July 17, 1998 - Long Prairie - Rest Day

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 0 Miles

TIME: 0 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 0 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny all day.

ROAD CONDITIONS: N/A

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: N/A

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
We woke up at 7:30 and I got out some cookies for breakfast along with some fruit. Although it wasn't much, it tasted good and filled me up since I wouldn't be biking the normal 70 miles for the day. Around 8:30 we went to a local printing press where we were able to go and look at all of the presses in action and see the process of printing. It involves many steps and is starting to be computerized. The people that used to have to copy images onto tin as one of the steps are now being trained to use the computers. Some of the presses cost 4 million dollars! We then got to see all of the magazines that they print and one pamphlet that they had was actually for some event in San Diego. After the press, we went back to the campground and I played Brad in a game of Horseshoes that was much closer than the previous games. This was followed by a lunch of Subway sandwiches that even had meat in them! Along with this, we also had lemonade and chips. After eating, we took a short ride to a local park where we talked to some people about reforestation. After a short story about the settlement of Long Prairie and about the Indians, we took another ride to a reforestation area with Greg Nolen. Right before we were about to leave, Dan came in since he left a little after us and had fallen scraping up his arms and cutting up his big toe very badly almost needing stitches. We took a count of trees in a small area to find out how well the new trees are doing. After this, we went to another park where we had cookies and lemonade. We then rode a little further and saw what a real prairie looked like before people started to farm on it. The look was much different with numerous small shrubs. After spending about a half an hour in this place, we went back to Greg Nolen's farm and got ready to go to a lake. Matt and I left together and got lost so by the time we arrived it was too late to go in since dinner was almost ready. So I went back to the farm and took a quick shower using a gravity fed water system that had been heated by the sun. I changed into some clean clothes and got ready for dinner which consisted of many different types of rice and a brown bread which were both baked in a solar oven. We also had bratwurst along with watermelon. For desert, we had ice cream with fresh blueberries that we picked and put on top. It all tasted great and I felt sick from eating so much even though I knew that I would be wanting more soon. Lana and I then proceeded to set up my tent for the night since the bugs were really bad. We didn't put on the rain fly since the skies were clear and hoped that they would stay that way. After this, we took a tour of the farm and saw his personal saw mill where he saws his own lumber for his needs. He has built his own house and barn along with a cook shed and a few other useful things. After this, we went onto a place where he had circular disks of cardboard. He had gotten these from the local press since they couldn't use them any more. He later found that they were great to keep down the weeds around trees when they are planted. Because of this, he took all of the pieces from the press and then was able to sell them himself. The press would have had to pay $6,000 to get rid of them but Greg was able to sell them for $10,000! We then continued on to the cook shed where we were shown the area where they dry seeds and flowers in the winter. Because of the big water jugs that Greg has stored inside, the temperatures stay constant. By using these jugs, the temperatures fluctuate 10 degrees less in each direction. After this, we went over to where he had a solar powered lawn mower. It was very quiet and did a very good job. Another solar part that we were able to see was a set of large panels lined up side by side. Some were for hot water, some were for electricity, and some were for hot air. All of these were used for his house to keep down his bills. Most of the panels were bought at very low prices since he was able to get them from people in California who were dismantling solar energy plants. The next stop was his actual house. To get to it, we walked on a dirt road and passed by many places where he had cut down trees. Greg explained how he selects which trees he cuts down. One of the criteria was to leave the older ones and remove the younger trees. He does this because the younger, weaker trees don't always get the nutrients they require-- the extensive root network of the big trees absorb the nutrients first. By following this system, he keeps the forest healthy while always getting good wood. When we arrived at his house, we noticed that it had all been handmade from wood that he had cut down himself. When we got inside, the floors were all polished and everything looked very professionally made. It was incredible to see what he had done all by himself. He had not yet gotten running water inside so he still has to use his manual pump every day. However an automatic pump, powered by the sun, was going to be installed soon. Another amazing thing was that the stove was completely powered by wood. It was all cast iron and incredible to look, at even though it must take a while to get used to. We went back outside and were being eaten alive by the bugs (the only thing that he didn't seem to have a solution to!) so Brad and I went back to our tents where I noticed a lot of dew on the ground. I had to put up my rain fly while bugs were biting my everywhere, even through my shirt onto my back. These were the worst bugs that I have ever seen in my life. After the rain fly was on, I went back to get my bags. I put on some REI "Off" which worked great to keep off the mosquitos. I hopped into my tent and found about 10 mosquitos inside so, since I couldn't find my flashlight, I pulled out my laptop to use as a light to find and kill every one of them. After about 20 minutes they were all gone and I was able to grab something to eat before going to bed around 11:30.

TRIP ROUTE:
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