(Tuesday, 6/10/25; 49 miles, 697 feet of climb)
What a difference a day makes! Today we enjoyed amazing weather and scenic river towns, including Winona, Trempeleau, and La Crosse.
Much of our riding was on bike trails through woods. We had to divert to highway 35 for a bit near Holmen due to a bridge on the trail being closed after it burned a couple of weeks ago. But the highway had nice shoulders.
We got up at 6:00 am and were on the road by 7:20. We ride straight to McDonald’s, where we recharged our bodies with breakfast while we recharged our phones with electricity.
It remained cloudy until late morning, but it was glorious when the sun finally broke through. It got up to 78°! After lunch at Kwik Trip in Holmen, we rode County XX then got back in the trail straight to The Pearl for ice cream treats in downtown La Crosse.
We biked over the Mississippi to Prairie Island and checked into our campsite, then we walked back over the bridge downtown to Qdoba. This was our mini-victory dinner for new bikers Zach, Ayden, and Paxton, who rode 172 miles on their first long bike trip! We spent some time enjoying the sunset on the LAX waterfront before walking back over the Brewster to our campsite.
Tomorrow we lose the troop trailer, and the other six of us head east toward the Sparta-Elroy trail, hauling all our camping gear on our bikes again as we did today. But this time there will be no safety valve of the troop trailer.
—————————————————-
TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “MADBIRD” = Madison Bike Ride, my own nickname for a bike ride from our home in Chippewa Falls, WI, down the Chippewa River to Pepin, then down the Mississippi River to La Crosse, then over the Sparta-Elroy Trail to Devil’s Lake and Madison, WI. Nine Scouts and three adult leaders from Boy Scout Troop 72 started out the trip (http://www.troop72.com).
—————————————————-
LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):