61 miles: prairie du chien, WI, to la crosse, WI

temps early this morning as we piled our luggage into the trailer were in the low 70’s, 20 degrees warmer than yesterday at this time. & winds were already brisk. we enjoyed the motel’s breakfast offerings, then most everyone headed north by about 6:30.

we spent the day on hwy 35, the great river road. & what a beautiful road it is …. nestled against the base of huge cliffs on the right, the mississippi river on the left. the sun didn’t reach our road all morning, but this photo gives you some idea of our lovely biking route. you see a truck in this photo, & indeed there was traffic, some of it trucks, but we had a nice shoulder to ride on the whole way.

i love watching the activity on the river. here are some locks not far out of prairie du chien. that’s clark taking her own photo of the locks.

i coasted down the hill & took this photo of a tugboat pushing its barges into the same locks.

& speaking of clark, laurie recently convinced her to raise her bike seat & her handlebars a bit. what a difference it’s made! clark is now unstoppable; she’s apt to pass you even on an uphill.

at about 20 miles, georgia, today’s sag driver, had stopped at a wide place in the road. we all got snacks & re-upped on water & gatorade. both of the recumbents on this tour happened to be there, so i took this photo. dusty, left, rides a bike saturday (by bike friday) & barb rides, to quote from her blog, a “Lightning R-84 — a super light dual-suspension carbon fiber bicycle with a 3-pound frame made of aerospace-grade carbon fiber, titanium, and oversized aluminum.” barb’s blog, meandering mississippi, is listed to the upper right under ‘blogroll,’ along with other blogs i know about on this trip.

there wasn’t much stopping on today’s ride, tho’. another time we rolled into a kwik trip for a short potty & drink break, but in general we just kept pedaling. the specter of those predicted storms, not to mention the flat roads & very strong tailwinds, kept us moving at quite a pace. in fact, as i rolled into the outskirts of la crosse at about 55 miles, i checked the average on my cyclometer & it was 17.1. i hardly ever bike 17 miles per hour on the straightaway, let alone AVERAGE 17.1 mph over 55 miles. it was quite laughable … & no doubt never to be repeated.

our route through lacrosse to the downtown area was very pleasant … mostly through nice neighborhoods. this was a treat, as we often have to travel busy roads/highways getting to our motels. we arrived at the marriott courtyard by 11 a.m. it’s a very nice place right on the river under the bridge. our rooms weren’t ready; we expected that. we were just very glad to have beaten the storm.

we helped unload all the luggage from the trailer into a motel banquet room, then relaxed on the deck behind the motel. here’s a photo of vicki with the bridge in the background. you can see those menacing dark clouds that promised some interesting weather for later in the day.

as i walked thru the motel’s dining area just inside from the deck, i noticed that lois & judy were sitting at tables with their apple laptops. i’ve been wanting to get a photo of us apple users, so grabbed my ibook out of my bag, then laura took this photo. i think there are about 6 laptops on this trip, half of them apples. mine is the oldest model. (someone else is taking our picture, too, which is why we’re all looking elsewhere.)

several riders dug into their bags to get their swimming suits, then spent some time in the motel’s hot tub. others of us found regular shorts in our bags & took off into the downtown area nearby to find lunch. jo ann, carol, laura & i walked the streets, stopping a couple of times to ask locals their recommendations for dining spots. we ended up at hackberry’s bistro … & what a find it is! it’s on a balcony above the people’s food coop. it was a real chore making a selection from hackberry’s luncheon menu. with some tips from our very nice waitress, i finally settled on the salad nicoise topped with slices of rare tuna steak. it tasted every bit as good as it looks.

laura had a monte cristo sandwich & salad, carol & jo ann macaroni & cheese (we’re in wisconsin, after all). everything was outstanding. you must include hackberry’s on your agenda when you visit la crosse. here’s a preview. several of us have plans to do brunch at hackberry’s tomorrow morning. & if we can squeeze in another of tomorrow’s meals at hackberry’s, we will!

after lunch, laura & i wandered to an ATM, then, quite magically, into a chocolate shop! there we found not only a 72% dark chocolate bar, but also a half-price sale on sport beans. they’re made by jelly belly, but have electrolytes in them. i like taking them on my bike for quick energy. plus i like jelly beans :-> you think i’m making this up? here’s the full scoop.

laura & i started noticing raindrops as we neared the motel. i had just gotten to my room when the sky opened up & the torrents fell. wow it was fascinating to watch … from inside. i hear that large hail fell & a tornado touched down just 10 miles east of town. it was a wild weather day in most of the midwest. riders from other parts of the country–which is most everyone–have been fascinated by our weather these last few days …. sunshine, humidity, warm temps, strong winds, downpours, & then something completely different the next hour. we midwesterners love the excitement of it all!

given today’s “exciting” weather, linda decided she didn’t want to risk having our supper blown into the river from the motel parking lot, so opted for eating out. we all dribbled over to fayze’s restaurant a few blocks away by 7 p.m. it’s jan’s birthday today, so linda ordered a cake. after dinner, she blew out candles & we sang. here’s a photo of jan reading the card from all of us. she says she’s 66 today, but we are pretty sure she got the number all wrong. clearly she’s at least 10 years younger than that. i suspect that the stop she made at the wine guyz on her way to supper played havoc with her mathematical abilities.

i have to share this little tidbit that probably indicates i’ve been on the road too long: i returned to the motel this evening around 9:30; some of us took the long way from supper along the beautiful river walk. when i got up to the 2nd floor here at the motel, i absolutely couldn’t remember what my room number was. so i took out my room “key” card & walked down the hall, trying the key card in every door slot ’til i found the one where the light turned green instead of red when i put the card in. i’m just lucky that some guest didn’t report me.

tomorrow is a layover day. some folks will go to a nearby bike shop; most of us have laundry on the agenda. for sure hackberry’s for brunch, plus i have in mind a stop at an outfitter’s store. quite a few of us plan a riverboat sightseeing cruise at 1:30. who knows what else the day will bring.