day 4 (updated with pics)

In all of my trips to Duluth and Two Harbors, MN, I hardly ever went much further up the shore than a short ways past Two Harbors.  The furthest I recall going was Gooseberry Falls and Tofte.  So today’s destination, Thunder Bay, ON, was definitely taking me to some new places.  As indicated by my previous posts, the water of Lake Superior is still very cold, even more than usual.  I knew it would be cold riding so close to the lake, so I donned arm warmers, an extra insulating jacket, and my cold weather riding gloves.  Even with all of that, and the heated grips, it was still very chilly.  At places where the road drifted away from the lake, it felt like there was 10 degree change in temperature.

My first stop was Anderson’s Greenhouse in Two Harbors, MN.  My grandfather Jerry used to own the greenhouse and lived behind it.  I remember playing in it with my brothers when we visited as kids.  I stopped in and met the current owner (?), Jeff Peterson.  He had been working there since he was a teenager.  As I was walking through the new greenhouse, I saw his BMW 1150 GS parked in back.  We chatted for a while about our bikes and my ride before he took a picture of me in front of the greenhouse.  I then made the obligatory stop to see the town’s namesake.

For the remaining part of the ride, I was pleasantly surprised by the curves and elevation changes along the coast.  There was one point near Grand Portage where the elevation rose and then fell by over 500 feet within about 7 miles.

When it came time to cross the border, I was all ready with my passport.  Given the helmet, though, they asked me to get off the bike and take off my helmet.  After several questions about where I was from, where I was going, how long I would be there, what I did for a living, did I have any weapons, etc., etc., they then told me to pull over to the side and speak to someone else.  I immediately thought they were going to make me unpack all of my gear so they could go through it, which would mean I would have to re-pack it all.  Thankfully they were only running some additional checks on my passport while I waited, so I able to be on my way to Thunder Bay, ON.  This part was uneventful; however, I had to keep reminding myself that when the speed limit around curves was 40, it was not in m.p.h., but in k.p.h. (40 k.p.h. ~ 25 m.p.h.).