospital and another month on IV antibiotics due to a heart infection. I actually came fairly close to death, or at least as close as I had been up to this point in time. They believe the infection started via bacteria entering through my mouth where I might have cut my gums flossing. I had been told that people with bad heart valves are much more susceptible to infections, and I discovered first hand that this was true. One of the things that my infectious disease specialist recommended after I was released from the hospital was to diligently use an antiseptic mouthwash several times each day. Frankly, that infection made me feel so terrible that I never want to risk going through it again, so I decided to make a stop on the way back to the hotel room an buy some Listerine.
There was a Wal-Mart a couple blocks from the hotel. I went in there and got some mouthwash. I also grabbed a few bottles of seltzer water because I was thirsty and it sounded like a tasty snack.
Back at the hotel, I watched part of the replay of the Minnesota Vikings pre-season football game that had happened earlier that evening. Then I made my preparations, set the alarm for 7 AM and went to sleep.
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This page last updated on 10/15/2019