Well, our trip was certainly eventful. Bike man woke up Monday morning with a head cold, sinus infection or both! He sounded awful, but he insisted we follow through with our three-day bicycle trip since this was our last chance before I return to work, so that's just what we did. I wasn't really proud of the fact that I always seemed to be riding much further ahead on the trail or highway, but that was the case since Bike man wasn't up to par. He didn't complain at all, until we reached Pepin (55 miles), which was our first day stop. He said he was whipped, ass was dragging, felt like...........I made the decision we needed to motel it for the night and forget the camping stuff. Good move on my part since our first night ended with intense lightening storm, rain and then extreme windy conditions after midnight. Getting up Tuesday morning was very, very slow. Imagine heading back out on the highway @ 9am on your bicycle cycling into 40 mph wind gusts. It was interesting!
Before I continue on, I just have to tell you once again I had one of those "I can't believe it" moments. So here we are cycling between Durand and Pepin and along comes another cyclist on the opposite side of the road. Two vehicles pass this cyclist and pull way out into our lane.....of course we slowed up to avoid being smashed. As we finally start to pass by the cyclist, he says something to us about the vehicles, but then I hear, "oh hi Lisa and that's Bike man with ya." It clicked in my head, I knew that voice. "Hi John" I yelled back. Remember the guy that surprised me this past summer along the Red Cedar trail and said hey your that tainterturtle lady......I follow your blog???? It was him, John. Now how cool is that? John turned around and followed us as we chit chatted for a minute or so and then we parted our ways. Hey John, if you are reading this, that was soooo cool. Don't be shy now, we'd love to read a comment or two ok?
I choose a series of photos to blog about, but sorry, it's kind of wordy I know! This was taken on the wind storm day, Tuesday. Thankfully it was our smallest mileage day (29.2) but it was also our extreme hill day too. Up and down was the theme for Tuesday.
Stopped at one of the scenic rest stops outside of Pepin to view the great Mississippi River. Hey look, I'm still smiling at this point. Good thing Bike man didn't take a photo at the end of the hilly day!
When your traveling by bicycle always remember to ask if you can bring your bikes inside the motel room before paying for the actual room. The first motel I inquired at had a sign on the door that said NO BICYCLES INSIDE THE ROOMS. Geez, not real bike friendly so they didn't get our business! I remembered to ask before handing over my money at this place.
North of Pepin along the Mississippi River, which they actually call Lake Pepin.
So we took off from Pepin Tuesday morning and can you believe there was no place to eat breakfast! There's a place called the Great River Roasters in Pepin.....great coffee, but of course they were closed for the day. So up highway 35 we rode to Stockholm. Again, no cafe was open. We did however find this place. It was called the
Palate.
We took our chance since we didn't know what this place was. Was it a store, was it a coffee house, was it a sandwich shop? After we stepped inside, ahhhhhhh, yes I smell coffee. I also smelled this delicious smell of something baking. The Palate was the coolest shop. Nancy (she's off to the left) runs this shop with her daughter. They sell beautiful housewares, cooking supplies, linens, specialty foods, and baked goods. Nancy passed us along the road in her car on the way to the shop. She must have sensed we would stop by so as soon as we walked into her shop, the Lemon Blueberry scones were coming right out of her oven. I was in scone heaven. Even you Aunt Krissy would approve of these scones! Here on the wind storm day, we were sitting there taking a mid morning break eating scones and drinking delicious hot coffee. I made sure not to complain about the wind and cold because I knew my alternative would have been to be back at work just sitting at my computer cataloging library items. I made sure that thought ran through my head all day!
This is Maiden Rock, right outside the village of Maiden Rock along the Mississippi River.
After turning off of highway 35 along the river, we headed into the Pine Creek area. This is where we cycled up, up, up, out of the Mississippi bluffs.....half paved and half gravel roads.
Did I mention gravel? Did I mention crossing little flowing streams along the gravel roads? Yikes, at first I was apprehensive. Wasn't sure how deep, or muddy or greasy it would be. It was fine......I was just being a big baby about the whole thing! I fret too much.
After day two, we finally made it to the top of Pierce County! Well, it felt like the top. Nugget Lake County park near Plum City. The mosquitoes were bad and we didn't really have much to do, so we crawled into the tent at 7:30 pm and went to bed. Woke up at midnight to the sound of coyotes and a couple Barred owls singing in the nighttime. Woke up again around 6 am to the Great Horned owl hooting right next to our tent. That's nature for ya!
Took off our third morning, still in Pierce County, still really chilly like 45 degrees chilly. We soon warmed up in the beautiful sunshine and started stripping layers. Man, Pierce County has a lot of gravel roads. Glad we finally found one paved road, but it didn't last too long. Somehow we totally bypassed Eau Galle and Elmwood by mistake. Well, actually it was the GPS's mistake. We just kept riding on these little country roads.
We finally reach a major State highway that took us right into Downsville. We could have bypassed Downsville and headed through more hills to little town of Irvington, but I opted to shoot for Downsville since it was almost noon and we really never had breakfast. With all those hills and gravel roads, I was STARVING. The miles were still low the third day (41 miles), but with hills and gravel, the riding can be real slow at times.
All in all it was a good quick three-day trip. I ended up coming down with a head cold as well on Tuesday evening. Another reason why we went to bed so early. I blame it on the windy conditions, cool temps and the HILLS.
No ice cream in Dubuque, but we did have a great hamburger in Pepin, and a delicious scone in Stockholm, and a yummy cup of Chicken Gumbo in Plum City and an oh so good Beef Au Jus sandwich in Downsville. My computer tells me I burned 6,000 calories in three days, and Bike man burned 7,000+ calories.
Cycled into Menomonie today and headed over to the farmer's market. I decided I would spend part of the afternoon visiting with Aunt Krissy, who sells her goat soap every Saturday at the farmer's market. The day started out cloudy, misty rain and windy. By mid day the skies opened up and we finally had sunshine. Treated myself to a cup of hot coffee and a delicious cranberry scone.
I love her goat milk soap. We've been using it for two years now.
One of the fun things to do at the market is people watch. People can be so interesting. I saw lots of people on bikes today. Most were city people and not long distance riders. I came prepared with my pannier bags so I could load up with Yukon gold potatoes, jalapenos, green beans and one baguette!
Right next door to the farmer's market was a horse and buggy auction. Lots of buggies and trailers!
What a cool buggy....love the blue fringe.
I had such a hard time photographing this wagon. These random men kept walking in front of me every time I wanted to snap a photo. Darn men, get out of my way!!!! I take my photography seriously.
