On March 10th 2006 it was going to get up into the high 40s! A heat wave! I dragged myself out of bed only 2 hours after I had gone to sleep so I wouldn't miss any of it.
I had about 7 shots left in my other camera. They will be posted here too, soon. As usual, you can click on any picture to see the larger, higher-res version.

Anyway, there is still some snow left, even though it's been unnaturally warm for a little while.

This place was all clear-cut long ago, yet some trees still remain. Are they naturally from here? Or did someone plant trees from elsewhere as windbreaks? Sometimes there is a beautiful scene as an interlude between swaths of mesmerizing farmland.

Meet your meat!
Whenever I bike past this beef farm, the cattle like to run up and follow along the fence as I pass. I've discovered they do it even if I just ate beef before I pass them by! They were a little weirded out when I stopped and whipped out a camera, but I still got some good pictures.

The vast flat expanse on the 20-miles-each-way ride is crisscrossed with drainage ditches.

You know you're a city boy when stuff like this looks interesting:

windswept...

Is this one of those "little pink houses" from that lame John Cougar Melloncamp song? It might just be.

This road painting looks almost like some Native American symbology. 4 Directions!

Here it is in some more context:

Ah HA! The goal! The "excuse" as it were for riding a bike 40 miles! American Pastime BBQ in Raymond MN! It was closed! For some reason they were opening 6 hours late! I went back in there 3 hours later. Not bad at all! Here is their website.

While waiting, I headed a couple 3 miles up MN 23 to get a shot of this lonely old tree that I've biked past many times. Finally here I was with a camera! I managed to squeeze off 2 shots before my battery died! :x

Right next to American pastime back in Raymond, I was able to snatch one...more...shot from the nearly spent batteries...

That car pulled up just as I was taking the picture! Those people seemed more than just a little freaked out, but they didn't do anything except eye me menacingly a little. hmmm.

Then, I went into the library for a bit. Soon American Pastime opened and I ate! It was tasty, smoky bbq.

that is all!