Day 32 - 88 miles from Rochester to La Crosse, WI

Michael rode the Cervelo the 88 miles to La Crosse, WI; so, today we leave our fifth state, MN, and say hello to our sixth state, WI as we cross the Mississippi River at La Crosse. Since we left SD, we are now moving through states quickly.

Today's ride was by far the most scenic and beautiful ridden in MN. If anyone wants to take this ride from Rochester to La Crosse, let me know and I will provide the route. As the pictures show below, the terrain was not just corn and bean fields but many bluffs with lots of trees. We went up and rode around what they call the Blue Ridge where you can see MN in all directions for miles.Very beautiful. Up on the ridge, you could feel the breeze a lot better and it was cooler than below. Instead of 97 and 60% humidity it was closer to 90 and not as humid. However, getting up there was a challenge, in fact, turned out to be one of the tougher climbs of the tour. Only a mile in length but my Garmin showed mostly 8.5 to 10% grade for at least two-thirds of the climb. With the 95 degree temperature, it was great to reach the top and provided a nice downhill run to get off the ridge.

Here are some picture from today's ride.

Here we are at the first SAG stop by a small falls.

A highlight was riding this 13-mile bike path. The shade felt great.

At the end of the path, I had a chocolate milk (like I have once everyday) and a big cinnamon roll (John S. - but not as big as we use to get at the restaurant by the bridge in Keokuk). Yummy!

These pictures were taken atop the Blue Ridge. Those hills you see in the distance are miles from where I took these pictures.

 Even the Blue Ridge has corn fields!

Here we are entering WI and saying goodbye to MN.

Immediately after the WI State Line, we crossed the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi at La Crosse is about the same width as in Burlington and maybe a little narrower.

The bridge on the left crossing the Mississippi is like the old Mac Arthur bridge that use to cross the river at Burlington.

The final highlight of the day was meeting Denny and John Martin, Anne's two brothers, at the motel.

It was funny that I called them when I arrived and ask them where they were. They said, "We're eating at a Subway about a half-hour away." So, I decided to get a soft drink at a convenience store. In doing so, I passed a Subway and I almost stopped. It turns out they were in that Subway and saw me go by. It was only a minute not 30 from the motel!

They attended our RAP session for the next day's ride, met most of the riders and ate dinner with them.

We had a water park in the motel. I jumped in as soon as I could to cool off.

Tomorrow, we go 91-miles to the Wisconsin Dells and will go through three tunnels on the Elroy Sparta Trail along the way. We have to walk these tunnels (one is ~ a mile long) because it is too dangerous to ride and must use flashlights as they say you cannot see your hand in front of your face. Should be interesting.