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.