June 15, 2021
Day 41: Pepin, WI to Stillwater, MN
Encounter With Greg; Welcome to Minnesota!
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Climbing Today; 3,617 ft Climbing to Date; 66,987 ft
It was a little strange last night in the Pepin Hotel; we were the only guests! It's a nice place, but they are full every weekend and empty most all the week. There was not even a clerk present at night, just a note on the desk telling how to call if you needed help. And the outside doors were all unlocked. Like I say, it felt a little strange, but it was a nice place and they set up the breakfast room in advance for us. We were up at 0430 and rolling before 0600.
We found a bit of second breakfast in Bay City - for me that consisted of a slice of breakfast pizza and chocolate milk, consumed while sitting outside on a bench by the local store. I rolled on ahead of Doc, but called him to discuss a potential change of plans. He agreed, and so instead of spending the night in a yurt at the state park (a yurt would have been fun), we decided to ride further today and get a hotel in Stillwater, MN. If we did that, then we would be in striking distance of Dalbo tomorrow and we could skip staying at an intermediate point in a B&B. And so, we pressed on knowing that we had to ride a bit further today.
The great news today was that the temperature only reached the mid-70's, and the roads we traveled on had intermittent shady spots where we could stop and rest. So the cycling was pleasant - there was a considerable amount of climbing, as you can see from the profile, so we are a bit tired. Tomorrow we have to go further and the heat will be back in the low-90's, so I better wrap this up and get to bed early.
While enjoying a long downhill, I noticed a cyclist coming the opposite direction on a road bike. I always stop for another cycle tourist and we chat about places to stay and such - but cyclists out for a training ride or pleasure ride don't want to stop and talk to us tourists, and so I was going to just wave and go on past, but this guy pulled out indicating he was crossing the road to talk. And so we met Greg.
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3 years ago
Greg had been following this journal and knew what our path would be today and rode out to meet us - that was the highlight of our day! He has also ridden the Northern Tier and has a couple of journals on this website about that adventure. He blogs about his daily rides, and you can read his entry for today here. You can also see a bit of Greg in the video at the end of this entry.
We rolled into Prescott, WI looking for lunch. There were lots of biker bars, and we managed to find a little diner that wasn't occupied by motorcyclists and enjoyed a bit of inside rest and good food. Then we crossed over the St. Croix River and entered Minnesota.
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Greg had already "pre-welcomed" us to Minnesota, so now we felt right at home. We had a bit more work to do and there were more hills, but we rolled into Stillwater and our hotel a bit after 1600.
We are in a rushed mode trying to plan ahead right now. The temperature is going back up into the dangerous level, and the only plans we can see that will work involve some long-mileage days. Long mileage in hot conditions is not the safest course, so we are planning hard now. Good night folks...
Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 2,115 miles (3,404 km)
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3 years ago