Wednesday, June 15th
La Crosse has a lot of pretty Victorian houses which look like the Royal Tenenbaums house, if it was made of wood and pastel coloured. Though it is likely there is a house which fits that description in some other Wes Anderson film.
Scott and Susan’s home was one of these. They had bought it 30 years ago as a ‘fixer-upper’ and restored it to the flawless condition it was in now. Susan showed me an old photo from 1986. It was on the corner of a street, just like that Tenenbaums house, and had a tower (I incorrectly called it a turret) on that corner. It was the kind of place I’d want to live some day.
I had breakfast in the house in the morning and got going at around 10. After speaking with Anne, the other guest, another cyclist, I decided i’d stick on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi for most of the day, and would aim for Frontenac state park which was about 80 miles or so along the river.
As it turned out that was a bit ambitious.
Getting out of the city was easy enough. Bike tracks lead through marshland before I joined the route 35, or the Great River Road. There there was a long section of road works with little to no shoulder available to cycle on. From a pickup window some yelled ‘get on the bike track’. It was actually very good advice, if delivered bluntly. Fortunately I found my way to the the Great River State Trail via a side road soon after.
I remained on this until the early afternoon. It was a bike path which followed the river, running around 30 miles or so until it hit the road again somewhere south of Fountain City. The surface was a little slippy as it had rained the night before, but otherwise it was gentle riding.
For around 10 miles up to Trempealeu I rode with two people who were doing a week long tour ending in Minneapolis, there were a number of them out on the roads, 40 in total, but travelling at different speeds. It seemed a popular area with cyclists. Two other cycle tourers passed, towing their kids, plus another pair on a recumbent tandem.
We parted at Trempealeu, but I went into to town to get some lunch – a personal pizza (I always find that naming so possessive and funny – i’m not sure why ‘small pizza’ wasn’t sufficient). I met another big group of cyclists there. Five or six guys from California who were essentially doing the opposite of what I am – Washington to New York. They’d set off at a similar time to me and had made good time, helped by the fact they had racing bikes and their luggage was being carried by a back up van, but still an amazing effort to have come so far so quickly. They’d raised over $40,000 for Charity Water.
We swapped cards with our details and I carried on. It was hot again, though it looked like the chance of another storm was small. The path opened up and led through some more marshland were I bumped into a turtle crossing the road and managed to divert it back into the grass. Since crossing into Wisconsin i’d noticed a distinct change in roadkill which reflected the proximity of the road to the river – otters, frogs, and most saddening of all, turtles. I hope i’d saved or at least extended the life of this one.
The rest of the afternoon was tough. All on the one road by the river, and directly into the wind. The road was framed by the bluffs, but a lot of not very much. I’d glided along the same road yesterday, but today it was a constant struggle.
I decided to aim for Wabahsa, at town on the Minnesota side instead (i’d left Iowa behind for good now). The Charity Water guys said they knew somewhere there I could stay with and would message me. But I had no service.
When I passed through any small towns coming up the river I would coast along with the Wifi screen open on my phone, trying to pick up a free network. A couple of times I did, but not message.
There was a campground near the water so i’d try that. I descended the last few miles on the Wisconsin side down into Nelson, then crossed the bridge, stopping at the Minnesota sign on the way. I think this was my 9th state.
The campground was unmanned. I’d need to leave money in an envelope in a box but at $35 a night there was no way i’d do this. A woman walking two dachshunds came by and I asked her if there were any campgrounds near by. I already knew the answer to this question but thought it might lead somewhere. A few phonecalls later and she’d got a room for me at a friend’s B&B at a discounted price of $25 for the night. It was either that or try and camp on the beach somewhere. With a slight reluctance I agreed. Not really because of the price, which was very cheap for a private room, but after a couple of nights inside I was now looking forward to some camping again. I suppose there would be plenty more time for that, though it had struck me today, my 30th day, how I was fast approaching the half way point.
I waited on the porch of the B&B for the owner.
After getting setup with my room I walked to Kwik Trip for dinner. A $1 cheeseburger and a pretzel. I was getting sick of American food but I wasn’t helping myself.
Tomorrow: on to Minneapolis, and, more significantly, the last day of my 20’s.
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