June 21, 2005

Mississippi River Valley

We had great accommodations last night at Wabasha. I should have mentioned in yesterday’s log that Wabasha was where Grumpy Old Men was filmed. I guess that’s their claim to fame. We had our make your own waffles etc. meal at the motel and were on the road at 7:30, which was our earliest start in quite a while.

Grumpy Old Men Filmed Here

Today’s weather was clear with high humidity, afternoon temps in the mid 90’s with light winds out of the north north west (hurrah!!!). The roads were smooth and relatively flat as we were riding with the Mississippi River at our side all day. We made great progress (110 miles) and finished the day at 5:15. At one point we had to follow a bike trail as US Route 16, which we rode on almost all day, became part of Interstate 90. It was the worst paved bike path I have ever been on. It was originally a concrete road paved over about thirty years ago and abandoned for use by cars. It was heavily overgrown, covered with debris, bumpy and uneven. What did I forget? Oh yeah, the only good thing about it was that it was shady.

Morning on the Mississippi

The Mississippi River Valley was very scenic. It was a hot day, but riding next to the river probably made it cooler than it otherwise would be. The towns along the river in Minnesota seemed pretty nice. One rest area where we took a break was “awesome” in Nick’s words. The river is not muddy this far north and in some locations it is quite wide and looks more like a lake than a river. Once we crossed the state line into Iowa the towns seemed more primitive. This is an early judgment as we only have been through three towns. One thing was noticeable right away. The people in Iowa seem friendlier. Usually we initiate a wave to motorists we see at intersections or people we see on the side of the road. A number of times so far (and it hasn’t been that many miles) people we see have initiated a wave before we have.

Today we passed a couple of truckers who have obviously seen us on the road somewhere before. On two occasions there been multiple horn honks accompanied by a wave. It was pretty obvious that our waving to truckers has been paying off. One time however one trucker didn’t honk and was not giving us any room. Nick was behind and could tell by the sound that we had to move to the rougher part of the shoulder. He moved over first and warned me to move. Even at that he buzzed us pretty close. It’s amazing how your sixth sense takes over. We are constantly thinking about safety and take very few risks.

Break by the Mississippi

Late in the day with about eight miles to go to Harpers Ferry we hit the only hills of the day. The first brought us from 650 feet to our high point of the day of 1,053 feet. On the second, which wasn’t as high, a dog came out of a dirt road when we were taking a break, came up to Nick and started to lick his leg. The dog then led the way to the top of the hill. It was as if he had a sign on his back that said “Follow Me”. Occasionally he would get ahead then stop and wait for us and then lead us again. It was actually pretty cool.

       Follow me boys!!                               Are you guys coming?

We are camping at a private campground. It’s not a campground that I would stop at in my motor home but for our purposes it is just fine. It is quiet, the showers were warm and a light breeze is blowing through the hill where we have our tents. The ground is a bit uneven. This is the earliest I have written this log in weeks so I’ll be getting a real good night’s sleep and we will still be on the road pretty early.

We meet Tim Dearborn on Friday night. With the good miles today we are in position to meet him with three reasonable day’s rides. Tim will accompany us for the rest of the trip to the east coast. I look forward to meeting him.

Jim

Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)

© 2005 - JNS

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