July 6, 2008
Day 55: Elkader, IA to La Crosse, WI
100.92 miles, 6:36:00 Ride Time, 15.29 Average Speed, 37.54 Maximum Speed
I got a late start - after 9:30 - still mired in my gloomy mood from yesterday afternoon.
It was overcast this morning, and more humid than it had been in days. After ten miles I stopped in Farmersburg (pop. 300), where nothing was open on Sunday morning (and nobody was around), but I did find a working pop machine. I sat on some steps and had my breakfast of Coke and granola bars.
After breakfast I rode seven miles to Monona (pop. 1,550), and turned East for a while - it seemed strange to head into the sun in the morning. While I rode through a strong crosswind (mostly out of the South), birds (black with red spots on their wings - what are these things called?), kept diving at me. The last few days I've noticed this phenomenon, which I've experienced only in Iowa. This morning the birds were the most aggressive yet - twice they actually grazed my helmet. I finally stopped and slung gravel up in the air at one of them, doubtless providing some entertainment for the farmer raking hay in a nearby field. Well, it (briefly) made me feel better, anyway.
Several miles after the gravel-flinging incident, I coasted down to touristy Marquette (pop. 421), on the Mississippi River. I quickly rode through the town and did some flat, easy riding along the Mississippi for a few miles before a major climb away from the river. For the first time in several weeks, a few drivers honked their horns at me (not the friendly little honk, but the "Get off the road" honk). Given how great Iowa drivers have been, I can only assume that these people were tourists from some other area, quite possibly Missouri.
I stopped at Effigy Mounds National Monument, sat on a bench in the shade in front of the visitor center, drank a Diet Pepsi, and mulled things over. Was it time to end the trip? I had ridden about 4,000 miles. That's pretty solid. How would I get home? I might be able to get a one way car rental in La Crosse, the next big town. Or, I could always fly back home from Minneapolis. While I was entertaining these sad notions, the ranger kept coming out and giving me significant glances - I was sitting near a sign instructing visitors to pay the ranger the entrance fee upon entering the park. Lady, I'm not paying you five dollars to sit on a bench under a tree - I've already purchased your overpriced soft drink. That should be enough.
My next stop was the little river hamlet of Harper's Ferry, where I went into a store and felt a little out of place buying my Gatorade and Grandma's Cookies; everyone else there was buying beer and cigarettes - it was a real "No shirt, no shoes, no problem" kind of place.
As I rode away from the store, I spotted an official-looking street sign: "Bullshit Blvd." I slowed down - surely this was photo-worthy - but then noticed several people on a porch attached to the nearby mobile home. I felt self-conscious, so I began to ride away without taking the camera out, when they called out to me: "Go ahead and take a picture! Everybody does! It's on the internet!" And so it will be again.
After another big climb up to a bluff, and a fast descent back to the river, I caught up with Jim, the older rider from the other day. He informed me he had camped in the muddy park in Elkader, and hadn't really noticed the horrible smell. Jim's obviously tougher than me. He wanted to stop at a breakfast buffet in nearby Lansing (pop. 1,102), that was somehow still (barely) open at 2:30 pm, and I decided to join him, even though I wasn't really hungry - I wanted someone to talk to.
It was during lunch with Jim that I felt my mood lift. What did I really have to complain about, anyway? Boredom recently with the scenery and the routine, a few rude drivers... it didn't seem like a big deal. Jim had survived stage IV throat cancer, and was riding across the country with a feeding tube still in his stomach. Sheesh - I really had nothing to complain about.
I said goodbye to Jim, who was stopping in Lansing for the day, and rode towards Minnesota. It felt like a new day - It was flat, the wind wasn't against me, and I seemed to fly along the Mississippi. This afternoon would be some of the fastest riding of the entire trip.
I rode through the little river towns of New Albin and Brownsville, and then, at La Crescent, crossed the Mississippi into the larger town of La Crosse, Wisconsin (pop. 51,816). After a few easy miles through the downtown area, I found a reasonably priced Econolodge, and checked in at 8:00, just as the sky grew dark and it started to thunder.
Later I walked a few blocks to a Subway, where I kidded around with the two girls working there. For some reason they became half-convinced that I was a "secret shopper", sent to check up on their adherence to the Subway rule book. I wonder what such a job pays?
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Today's ride: 101 miles (163 km)
Total: 3,962 miles (6,376 km)
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