The Mighty Mississippi
They Meyer's family water stop - WOW it was amazing!!
Some of the Meyer's girls - they did most of the preparation for this event - which really was an event!
Some of their spectacular gardens - their old shoes have become fabulous planters
a heron in a little swampy part of the Mississippi
LaCrosse, WI
The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Upper Mississippi
The Amish collecting their piles of wheat to be threshed. There is a horse and wagon in the back.
my lovely tan lines from my watch and bike glove66.57 miles
13.1 mph average
13.1 mph average
This was my favorite day of riding! It was absolutely beautiful. We started the ride along the Mississippi in Minnesota for the first 20 - 30 miles. We had the most amazing water stop ever at the home of the Meyer's family on the Mississippi in Dakota, MN. They are an amazing family. They have about 5 girls and a boy and all are homeschooled. They grow all their own vegetables and have an amazing flower garden. They started doing this water stop for us because their kids would always wave at the riders every year as they rode by. The riders would always stop and talk to them and they enjoyed learning about the ride and talking to the riders. They started doing the water stop in 2000, I believe. They had a tent set up with tables and chairs and fresh flowers on each table. They had a guest book sign in table with a picture of one of their grandparents who had died from lung cancer. This is their way of giving to the American Lung Association. They are not serious bike riders, but they did have a framed picture out of the entire family on the "Tour de Grandma" where they all rode to their Grandma's house across the river to Wisconsin. They had printed head shots of each of us out from our blogs, which they had been reading, and had us autograph them to put in their photo album. They had the pictures of each rider since 2000. They even had comfy chairs set up and one of the girls was giving interviews of the riders. The baked goods and fruit and fresh squeezed lemonade were amazing!!! What a wonderful family!
The Mississippi in this section reminds me a bit of the Hudson back home, in its narrower sections. I also started seeing familiar wildflowers again - queen Anne's lace (which is apparently invasive here), chickory - my favorite, vetch, and birdsfoot trefoil. At home, I love looking at all the wildflowers along my ride, and it sure is nice to have them back again. I feel a bit closer to home now. We crossed the Mississippi into LaCrosse, WI - the home of the LaCrosse brewing company and the world's largest six-pack. Once we left LaCrosse, the ride became absolutely spectacular! It was full of steeper rolling hills and terrace farming. There were gaps in the terrace farming to prevent erosion - it made for beautiful landscape! It was still corn and soybeans, the same as Minnesota, but it was so much more natural looking and lacked the crop signs in front of each crop that displayed the seed number and name for that particular genetic variety created in some laboratory of the agricultural giants. Many of these farms were organic and we also entered Amish country - their farms were definitely organic. It was amazing to see them with their horse and carriage harvesting their wheat. They would spear piles of it and loft it up into their wagon. They then took it to horse driven machine that would thresh it (remove the grain, the seed) and throw the hay into their barns for animal bedding. It was amazing to watch them. I was completely enjoying riding alone today and soaking up all the beauty of my surroundings while lost in my own thoughts. We rode past the Organic Valley creamery today too. Many people went in for tastings. They got to see how ghee is made (Indian butter where the fat is shaved off) and got to taste organic milk and even chocolate soy milk. I didn't go in because I wanted to keep on riding. We camped in Viroqua, a great small town that reminded me a bit of New Paltz, but smaller. It had a food co-op that was amazing - the best dinner I've had on the trip. It was so nice to give my body healthy food again. I had a huge spinach and mixed green organic salad, rice, sauteed veges, and a pint of stonyfield farms frozen yogurt for dessert - what a treat!!!! Health food stores have been hard to come by on this journey, so I stocked up on some healthy treats for the road too. This seven day stretch is starting to wear on me. I am exhausted! I hope I can make it through these 7 days. My body needs some recovery time - I'm tired, but lovin' it!
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