I’m sure there was an air quality alert but I didn’t check. I needed to cover some miles and a little Canadian Wildfire smoke wasn’t going to stop me.
I did lament that I sent home my N95 mask in that package yesterday. I wore a bandana bandido style instead.
I was riding some real country roads, some of them gravel, and I was very excited when I saw that there was a coffee shop in a tiny community called Medowlands. Google maps said it was open, but I was trying not to get my hopes up. It was open when I got there! And they had delicious baked goods and coffee in exchange for a donation. Victory community partnership is a nonprofit that hopes to make this coffee shop a community center for the town. They definitely had some great energy going on. 
I did a pretty good job keeping myself on the bike moving down the road all day. When I rolled into Duluth down the big escarpment I had music playing and was in the zone so I pushed the envelope on safe speed down that hill. I glanced down once and saw 42 mph, probably not advisable on a fully loaded touring bicycle.
I arrived at my Warmshowers host’s house and was welcomed by Doug. He treated me with such wonderful kindness. He made a wonderful salad and homemade pizza for dinner and set me up with a shower and laundry. Then we took his camper van for a tour of Duluth. Doug was a teacher, has a degree in geology, keeps a beautiful garden and has a great love of Duluth that he likes to impart onto others.
Slow and Steady 
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