Perfect day of weather, road, area, group - everything. Crossed into Illinois on a relatively deserted bridge in St. Louis. Traversed east St. Louis, at least the industrial portion, and was quickly on a country road watching corn being harvested. Lots of harvest activity - grain trucks, combines, etc. lunch in a biker bar with our fellow two wheelers. Short afternoon to the car ferry back to the Mo side. St. Gen is a perfect river town with a very chatty group of innkeepers.
Day 22 - St. Louis - REST DAY!
Nice quite day in STL. Went to the other end of the hotel spectrum. Rode to the top of the Arch - amazing gorgeous structure - very 1960's inside. Somewhat claustrophobic. Outstanding custard at Ted Drewes.
Day 21 - Troy to St. Louis
Lots of varied circumstances today. Started out with lots of hills, wandered through some nice farms to the edge of the urban center. Went from farms to subdivisions quite abruptly. Nice lunch in St. Charles, launching point for Lewis and Clark. Rode through Ferguson on the way into St. L. Interesting - physically more prosperous than some parts of Chicago, but a pretty bleak street scene. Joined a nice path north of St. Louis along the river, all the way into town. First glimpse of the Arch was quite exciting. Marked the half way mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Day 20 - Hannibal to Troy Mo.
Long day with lots of climbing. Close to 4000 feet. Who knew that Missouri was so hilly? The fun included an interesting short hike across a RR bridge - don't tell the BNSF we may have trespassed...
https://www.relive.cc/view/g14076112853
Day 19 - Navoo to Hannibal Mo.
A day of contrasts. Rode out of Navoo on a beautiful river road with nice rolling hills along the river. In Hamilton, rode by a bizarre 25K sq ft house on the river in a small poor river town. The road transitioned to be a exceptional ride through lush bean and corn fields on the river side of the levee. Lots of abandoned farm houses - clearly flood prone area but in a dry year, exceptional farming (and riding). After lunch along the river in Quincy, hit an ugly stretch of industrial highway and gravel roads. Crossed the river into Missouri on an Interstate bridge - lots of adrenaline. Wandered through Mark Twain's hometown.
Day 18 Wapello to Navoo Ill.
Started the day with one of our more unusual breakfasts - The former cook from the county jail serving breakfast from a converted camper in a parking lot. Rode by the former Iowa State Pen - quite enourmous mid 1800's castle type building - very Shawshank Redemption. Ended the day in Navoo Illinois where we caught a glimpse of the Mormon tourist industry.
Day 17 - LeClaire to Wapello
Beautiful Iowa day - riding the river, quite a bit on a nice path built on top of the river levee. Rode through the Quad Cities - Davenport has a beautiful riverfront park system. Lunch in Muscatine, a pretty deserted old downtown. Staying at the Roy El motel in Wapello - a somewhat deserted town of 2000 on the Iowa river. Check out this review of the day - one of the coolest apps ever! https://www.relive.cc/view/g14009676109.
Day 16 - Galena to LeClaire
Long day - big hump up the hill to start the day, long stretch of gravel road due to navigational error (!), beautiful 20 mile bike trail through the prarie. Illinois roads suck compared to Wis and Minn. apparently shoulders are optional here. Record number of flats - 2. Crossed the river into Iowa. Long stretch to end the day along the river through Clinton and ending up in the surprisingly hip and charming LeClaire, home of the "American pickers"(?).
Day 15 - Galena - REST DAY!!!
nice relaxing day by the river in Galena. Welcomed Anna, Michael, Don and Kathe to the trail. Whiled away the afternoon with a magic show - seriously.
Day 14 - Dickeyville to Galena
Nice mellow, short day. We we honored to be joined by a crew from the Greater Chicago Food Depository who came out to support us. After fueling up at Katina's Kane, we tackled the rolling hills of the area. May have turned out to be a bit more climbing than our crew anticipated, but the weather was beautiful, the countryside was inspiring, people we ran into were super friendly.
Day 13 - Prarie du Chein to Dickeyville
Perfect day in the rolling hills of Southwest Wisconsin. Spent most of the day on the plateau several hundred feet above the river. Beautiful rolling hills of beans and corn. Lots of climbing - 5 big climbs today totally over 3500 feet. Stumbled into the town of Potosi - home of Potosi Brewing Company, the only non-profit brewery in the country. Group of people in the town of 150 decided to restart a century 150 year old brewery that had closed 20 years ago and are killing it. Great lunch and better root beer. Set us up for the last two climbs of the day.
Day 12 - Onalaska to Prarie du Chein
Nice day along the river. Long stretches of open road punctuated by small little river towns of 50-150 people. Starting to see rafts of barges slowly making their way along the river. We are riding next to one of the most active rail lines i have ever seen. A BNSF line that seems to have long freight trains coming by every 10-15 minutes.
Day 11 - Pepin to Onalaska/La Cross
Nice day of riding under overcast skies. Crossed a large swampy wilderness area where the Chippewa River flowed into the Mississippi. Started to see the start of barge traffic and lock operations supporting it.
Day 10 -St. Paul to Pepin Wis.
We have said goodbye to Minnesota. After a chilly cloudy start through the far suburbs of the Twin Cities, we came to the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and crossed into Wisconsin at Prescott. The east bank of the river, which we are riding here, has huge limestone cliffs. We did a lot of climbing - over 3000 feet today. Highlight of the day was a key decision to replace our usual recovery drink with pie at the Stockholm Pie Company. Far more satisfying - one of the best pieces of pie of my life.
Peanut butter chocolate fudge pie to die for.
Day 9 - Monticello to St. Paul.
Wet, Wet, Wet. Rainy drizzle all morning kept us killing time in the lobby of the lovely best western Monticello. Between a wedding party and a ladies scrapbook club, we were entertained but anxious about the rain. Finally got a break around noon and headed out into a humid, but rain free world. Started spitting, then raining about 20 miles out. Unfortunate, since we were on a beautiful riverside path most of the way into Minneapolis. By the time we got to downtown in the late afternoon, we were soaked, frozen and starving. We revived with some Thai soup and then pushed on along the river path, ultimately crossing into St. Paul and riding through a beautiful area of large Victorian homes. Long day.
Day 8 - Rest Day (!) in Monticello
Hard to beat a rest day - oddly did not miss being on the bike. After some minor logistic work in the morning, we sent off Todd and set off for the state fair. To the un-initiated, one would think that the Minnesota state fair is not that big a thing. Oh, would you be wrong. Clearly, Minnesota takes its "annual get together" very seriously. We spend the afternoon sampling every manner of fried food on a stick, observing a sheep judging (which is still totally mystifying), looking at lots of farm animals, tractors, ice fishing trailers, wood sheds, log rolling contests, dog shows, talking to the st. Paul fire chief (heh, they were giving away free very cool yardsticks), and watching the crowd. Very fun. Dinner at a wonderful Minneapolis establishment - the Birchwood Cafe - which is a very active supporter of local farmers and the local food bank system. Best meal we have had so far.
Day 7 - Little Falls to Monticello
Heavy fog off the river this morning - burned off by mid morning, but brought a real chill to the first few miles. nice riding along a already big river - lunch by the local swimming hole on the Clearwater river. Sad to say goodbye to Bryan and Ralph.
we are more than ready for a rest day. Bodies are a bit beat up - 7 days of riding takes a bit of a toll. If nothing else, my rear end is looking forward to not being on a bike seat for a day!
1876 church - built in what is now the middle of nowhere by a Catholic priest who built 5 churches across this area. Amazingly lived to be 95 years old - having been born in 1785!
nice memorial to a paper mill that is no more. Near St. Cloud.
Day 6 - Aitkin to Little Falls
Beautiful day of riding - long, but very fulfilling. Started out of Aitkin on busy highway, but found a paved trail through a state forest/park that led to a quiet road to Brainerd - home of the Northern Pacific's rail yard - several million square feet of space now available for rent! From Brainerd rode a very nice farm road most of the remaining route. We keep running into lots of paving - nothing better than a freshly paved asphalt road on a beautiful sunny day. Lunch in a farmer's front yard - highlighted by watching the perilous task of clearing a blocked top of a silo - reminded me that farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. Took a 10 mile detour to visit Theilins Meat Market in Pierz Minn. the jerkey jaunt was well worth it - heard all about Andy's (fourth generation butcher in town) hunting career. exceptional home made beef, turkey and pork jerkey. we have entered farm country - huge corn and bean fields, dairy and hog farms. Definitely more prosperous as we head south.
Chillin after killer pizza at Charley's.
Day 5 - Grand Rapids to Aitkin
Spectacular morning along the river. Perfect, newly paved, deserted road through small farms and forests. Wind at our back - hard to beat. Perfect "shore lunch" picnic along the river. Minnesota happily still believes in asphalt paving - none of the scourge of "chip seal".
Day 4- Cass Lake to Grand Rapids
beautiful day - brisk in the morning, cleared up for the last few miles. Eclipse was a total bust - very overcast. We barely noticed anything during the eclipse period. Debating whether to return my possibly counterfeit eclipse glasses to Amazon. Looking forward to the next one in 10 years... Did visit the largest Muskie in the north woods.
