Another great day for biking! Today was a shorter day, but very hilly. It got windy, but the temperatures were overall pretty pleasant.
When SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) Micah woke us up at 6:30 am, I was in a dead sleep. That’s rare for me, but I had my first cough-less night in days, which felt GREAT. For breakfast we made Ziploc Omelets — crack a few eggs into a Ziploc bag, add ham and cheese, and drop it into boiling water. Delicious, nutritious, cheap, and NO DISHES!
We said goodbye to Cole and his dad Gary after breakfast. They are biking back home from Durand, since they have to work Monday.
To avoid the traffic and narrow shoulders on Highway 25, we went out of the way and crossed the Chippewa River to ride down to Pepin on rural country roads. I think we saw only three cars in two hours!
But the hills were enormous. I measured 7%, 8%, and even 9% grades. The boys did great, but one boy had some issues and had to ride in the sag wagon the rest of the day.
After riding through Pepin (birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder), it was only eight more miles to the famous Nelson Creamery, home of legendary ice cream and great sandwiches. We enjoyed lingering there in the shaded backyard for almost two hours. I ran into Gary Reuland, a former coworker from my job in Rochester. It was great to see him again, 2.2 years after I retired.
We had to skip the drone videos while crossing the Mississippi River due to high winds, but we hope to get some tomorrow as we cross back into Wisconsin over that same bridge.
Our campsite tonight is in Wabasha, Minnesota, the setting of the 1993 movie “Grumpy Old Men” starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon. We stopped at the local bike shop downtown, where the owner David remembered us from our visit two years ago, and still had our 8×10 thank-you photo displayed on this bulletin board!
Then we got to the Big River Resort where the owner Elaine still had HER 8×10 photo of us fro two years ago! I think these boys are leaning the value of a hand-written thank you note for unexpected blessings.
We said goodbye again, this time to Brennan and his dad Patrick. Patrick was a hero for hauling the troop trailer and sag wagon these first few two days, which allowed several of the younger Scouts to try a longer bike trip for the first time.
The weather looks like it’ll be much cooler tomorrow, with temps still in the 50s until 1pm as we follow the Mississippi River down to Winona. But at least the original forecast of rain all day has been modified — now it looks likely that the night rains will stop by 8 am.