73 miles: la crosse, WI, to wabasha, MN

you’re scratching your head thinking, “73 miles? i thot she said yesterday that today would be 60 mi.” those 10 miles we didn’t have to ride going into maquoketa …. we managed to make up for them today.

it was a beautiful day … warm, sunny, tailwinds. we left our friendly marriott courtyard at la crosse around 8 or so. no reason to rush: only 60 miles to ride, after all.

we biked along the river thru riverfront park & onto the trail heading north. it’s called the great river trail; the surface is crushed limestone, & it’s very rideable, even for those with the high-tech skinny tires, which is most of us (but not me). here’s a photo of judi not being able to take her eyes off our beautiful view of the river to our left.

& here are a few other bikers along a more shaded section of the trail. we’re not yet far north of la crosse. temps were around 60 at this point, so the shaded sections were chilly, which explains the arm-warmers.

there were often bridges along the trail, usually wooden ones with only a railing along the edges. but here we were about to cross one with an old metal superstructure. linda & barb had struck up a conversation with a local biker at this end of the bridge.

i remembered what a quaint & pretty place trempeleau is from my delta queen trip, so took a detour off route, as many did, to ride down into the center of this tiny town. we were too early (10 a.m.) to find anything open, but enjoyed looking at the river & locks that are practically on main street. here’s judi taking a photo of the locks as i was doing the same.

as we were standing here along the bank of the river, we caught sight of a large group of pelicans flying overhead. their black-tipped wings give them away, tho’ i wasn’t able to capture their distinctive bill features in this photo.

after leaving trempeleau … that’s when the fun began. many of us evidently made a wrong turn somewhere along the way, &/or there was a glitch in the cue sheet. the upshot is that we ended up riding an extra 10-12 miles, much of it on gravel trails or back roads. but for our trouble, we were treated to some beautiful scenery, including this marshland, where lois is standing next to a sign giving tips on eagle-watching.

after leaving the marshland, we realized that we were likely riding in circles, so i stopped what appeared to be a pair of local bikers. they had a small map of the area, & they helped us determine a route out of the maze. before long, we got to I35/54, the great river road, & soon were riding across the bridge to winona & into our last state, minnesota.

i’m not a fan of bridges, as you know, but i was riding with 2 others who don’t like them any more than i do — clark & patty. after we had lunch at a local restaurant, i took this photo of the 4 other riders with the winona bridge in the background. we think/hope this is the last bridge we’ll have to cross on this trip. from left are laura, patty, edith, & clark.

at the outskirts of winona we rode onto US61 north, where we spent the remaining 26-28 miles of our day. for a major highway, it wasn’t bad biking. we had a wide shoulder, it was quite flat, & we had a beautiful view of the river along most of our way. here’s a photo of laura along our roadway … with tree-covered hills to the left & the river to the right. there were some locks down that road that veers off the highway to the right.

here’s another view of the river a little further along US61. notice the yellow flowers & the purple clover, which added a nice aroma to our ride.

there are lots & lots of bikers at this americinn in wabasha tonight. many of them are riding harleys. they don’t get to bring their bikes into their rooms like we do.

at tonight’s map meeting, laurie confirmed that we ride only about 30 miles tomorrow to red wing, all along US61 north. we pass thru lake city, where the mississippi is 3 miles wide, its widest point. there are reputed to be more hills on tomorrow’s route than on today’s. but we’ve had practice on hills; we should be able to do this.