GMRR Day 25 - Red Wing, MN to Bloomington, MN

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

Today was a fitting end to a great trip up the Mississippi.  We left early (7:00) due to a threat of rain around mid-day.  We quickly exited Minnesota, going back over the river into Wisconsin, where we spent most of the ride.  The weather was perfect, with temps in the high 50's to low 70's, a slight tailwind most of the way, and overcast skies.  I think the whole group was enjoying the day, as you can see by the SAG stop at a park where the St Croix River joins the Mississippi.

I stopped to take a photo of some wildflowers that have appeared along the route frequently over the last several days.

I also need to leave you with one more photo of a Wisconsin farm.

So after a day with a couple of climbs and lots of rolling hills, the Twin Cities came in to view,

We were put on bike paths for the last 10-15 miles in the city.  Some of them were pretty good, and some were not.  At any rate, we finally got a little rain in the last 5 miles or so, but not enough that it really bothered anything.  So in the end, we got rained on for two short stretches of a trip where rain threatened on a number of days.  Not too bad.

To wrap things up, we covered 1744 miles in 25 days, going through 9 states.  We saw the variety the heartland of this great country has to offer.  I am very pleased to have done this ride

GMRR Day 24 - LaCrosse, WI to Red Wing, MN

The link to today's route and the ride statistics is here.

Today, the winds were out of the northwest, so which way do you think we were riding.  Of course, straight into the wind.  While they weren't helping, they could have been worse.  Other than the wind, the weather was perfect for riding.  Temps started in the upper 50s and probably were still in the low 70s at finish.
I found the first two thirds of the route fairly uninteresting.  The river was mostly hidden, and when we saw water it was mostly marshland.  Here is a shot with our mechanic to give you an idea.

We saw a couple of more dam and lock combinations.  I will only show one, since they are all pretty similar.  This one was in the town of Alma.

After the town of Pepin, the route became more scenic.  In fact, according to one of the historical markers, it is one of the most scenic in the country.  That is because it borders Lake Pepin, which is pretty nice.  But first, I must comment on Pepin the town.  It is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder of the Little House books.  Here is the historical marker.

The town also has a museum, but I didn't have the time to visit.  I did like the map of her travels that was outside the museum.

Since it was a nice day, there were a number of boats on the lake.

Finally, after a long day on the road, we crossed the Mississippi into Minnesota.  Here is a shot of the Red Wing marina from the bridge.  Red Wing is also the home of Red Wing shoes.

Since tomorrow will be the final day of the ride, and many folks will be leaving quickly after they get in, we had our farewell banquet tonight.  It is clear that everyone very much enjoyed the ride, and appreciated the very fine staff we had supporting us.

We have one last chance for a rainy day, and the forecast is pretty iffy.  Wish us well.

GMRR Day 23 - Prairie du Chien, WI to LaCrosse, WI

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

Today was another fine day to be on a bicycle.  We had almost ideal weather, with the wind not really a factor one way or the other.  The roads started a little miserable, but turned quite good 15-20 miles in.  There was little to no climbing involved, so I largely used it as a recovery day, in preparation for a big day tomorrow.
The route basically followed the Mississippi from Prairie du Chien to LaCrosse.  The first 15 miles or so, the river was hidden behind trees, but after we came to dam and lock #9, we had a visible river most of the way.  Here is the dam.

We moved up the river less than 30 miles when we came to dam and lock #8.

I  also took a picture of the historical information sign that was in the area.  It gives a little history of the dams on the river.

Once we were in LaCrosse, we had miserable roads to take us to the motel.  When we finally arrived, it was on what is called the Black River, but a map shows is merely a branch of the Mississippi on one side of an island.  Here we are on the motel dock looking up the Black River.  That is Drew, Michael (our mechanic) and me.

All in all, a nice day on the river.  Tomorrow we have 101 mile to Red Wing.

GMRR Day 22 - Galena, IL to Prairie du Chien, WI

The link to today's route and ride statistics can be found here.

Today was quite a day on the bike.  We headed out, and it seemed like we had hardly left the parking lot when we were headed up a hill that topped out around 18%.  After more up and down, after about 10 miles we crossed the border into Wisconsin.  The countryside we rode through was quite nice.  We had our first SAG stop after only 20 miles in the little town of Dickeyville.  We had earned the stop because we had already done a lot of climbing.  Dickeyville is the home to the Dickeyville Grotto, which is an over the top religious setting, which I believe was privately built. Here are a couple of shots to give you a feel for it.

Front view of the grotto

Back area of the grotto.

We went by a lot of farms which look a lot like this one.

The farms were on rolling land, and often were interspersed with trees.  Our second SAG was in the little town of Beetown, and I had an opportunity to capture my roommate Ken Mercurio just before town.  The background in this photo is similar to a lot of today.

The SAG was in a little park in Beetown, and I loved the sign.

Just before coming into Prairie du Chien, we crossed the Wisconsin River.  It is about to join the Mississippi.  It is a significant river on its own.

All in all, it was a nice ride in pretty country, albeit with almost 5000 feet of climbing.  Tomorrow should be an easier day, as we will be mostly riding up the river on fairly level terrain.  Just three riding days to go, it does not seem possible.

GMRR Day 21 - Moline, IL to Galena, IL

The route for today's ride and the ride statistics can be found here.

Today started out on fairly level terrain, and on a nice bike path along the Mississippi.  The route and the ease of riding kept much of the team together for the first miles.  Here is a shot of two different groups moving up the river.

Young geese being shepherded along.

Our cyclist in a looser gaggle than the geese.

The scenery was quite different for today's ride.  We were along marsh land along the Mississippi, and in woodsy terrain with many fewer farms than we have been seeing.  Here are some shots to give you an idea of what I saw.

This looked to be a wildlife conservation area.

Woods along the road in last third.

Farm on a ridge and more wooded farm land.

The work on today's route was all after the second SAG.  We hit the hills, and had several challenging climbs.  Some of that shows in the hilly terrain reflected in the above photos.  When we got to Galena, it is a lovely little town.  The downtown seems to be thriving.  Ken tells me Trip Advisor rates it one of the top ten most charming downtowns, and I can see why.  We stopped at a root beer shop there and had a lovely root beef float.  Here is a shot to give you at least some feel for the town.

Looking north up the main street.

Me riding up the street in Galena.

Our motel is a couple of miles from the downtown area, and of course most of the way there was uphill.  I stopped along the way to get a shot of a home for my wife.

All in all, it was a successful day on the ride.  Tomorrow promises more hills.

GMRR Day 20 - Galesburg, IL to Moline, IL

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

Today was another great day to be on a bike.  The weather was pretty good, the winds were not too bad, although we had headwinds for a 10-12 mile stretch, and cross winds much of the rest of the day. I felt pretty good, and the short day and the fact my wife would be waiting made the miles go quickly. There wasn't much new to report early on.  We were either in farmland or small towns for 50 miles.  I did take a picture of a church, I believe in the little town of Alpha.  It is one of the nicer ones we have seen.

Once we were in Rock Island, we eventually moved on to a bike path along the river with 6 or 7 miles to go.  It is always great to be riding along the river.  Of course, what do I spot on the Iowa side of the river but that American stalwart, a floating casino.

Once I was in, I was met by a wonderful greeting party.  My wife, Sara, her daughter Jeannie, and son-in-law Don had all driven over to spend the afternoon.  What a treat.

While we were walking back along the river from having lunch, we noted a blue heron standing in the river, apparently fishing.  You will note the river is not very deep where he is.

Finally, you may be aware that Moline is headquarters for John Deere.  In honor of my cousin Jim Bingman, who has a miniature John Deere museum in Bellingham, here is a shot of the John Deere Pavilion near the hotel.  Corporate headquarters was a few miles away.  I was too late to get in to the pavilion on a Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow and Thursday are the last big mileage days as we close in on the end of this adventure.  See you then.

GMRR Day 19 - Keokuk, IA to Galesburg, IL

The link to today's route and ride statistics can be found here.

We managed to evade the rain for another day.  As I said yesterday, we barely made it in to Iowa, and this morning we immediately left.  We left the hotel, went across the bridge, and were back in Illinois. I am using my roommate Ken's photo of the dam and lock that are just upstream of the bridge from Keokuk to Illinois because mine was terrible.  The photo focuses on the lock, with the dam in the background.  Apparently, from what I learned in Nauvoo yesterday, this part of the river had rapids, and the Mormons made money portage goods around them.  This dam creates safe passage, but requires a lock.

Once we were over the bridge, we rode along the river to Nauvoo.  I have given you the Nauvoo story already, so I will move right along.  Once we left Nauvoo, the scenery did not change much all day.  Ken said you only need one picture to tell today's story, because one cornfield looks a lot like another. So here is a cornfield from today.

I did spot an interesting home on the way out of Dallas City, the site of our first SAG.  It just seemed completely out of character with the rest of the city and the region.

Our second SAG was in the town of Roseville.  In view of the Memorial Day weekend, I thought the folks here did it right.  They have flags all around the cemetery.  It made for an impressive and most appropriate display.

A final note on today's route from Keokuk to Galesburg.  If you look at the map, you will note we basically stairstepped our way from one to the other, alternating East bound legs with North bound legs.  The North legs were great, with a lovely tailwind, while the Eastbound legs had an almost direct crosswind.  Not bad, but you had to maintain balance and direction.  As you look at the flags above, that was a cross wind section.  All in all, it was a pretty good day to be on a bike.
Galesburg is best known as the hometown of Carl Sandburg.  They have the usual boyhood home and downtown statue, but I haven't made it to either.  Ken showed me photos from an earlier visit, and I don't feel compelled to put out the effort to get there.
Sara and her daughter and son-in-law are coming to see me in Moline tomorrow.  I guess I will have to hustle to get in early.

GMRR Day 18 - Hannibal, MO to Keokuk, IA

The link to today's route and ride statistics can be found here.

Today started out in a slight drizzle.  It had rained a fair amount overnight, and was still coming down a little when the riding started.  It did not last long, so no big deal.  The other interesting point about today's ride was that while we started in Missouri and finished in Iowa, 99% of the ride was in Illinois.  We left the motel in Hannibal, and immediately crossed the river on I-72 in to Illinois.  Then after a lovely day of riding (we had a very nice tailwind for most of the ride, which we richly deserved), we crossed a bridge in to Iowa and were at our motel.
We started doing some riding along the river, which is always a treat.  Here is a shot of how this looked.

We also spent a fair amount of time riding in fairly newly planted cornfields.  Here is a shot Ken took of me in farm country.

We had one substantial hill on the ride.  It was about 0.3 miles long, and topped out in the 12-14% grade area.  This is enough to make me work hard to get over the top, and Ken captured me doing just that.  It also has the river in the background.

A highlight of the day came after we got in.  The staff offered to take us up to Nauvoo to see the sights there.  Lots of Mormon history was to be had.  We visited the Joseph Smith Visitor Center, took a wagon ride, saw the temple, and had custard downtown.  There was also a band of high school age kids playing dressed in period outfits behind the visitor center.


The Nauvoo Mormon temple.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith statue across from the temple with a fabulous view of the river.

Mormon band at the visitor's center.

Downtown Nauvoo from the custard shop.

To wrap up the day, after dinner, we took a side trip of Grand Ave in Keokuk.  I had read in a brochure that this was where the upper crust in town took residence.  We saw some great houses, and were flabbergasted to look up the listing prices for some of them.  Here are a couple of them.


The second one lists for $275,000.  This is a huge home on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Not quite what we would expect to pay back home.
The town also was having an event where bands were playing outside at different locations around town.  We came by three of them.  Most were rock bands, but the one I got a shot of was a big band.

Midwestern living in a smaller community looked pretty good.  At any rate, it was a good day all around.  We have a little longer ride tomorrow.  See you then.

GMRR Day 17 - Louisiana, MO to Hannibal, MO

The link to today's route and ride statistics is here.

First, due to last night's internet issues, here are a few photos from yesterday.  I should mention that we have finally had some tailwinds, so the long ride was not so bad.  The course was nice, with a fair amount of riding along the river.   As I said, we spent most of the day in Illinois, even though we started and ended in Missouri.

View looking back at St Louis from about 10-12 miles upriver.  We had worried about rain, but no problems.

Riding along the Mississippi in Illinois.
 
Brussels Ferry coming to pick us up to cross the Illinois River.

House on stilts along the river.

Downtown Louisiana.  We ate on the left corner.  The river is straight down the street.

Finally, to close the day, here is a Louisiana house for my wife.  To give you a feel, the Louisiana High School Class of 2016 was 51 students strong.

Now to turn my attention to today.  We woke up to a steady rain, and the prospects were iffy for the morning. The good news is the rain stopped about an hour before load, and, at the most, we had maybe a few drops for the rest of the day.  The humidity was up there, and my jersey was soaked when we got in.
The ride was short and sweet, with a few of the famous Missouri hills and rollers thrown in.  I saw 15% grade on a least two hills, and several at 10% or so.  None of them were so long I couldn't make it, so it was just a good challenge.  We had one SAG stop in New London, which is noted for the courthouse.  Here it is.

Once we got in to Hannibal, it was Mark Twain and more Mark Twain.  He is clearly a major source of revenue for the city.  Ken and I took the tour of the boyhood home, Becky Thatcher's house, and a couple of related museums.  Here are some highlights.

Mark Twain's boyhood home.  The interior tour shows how they lived.  He was the sixth of seven children.  Pretty tight quarters.

Becky Thatcher's home across the street.

Main tourist street in Hannibal.  Note the Hotel Mark Twain in the distance.

And finally, a statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.  I very much enjoyed wandering around town, and learning more of the Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain story.