I don't remember what I said in my last post, and I don't particularly feel like going back to check, so if I repeat myself... whatever.

I packed one of my backpacks full of clothes, camping things, books, and my computer on Wednesday and rode with my heavy load downtown St. Paul to catch a bus up to White Bear Lake.  45 minutes of air conditioned city bus riding was nice as I had to ride about 20 minutes to 35E.  I was a little concerned about trying to hitchhike with my bike and a backpack since space would be an issue with whoever picked me up.  On the other hand, how crazy looking could a person with a bike and a helmet be?

After standing at hwy 96 and 35E for an hour (and turning down a couple short ride offers) I finally took a ride to North Branch about 20 minutes down the road.  It was pretty hot outside, so the AC in the car was night, and I figured getting to North Branch would be more likely for me to encounter people actually heading north.  The woman who picked me up was once an elementary teacher, so we had things to talk about.  I then sat for about 45 minutes in North Branch before a guy in a big Lincoln SUV picked me up and offered to take me the rest of the way.

It turned out that he was heading up to Lake Vermilion, where he manages property (cabins) for rich out-of-staters.  He had just dropped off some old Texas oilmen down in the Cities for medical appointments.  He said that he either lives or sometimes works on an island just past Center Island in Lake Vermilion and has rescued windbound canoe groups from Camp Vermilion.  Funny.  So we talked about camp, about the development that is going on like crazy on the lake, complained about rich people and greediness/selfishness in regards to things that should be public, iron range history... it was pretty interesting.

So just under two hours of waiting to hitch up to my family's place, and with a bike no less.  That wasn't too bad.  I was a sweaty mess after I biked the last 8 miles or so with that big heavy pack on my back though.  Yuck.

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It was great visiting the family at home.  Though my little sister graveylump and her boyfriend Rick were pretty busy, we got some really good visiting time.  I think she was pretty happy to be home for a while and to have a chance to spend time with family.  Rick is a good guy too.  Those two seem pretty happy together.  Burnell's friend from college, Russ, was also visiting at the same time, so there was some good sittin' on the deck, smokin' cigars (them), drinkin' wine, and talking about just about everything.  He's a very interesting guy, and it is nice to have a place to visit/stay in Montana.  It was really nice to have all that time visiting with family.  Despite all sorts of family drama in the past, I am pretty fortunate to have such a nice family.

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The Free Range Film Festival was great.  We got to two of the three sessions this year.  There were hundreds of people there, and the barn was packed with enthusiastic film-goers.  I could do a film-by-film review but that would get boring.  Suffice it to say that for the most part the films were pretty good and that I am looking forward to going back next year.  Good stuff.

Simple pleasure - laughing with family
Peace