Thursday, July 20, 2006
Day 32 - La Crosse, WI - July 20th 2006
Weather: Sunny 88
Location: La Crosse, WI (from Rochester, MN)
Miles per day: 88.75
Average miles per hour: 11.79
Elevation climb:
Blizzards/Ice Cream to date: 23
Flat Tires to date: 1
To the relief of us all, the weather was great today and so was the ride. The route map described a day of 'rollers' and that it was! We went up and down all day among amazing views of scenic farms. It was a full day of farm animals: Pigs, Turkeys, Dairy and even Elk.
We also journeyed along a wonderful bike path known as the Minnesota Root River Trail (from Rushford to Houston) for about 12 miles, an old Railroad track converted to a bike trail (aka Rails to Trails). A group of our riders (see link - http://www.railtrails.org/ ) are raising money to further develop trails across America.
Near the end of the day, we entered Wisconsin and reached the Mississippi River.
For me, Minnesota went by all too quickly. In terms of riding in Minnesota, the days were long (due to mileage and weather) and I had little time to get to know the State or the People. On reflection, a few fun facts:
1- Minnesota Inventions: Stapler, Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, Tonka Trucks and Green Giant vegetables.
2- World famous Mayo Clinic is based in Rochester, MN
3- Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. Mars marketed the Snickers bar in 1930 and introduced the 5 cent Three Musketeers bar in 1937. The original 3 Musketeers bar contained 3 bars in one wrapper. Each with different flavor nougat..
4- With some lakes and waterways, MN has more shoreline than CA or FL. Also, the most boat owners per capita.
Apart from our day being slightly extended due to a few broken spokes, it was a great day. Or close to great... The only let down was that the only DQ that I saw all day was at about 9:00 AM and they were not yet open. I am missing my blizzards!
