Sunday: The day of rest. After worship in the morning at Westwood Community Church, the family and I headed back home to pack the van and head up to St. Joseph, where I transferred my gear to my dad’s van, and he drove me up to Moorhead to spend the night.
It turned out to be a great day with beautiful sunny skies and thunderheads north of the city. The forecast for Monday and Tuesday is for isolated thunderstorms, which generally means that they will be pretty scattered and pass through quickly. It will keep it cooler, but I am not really looking forward to riding through lots of rain.
Concordia College Original Hall circa 1906
I got to my buddy Greg’s house, unpacked and then headed into town for short ride to see what was close. A few blocks from the house, I ran into Concordia College Moorhead and rode around the campus for a few minutes. What a pretty school. I was surprised at the quality of their athletic facilities for a small college. It looks like they have a great booster program and maybe some nice endowments as well.
Further into town, I ran across one of the last remaining ‘old homes’ in Moorhead, now on the historic register. The Solomon Gilman Comstock House was built in 1883 by Solomon Comstock after he landed in Moorhead on the heels of following the pioneers west. He established a law practice, and then went on to serve in various local, state government positions and eventually US Congress.
After leaving the Comstock House, I found Minnesota State University Moorhead a few blocks away and had a chance to visit the campus. It is amazing to find two fairly good size schools just a few minutes away from each other, and each with beautiful campus.
Comstock House circa 1883
Back at the house now, getting ready to turn in for the night and then up to begin the journey tomorrow. After taking stock of my proposed route, I found out that highway 10 is a pretty busy four lane road that certainly has grown since the last time I lived in the Fargo/Moorhead area (when I was in Jr. High). Back to the map, I decided to take highway 52 to the southeast. This the old highway that used to link Moorhead to Minneapolis before the interstate was built and will be a great opportunity to travel some back roads on the way to St. Joseph for Wednesday night’s stop-over at my parent’s house. Day two might bring a wonderful surprise because my dad told me about an old Burlington Northern railbed that has been transformed into a riding trail, that conceivably will take me all the way to St. Joseph. I can’t wait to check it out.
I’ll catch you tomorrow.
