July 8 Shelter From Storm

We began the day a little slow which was ok as we had less miles to go, so we didn't get on the road until after 9. It was a humid day with some clouds but low chance of rain when we checked the weather in the morning.  The first 9 miles or so were quite busy, as a detour for the US highway on the other side of the river had put a lot more traffic on the road we used.  Once we were off of that road we had quiet roads with mild hills and light wind.  In Amboy, MN, we stopped to get some chocolate milk and Kay checked weather app as clouds looked a little nasty, and found out it was about to rain hard. We found a picnic shelter a couple  of blocks away and in about 5 minutes it began to rain heavily along with some thunder (not as bad as yesterday but still quite hard).  We watched rain and finished yesterday's blog and after about a

                   Our shelter from the storm

 We continued on our ride and then we came to a gravel road.  We remembered some gravel on our planned route but it turned into more like 4 miles or so and had to be careful as we didn't want to end up sprawling.   We are staying at a community park in Blue Earth and it is their community's "Giant Days" celebration.   This has been and is a large food growing and processing area for the Green Giant brand. They have a large statue of the Green Giant and a Green Giant museum.

Look who is standing between his size 78 shoes?

So Paul Bunyan looks over northern Minnesota and the Green Giant over southern Minnesota.  According to the campground host, we even get to watch the fireworks they are having tonight from our campsite. 

We were wondering as we passed through the county, also named "Blue Earth," is it because the soil is so black that it looks blue?  We looked to see what the dirt was like in the fields and it was black but didn't look blue to us. Found out there is a layer of blue clay that is revealed where the river has cut through. 

Just had a couple pass by who are dual citizens of South Dakota & Israel.  They previously have biked around Lake Michigan and have done many other tours. Found out that one can use public transportation for 1/2 off if over 65 in and is free after 75 in Israel.  One of their parents worked on bomb in Chicago during WW2.   They have 11 grandchildren and their kids all live in Israel.  The reason they come to states in summer is that it is much cooler.  

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/95876289.    Tried again to post