Day 9 – 500 miles

Date: Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Time on Bike: 5:39:11

Total Travel Time: 8:26:39

Miles Covered Today: 76.18 (now my most miles covered in one day)

Total Trip Miles: 507.2

Average Speed: 13.4 mph, Maximum Speed: 38.7 mph!!

From: Red Wing, MN

To: Osceola, WI

(Uploaded from Fargo, ND on 24 Jul 2016)

We loaded up my bike & whatever we needed for the day and left Minnetonka, MN and drove back to Red Wing, MN to pick up the trail that I left… how many days ago was that?? Oh yeah, two days ago!

I felt great from the get go! I decided NOT to follow the Northern Tier that was going back into Wisconsin on side roads. I wanted to limit my climbing today. So I decided to again follow the MRT (Mississippi River Trail Bikeway) route on HW 61 & stay in Minnesota and follow the Mississippi! I had a nice wide shoulder even though the speed limit was 60 MPH.

At about 7 miles outside Red Wing I started a long climb that lasted about 3 miles with a false flat. It was a long drag. I got into a low gear (no granny!!) and found a great rhythm and just humped up it. Felt really good about what was to come today!

My first break of the day… in a cemetery!

I guess I never have to worry about speeding...

My second rest stop was in Hastings, MN where Bunny & Woz were waiting for me at a local park. It was already hot & muggy. Woz is a pretty subdued pup and rarely if ever barks. However, he let out two warning barks to let Bunny know a stranger was coming up behind her (she didn't hear the person). Good boy Wozzy for keeping his Mommy safe!

I eventually crossed the Mississippi to get to Point Douglas, MN.

Crossing the bridge, I noted this huge pile of dead Mayflies. All for sex! I read the adults live short lives, just long enough to mate & lay eggs to produce the next generation!

I was going to be cycling north along the Saint Croix River now being back on the Northern Tier Route.

There was some construction after the bridge and I somehow got turned around. A few miles up the road I realized I was going the wrong way. I was in front of a farm supply store. As a truck pulled out, I asked “You from around here?”. He kindly pulled over and gave me a great shortcut to get back over to the Saint Croix Trail (actually a road) that runs along the Saint Croix River. He said it would save me 5 miles! Farmers know their shit!!

It was about as pretty a route as you could have…

Bunny & Woz were waiting for me at the Lumberjack Pub in Afton, MN. I could see Afton was kind of a touristy area by all the cutesie stuff.

Bunny & Woz were enjoying the AC.

It had in fact turned out to be a very hot & muggy day, just as everyone had predicted. Heat index was over 100. But… I had a bit of a tailwind that was pushing me along nicely! Will help bump my mileage up today!

Google Maps suggested a bike trail out of Afton and I took a chance. In Lakeland, MN it ended at a street that was... underwater!!! Nice job Google! A local told me Google Maps is wrong a lot around there and told me to go back to the main road and take that all the way into Stillwater. And that is what I did!

Stopped to watch work being done on a new bridge over the Saint Croix River. From a distance, it all looked like toys.

I peddled into Stillwater. Find Bunny & Woz. Hit a bathroom and rolled on. Nothing for me there…

Really enjoyed that section of the route. HW 95 is fun.

And… I soon hit 500 miles since leaving Chicago just nine days ago!

I knocked back a stiff one to celebrate.

And then biked on!

Crossing the Saint Croix River

I cycled into Wisconsin... again!

Bunny & Woz were waiting for me at the DQ in Osceola, WI. I bought a milkshake, loaded up my bike and we drove the ~1.5 hours back to Minnetonka for the last time.

Patty & Mark made a grand dinner for us.

It was our last evening together this trip. The care we feel staying with our friends on this trip has been special. We know that Patty & Mark (as well as Keith & Sue in Grayslake) had our backs. They have done everything they could to make sure we got whatever we needed and they took care of all our needs. We are very fortunate to have such good friends!

Tomorrow, we load up the Prius with everything we got & head out again. We have no more stops at friends planned along the way. But rest assured, we will make new friends along the way!

More pictures from today.