Missed the train

There was a major change today. It was a little too cool to ride first thing in the morning so I had to wait around a bit for the temperature to rise back into my current comfort zone, something close to 70.

I headed out towards Lake Vadnais. I have pictured the train horn doesn't blow sign before. Today the train horn blew. I have ridden there lots of times and I may have seen a train on those tracks before but if I have the memory of that occasion has vanished. I was surprised to find a train blocking the entrance to Lake Vadnais. That truck heading back towards me had just completed a U-turn which included having to drive up over the curb and was heading back my way.I rode up to the front of the line and watched for a while. It appeared to me that the Soo Line was hauling some unused cars out of their storage yard up there. The cars were so unused that several of them had significant issues with rusted up wheels which were barely turning. There were five locomotives on the front end of that train and they could barely haul the line of cars up that hill. In fact, eventually the whole deal ground to a halt, still blocking the road.

I never actually made it to Lake Vadnais as the completely stopped train convinced me to seek out one of the available alternative crossings of that set of railroad tracks. I only very rarely ride off the pavement and almost never with my road bikes but today I found myself riding on this road? through the Grass Lake section of Snail Lake Regional Park.It had rained last night so there were a couple of muddy spots. The bottoms of a couple of hills featured accumulations of loose gravel. All in all it wasn't ideal terrain for today's vehicle but I must have made it home.