Archives for March 2018

With less than a month to go before we begin our 1,750 mile bike/book tour from Ely to Washington DC on April 20th we are busy putting miles under our tires. Riding in traffic while towing a canoe will take awhile to get used to. I am still nervious I will forget the canoe is behind me and clip a parked car, but we are getting more comfortable with our @surlybikes Disc Truckers with every ride and towing the canoe will get easier as the miles roll by. We are adding more tour stops all the time so follow think in our bio to find an event near you and learn more about #PedaltoDC #rideloaded #savethebwca #ayearinthewilderness Thanks for the photo @piragi !

Wishful thinking.

With less than a month to go before we begin our 1,750 mile bike/book tour from Ely to Washington DC on April 20th we are busy putting miles under our tires. Yesterday we tried towing a canoe for the first time. You feel it on hills, but that’s a small price to pay for a 14 1/2 foot symbolic petition that is sure to grab peoples attention. We are adding more tour stops all the time so follow think in our bio to find an event near you and learn more about #PedaltoDC #rideloaded #savethebwca #ayearinthewilderness Thanks for the photo @piragi !

Can’t resist. . . one more #swimsuitdogsledder . Happy Monday! @wintergreendogsledlodge @wintergreenely

The weather is getting pretty warm in the northwoods. . . #onlyinmn @wintergreendogsledlodge @wintergreenely #dogsledding #dogsleddinginswimsuits

Thinking about skiing the Devils Track River last week makes me smile. @wintergreendogsledlodge @wintergreenely

A behind the scenes photo from #canoecopia2018 as we loaded Levi’s truck and prepared for the 8 hour drive home to Ely. My friend Isaak is the one in the red pants wiggling his way out of the truck after getting trapped in the back during the packing process. Don’t worry Sue he was careful not to smush any of the @wintergreenely clothing. I would love to see your creative captions for this one!

Its great to be back at @canoecopia ! Jerry Vandiver and the One Match Band played This Quiet Place at the beginning of our first presentation about our #wildernessyear to @savethebwca last night. Its a beautiful song that you can download from itunes for .99 cents and all the proceeds are donated to Save the Boundary Waters. Its also on Jerry’s new Album ( Paddle On ). We are giving 3 more presentations this weekend at @canoecopia so we hope you can join us! When we aren’t presenting come find us at the @mti_life_jackets booth where we are signing our book, A Year in the Wilderness, by @milkweed_books and visiting with folks, so please stop by and say hello.

Folks keep asking us, “what’s next?” Well, today we are excited to officially announce our next adventure advocacy project, Pedal to DC: A Book Tour to Save the Boundary Waters! We will be biking 1,750 miles across nine states between April 20 and June 18. The tour will bring renewed awareness of the efforts underway to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from sulfide-ore copper mining. We will also share our critically acclaimed book: A Year in the Wilderness.
We will depart by bicycle near ground zero of the proposed Twin Metals mine just outside of Ely, Minnesota on April 20 and will arrive in Washington D.C. on June 18. With the help of @milkweed_books @savethebwca , and many other partners, we are organizing 30 events at bookstores, libraries, outdoor stores, colleges, breweries, community centers, and other venues in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and many more communities all along our route.
2018 marks the 40th Anniversary of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978 and we hope you will use Pedal to DC as a way to celebrate and protect our public lands during this momentous year. Follow us, share our posts with your friends, come sign the signature canoe we will tow behind our bikes, help host or promote an event in your area, read our book and share it with your friends, and alert people you know along our route that we are pedaling their way. When we all speak loudly for this quiet place our collective voices will be heard and sulfide-ore copper mining will not be allowed in the watershed of our nation’s most popular Wilderness.
To learn more and find updates on the tour, visit the link in our bio.

Big thanks to @spokengear for assembling our @surlybikes Disc Truckers today. We can’t wait to go for a ride!