Today was beautiful! Although I did ride 10 miles farther than I planned yet hit the same town ('cause I fussed with the route), and did 7 hours on the bike. Whatever. I've ridden almost 2,600 miles, what's 96? Psshha!
The first 18 miles out of Guttenberg had two big bluff climbs and was mostly away from the river in beautiful ridgeline Iowa cornfields. Right before descending into McGregor to cross the river into Wisc I hit Pike's Peak, a popular destination in Iowa. The view is crazy good. I have fond memories of this area from camping and traveling through here with my Aunt Bonnie, Shawn, and with Iris on our first camping / hiking adventure.
At Guttenberg I crossed into Pairie du Chien to go up the Miss on the Wisconsin side since the Iowa side leaves the river for a bit. That wasn't so great - yes it was pretty, but the shoulder was half sloped concrete concrete / half destroyed blacktop / all pile of poopies. There was also a headwind and lots of trucks. I talked up some locals after about 20 miles of that and was told that I should cross back in to Iowa at Lansing at around my mile 55. There I would find that the route had rejoined the river, had good scenery, far fewer cars, shade, and protection from the wind. Also, I would get to go into Minnesota and add an extra state to my trip!
This turned out to be a good call, although it added 10 miles to my day. Turns out each crossing of the Miss is about 3 miles long and shoots between islands and bridges several times, with one big bridge over the main channel. This river is friggin' crazy.
I'm staying in La Crosse tonight, pop 51,000 - which means that park camping isn't going to work. Towns that big have too many people that care about rules, so unless I find where all the junkies are I'm going to have trouble finding a free spot. Warm Showers to the rescue!
This morning I shot out e-mails to three potential WarmShowers hosts and Ed got back to me and was more than willing to host on short notice. Since I was coming in late (arrived at 7pm because I kept getting distracted by pretty river things) he rode out and did the last 20 miles into town with me on his recumbent. While doing that he snagged another bagger (touring cyclist) who was in front of me and is hosting him as well.
Matt, the other bagger, is riding from Illinoise to Seattle on the Northern Tier route and is brand new to touring and only on day 14. Ed took us both out to dinner and we talked touring and had a great time. We'll also be going out for breakfast and then I'll be hauling east on the historic rails to trails routes. Ed gave me several Wisc bike maps and route advice as well. Ed is awesomesauce with a side of greatness.
Tomorrow I get to ride through several trails tunnels, some up to 3/4 of a mile long!
ILYI
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