We woke up the typical early timeframe and we were rolling by 6:30ish. We swung by the post office to do our documentation photos and to the nearest gas station to fill up and to get a receipt.
The other day as we approach Prairie Du Chein, we were basically just riding on a flat area, but just before coming to town we dropped down into this “valley”. It made sense now as we started riding the Great River Road. we are riding north on the east side of the river. To my right was a hillside and we were in the shade because the sun was still below the grade were were at. Ahead of me was the road that basically ran straight with some minor curves to keep the ride interesting. To my left is the Mississippi, flat wide river with noticeable marsh areas along it’s banks. Across the river you see the hillside on the west side of the river.
This “valley” was probably created by this river on my right many years ago when water flowed more prominently from the glaciers retreating and it carved down the land. What we were riding on was probably under water at some time. I’ve only just crossed the Mississippi river on a bridge, never ran along it and only knew of it when you hear about flooding in the new. Rick on the other hand, had tall tales of his youthful years boating on this river as he grew up near it. As we road we pasted many small dams and locks, which Rick said they would just jump over them with the boats when they didn’t want to pay the lock fee or just because they wanted to, or just because they had a few too many. We were able to see barges being negotiated along the river with tugs as we progress north.
The ride for us was cooler because we were in the shade from the hill on our right side, but there was plenty of sun shining on the Mississippi. The road would occasionally rise and fall as we continued on this 60ish mile jaunt to LaCrosse, and within the hour we were in LaCrosse. We filled up, did our documentation, and then we continued east to ride #17 which is Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, 600 plus miles away. Rick choose a halve way point of Watertown South Dakota. We crosses the Mississippi into Minnesota and the road got interesting for the next several hours.
After we got out of Milwaukee proper, we have been on back roads and we are continuing it. This part of Minnesota has hills and we had fun roller coaster farm roads with plenty of dips and limited sight hill humps to do as we snaked west. Eventually though even Minnesota gives way to the plains as the terrain gradually had less trees, the land flatten out and the day got hotter and windier. We pulled into Watertown, found our hotel, cleaned up and went to dinner to Dempsey’s Brewery, and you got it, pizza!
