Hard Winds, A Covered Bridge, And Friendly Folks

There weren't any other people in McDonald's, except for me, and I'd managed to dump an entire cup of Coca-Cola and the majority of my french fries on the floor in front of the paper napkin dispenser. There is a strong chance I cursed involuntarily. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, I'd been fighting through 75 miles of hard winds on a naked sportbike, and I just couldn't quite manage holding my tank bag and a tray full of food while trying to pull a couple of tightly-packed napkins out of their cozy (and apparently, permanent) home.

"Why did you park me in front of a Scooby-Doo set, Lucky?"
"Why not?  Pay attention, maybe it'll spin around with someone in it."

I was more than a little apologetic when I went back to the counter to explain that I'd just made a huge mess. The employee I talked to told me it was no problem and gave me another cup for soda. Then, to my surprise, the manager came out of nowhere and told him to give me a new order of fries, too. And on my way out, one of the employees - who was on lunch break - told me to have a good afternoon.

If you find yourself in Zumbrota, MN, I suggest you have lunch at their McDonald's. They are all right in my book.

You might be wondering where the hell Zumbrota in. It's OK, I'd never heard of it before either. While researching places to ride, I discovered that Zumbrota is home to the last covered bridge in Minnesota. And, even better, it looked like the route would be an interesting loop through an area southeast of the Twin Cities.  

The strong, westerly winds were an unexpected surprise. On my way to Zumbrota, the wind was blowing against my back on my throttle side. On the way back, however, they were head on against me. I found myself, for the second time ever, wishing I had a windscreen.

Zumbrota itself is an unexpectedly charming town. I don't know what business they're in there, but they seem to be doing pretty well. Their main drag looked like it had a variety of bars, coffee shops and stores, and everything looked kept up. I think I'll be visiting again after doing a little homework to see what they have to offer, apart from the bridge.

One of these is a war machine that strikes terror into the hearts of its foes.
The other is a decommissioned tank in a parking lot.

Speaking of, the covered bridge would be hard to miss, since it's bright red and just off of the street through town. But, if you're worried you still might miss it, just look for the tank in front of the VFW. The bridge is right across the street from that.

There seemed to be a wedding party having photos taken on the bridge, so I didn't cross it. Later, I noticed there were a heck of a lot of people around town in formal clothes. I thought it had to be an awfully big wedding.  

Then I realized it must be prom. So I really could have walked across the bridge and checked it out thoroughly. I didn't need to worry about getting in the way of a wedding. Oh well, there's always next time.