Through Wisconsin

Hello! Time for another installment :D


So as we set forth for a hundred miler out of Madison into Gays Mills, I was particularly overwhelmed (as I so often am) with the views we got. From the beginning, there was Julia being greeted by a long stretch through some cow-heavy farmland.

Very cow-heavy at times.

Oh, and corn-heavy. (As well as alfalfa and grain.)


This ride was surprisingly hilly. It reminded me our rides in Vermont, although this area had much more livestock milling about. There exist mountains in the Midwest! They really are there!



Oh hey! What's this? A truck pull, you say? Maybe you know what this is, but I had no idea what people were talking about. Judging from the crowds, it looked to be a huge deal. Well. I was not particularly impressed, and I felt quite out of place.


So Gays Mills is a small town (about 300 residents) in a valley. We had a fun downhill slope into the town, and the next morning, we had a nice climb out of the town. The town itself has seen a lot of hardship, as it has experienced floods in the past two years and a lot of people have been moving out. It's a huge expression of compassion that people who are still feeling the consequences of natural disasters open their churches and offer us generous hospitality. There's Jay getting ready to ride out in the morning.


This area has a lot of bales of hay, some lining the roads, and we passed by a few bikers taking a short hay-stack-break. (Julia, Kelsey, and Sidney)


Our ride that day hugged the Mississippi River, and here, we finally caught up with it.


We crossed a bridge over and went into Iowaaa for a bit.


This picture was a bit blurry, but I'm including it anyway.


We were only in Iowaaa for a little bit, and we met up with Minnesota for a few miles, as well. There's Cydney (whose mom I hear reads my blog! Hello!) in the background and Wade's feet on top.


The Mississippi is just huge. Scenic overlooks dotted our path as we traced the river, and here, we took a small break. There's Cydney, Ashley, Wade, and Nick.


We crossed over Wisconsin state lines again, and saw this sweet sign.


At the church in La Cross, we were greeted with some amazing bratwursts and other foods, as well as a local news reporter. There's Physnick, Wade, and Nick.


At dinner, we did one of our presentations where we talk about who we are and what we're doing. That day, it was Ally, Jocelyn, Ashley, Matt, and Physnick's turn to present. They did an excellent job.


Today, we headed out of La Cross into Pepin, where we are at now. There's Jocelyn, Jon, Jeremy(?), Physnick, Jason, and Jay, and some other folks I can't make out.



Jay and I took a detour into a wildlife refuge where we saw an eagle, turkeys (they're huge), and a lot of waterfowl we saw with those telescope things (and they were free yay).


There's one of the waterfowl through the telescope lens. It stood there the whole time.


There we are going next to some tracks. There's Nick and Julia.


There were some more bales of hay. We decided to go bale-riding. There's Wade, Jay, Nick, and me.


Don't worry, I'm sure Jay deserved it. (Wade and Julia on right.)



There's Nick and Wade hard at work fixing a flat...


...while Julia, Wade, and Angel are posing with the mountains.


And as for how I get pictures of myself, well sometimes, if I find a nice ledge or something, I do a self timer and run into the view, and other times, I bug other biker/builders to take photos of me.

And cuz I want one more picture of me, here ya go:

We're heading to St. Paul tomorrow, so I'm going to go sleep. Good night!