Season 4 Episode 16. A Royal Welcome.

Season 4 Episode 16. A Royal Welcome. 

8/30 Red Wing, MN to Winona, MN 74 miles. 1,947’ climb. 

Today was one of our favorite days of riding! We switched for the day over to the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, but we were still heading due south so we were looking constantly to our right at the water, without the road between us and the river (as on the Minnesota side where we looked to our left). It gave us vibes from our Pacific Coast ride last fall.

Leaving MN (just for the day).

In this spot, the MN side captures the industrial importance and history of the river, and the WI side shows the leisure side.

In Red Wing, MN in background right, a huge and popular bluff to hike up that would have been fun except we didn’t try it last night due to the heavy rain. (And not sure I’d be able to anyways.)

After an hour of riding, looking back across to Minnesota, the river is starting to appear much wider - the way I think of it from past trips riding along it in St. Louis, and from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. But it is still mostly residential and beautiful, not yet mostly industrial as I think of it much further south.

We almost rode right through Stockholm (easy to do with a population of 82!) when a sign caught my eye. Heather was annoyed with me needing to stop so early.

We entered the shop and met employees Staci and Troy and verified the shop was in fact voted number one and featured this past June in an article “Find pie perfection at the 10 best pie shops in the US.” USA Today. June 19, 2024. (This clearly was was not some hollow claim like in St. Regis, Montana of “Best Shake Ever” with no supporting research.).

There was no use fighting it - we had to have some pie. 

Although only 11:30am, Heather started digging in. She later told me she didn’t even want pie but felt if she can’t convince me, she may as well join me.

I wanted mine later, but had a packing dilemma. My panniers were too full and this transport idea did not look very smart.

The solution was to put my sleeping bag on the rack under a bungee. Once emptying my pannier, we had a better idea. Although a tiny town, there was a post office across the street so we shipped home our tent, air mats and sleeping bags. I reasoned that east of the Mississippi, and with the summer peak travel season finished, we would always find indoor lodging. We now had lots of cargo space.

Trail side stop at the old train station of Pepin, WI. Some of the other river towns have beautiful old train stations that are a reminder that rail was once a new technology and to travel by train was considered very sophisticated.

A landmark fence made from skis, all with bindings still attached.

Two hours later, time for my lunch and the taste test. Yes! I emailed Troy and Staci to say indeed the pie was worthy of its national ranking. This was amazing crust to perfection of flaky yet firm, butter lingering, and cherry filling for a moan in every bite! I could have eaten a 13” pie instead of the 6” one I ordered. (I also ate a pie cookie in the shop.)

One of the river bluffs high above that periodically appear.

More river, rail and road like in Montana.

Typical small river town of a few blocks that we’d pass right through.

Occasional tall smokestack of industrial employers. Fewer remain and there are many boarded up former factories or some converted to loft apartments.

Arrival in Winona, back on MN side for the night.

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8/31 Winona, MN to Viola, WI 74 miles. 4,118’ climb. 

In this spot the MRT (Mississippi River Trail) that we’d been riding on for days overlapped a part of the Great River Road Minnesota. We would miss the MRT as we head east to Wisconsin.

Of all the places we’ve cycled, Minnesota hands down has the best cycling paths/trails network. If someone wanted to trial bike touring, we suggest MN!

Crossing from La Crescent, MN to La Crosse, WI over Barron Island and through what I call the pea soup marsh.

Most Northern Tier riders who cross Wisconsin do so towards the famous converted rail trail (first in the nation) of Sparta to Elroy. And it’s a very flat route with gradual elevation changes like all rail trails. We opted for a much more challenging route further south as we wanted to visit friends in Viola in rolling farm country. 

Officially now in state #6! (WA, ID, MT, ND, MN, WI).

The M. River is still a serene backyard boat launch for some.

Same home as above had most amazing treehouse.

When we stopped at Weaver’s Bakery, on an Amish farm, to buy some treats for the friends we were heading to visit, the water well caught my eye. It looked more like an oil well.

The afternoon ride took us past many barns and silos.

This defined our afternoon. It was the second highest daily climbing total of our trip, even more than the day through Glacier National Park. And with a more severe slope! Wisconsin is definitely not flat in this region. And as I inched up each difficult ascent, I started to question and doubt our route choice.

Today’s climbing was killer and very unevenly distributed in the last part of the day.

Yet despite the climbs, it was incredibly scenic and very different from what we had ridden. We loved it. 

I loved that this farmer has hockey rink boards and lights all set up for when it’s cold enough to flood a rink.

After all the climbing, it was all worth it when we rolled down the long gravel road up to the farm of Adrian and Donna and they welcomed us like royalty with cold glasses of white wine and cheering and banging a wooden spoon on a pot lid that we could hear over half a mile away. Heather felt like it was the celebration at the finish line at the end of a long triathlon.

We met Adrian in February 2023 when we rode together daily for almost 4 weeks as part of a group that rode from Sydney to Hobart in Australia. Now we got to meet Donna, too. 

They graciously hosted us and generously fed us for 2 nights and recharged our batteries. We felt like we were at a zen-like retreat, listening to wind chimes, enjoying magnificent sunsets off their deck and equally beautiful sunrises tight from our window. With their dark sky, we enjoyed seeing star lit skies and the Milky Way! Heather picked fresh raspberries in the morning. 

Sunset 8:11 pm

The small touches matter!

The wind chimes that soothed us.

Sunrise in our window 5:55am.

One tree in full autumn splendor.

*     *     *

9/2 Viola, WI to Spring Green, WI 52 miles. 1,939’ climb.

Whenever we take a rest day (as on 9/1), we are thrilled to feel physically stronger afterwards, but we also feel mentally elapsed. That is, we feel we can end the trip happily and not get back on our bikes. The rest day breaks our cycle for both good and bad. However in this case, it was so much easier to ride again because Adrian was going to ride the day with us, and Donna would drive out to meet us and ride the last part with us. 

We experienced more beautiful, rolling farmland.

Heather said she felt like she was back in Australia riding alongside Adrian. I’m glad she stayed on the right side of the road.

We had about 14 miles on a protected but unpaved trail from Richland Center to Lone Rock.

We celebrated our time together with lunch along the Wisconsin River in Spring Green.

I did feel I was being watched while I ate with eyes right over our table.

Heather and I then did something for the first time this trip - we went on a scheduled tour. We visited Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s residence where he lived for over 50 years. I highly recommend it even if, like us, you don’t have much knowledge beforehand of FLW.  In our ageist society, I found it encouraging that he designed arguably his most famous house, Fallingwater, when he was age 68 and remarkably he did more than half of his body of work after age 68. So I say to all my fellow 60 year plus friends, our future is bright. 

Taliesin.

FLW used varying ceiling heights to separate rooms in the absence of doors.

As it was Labor Day, nothing else was open, so it was back to the Wisconsin River Resort for dinner and more amazing Wisconsin beauty.

Copyright Mark Segal 2024.