Editor’s note: Salisbury native David Freeze is cycling from Anacortes, Washington, to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Post is chronicling each day of his ride. Contact him at david.freeze@ctc.net.

Late Thursday night and early Friday morning, I had no idea how I was going to work toward the daily objective.

I wanted to get close enough to see the Lake Itasca State Park and the headwaters of the Mississippi by midday today. It is interesting to me because of how much I love the big rivers and it also seems that long-distance cyclists love the area. I keep hearing from others how beautiful it is.

Anyway, I stayed up too late and got up early as usual, just simply unsure how to go. Traffic, decent roads and time were all important.

I bought a new Minnesota map and parlayed it together with the Adventure Cycling map, then added in the advice of Adam Heckathorn.

Adam cycles daily to work in Fargo, even in the bitter cold, and he waved me over as I was riding by. His advice was the best I got from anyone and set me on a clear path, even though I was late.

His was the first in a day of special conversations.

I got rolling out of Fargo and passed into Minnesota. Right away, the traffic lessened and the roads were very good.

I was back in farm country on State Road 26 and then State Road 14. I stopped in Hitterdal and shipped another packet of material home for my next book with Corrine Moore at the post office.

Corrine says she sees cyclists coming by at this office on occasion but never at her other one.

We also talked about a recent tornado that some neighbors watched from their lawn chairs. I finally realized that maybe the wind blowing here all the time has something to do the frequency of tornadoes in this area.

I stopped in no other towns Friday.

One other special thing also happened. I hit a hilly section about midday and saw a woman parked beside the road ahead of me. She waved me over and gave me two of the best bananas I have ever tasted and an apple too.

It was so nice of J.D. Bare to do that.

It certainly was a wonderful day of people and conversations and maybe today will have some great scenery too.

Friday was mostly farmland and then some hillier areas in the afternoon as I neared the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, where I would camp Friday night.

I started to pass a bunch of lakes, probably because Minnesota has more lakes than any other state. Most people probably already knew that, but I didn’t realize how fragrant they are. These lakes just smell good, and the water seems so clean. I will see a lot more today.

There are no motels anywhere around and to come see the area, I had to find a place to camp. I got a good camping rate at Tamarac Resort and hoped to get to sleep as soon as it neared dark.

Friday was a very strong day for me mentally and physically, after I settled the dilemma in the morning. I am not sure exactly how all of this came about, but as usual, “The Lord rides with me.” I am fully and daily convinced of this.

My connectivity was very poor and there was no WiFi available. Hopefully Andy and Bobby received the story at the Post and everyone can read it.

But to offset that, the Round Lake here is absolutely beautiful. And I can’t wait to catch up on a little sleep after 78 more miles.

I will see you back here tomorrow with more about this area and begin my journey down to Duluth and Lake Superior. I can’t wait to tell everyone about it.