The Great River Road

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I spent a couple nights at my cousin Matt's house in Stillwater -- even though they were on vacation (life is so complicated) -- and finally left Monday morning. I rode that day through the countryside south, and finally entered Wisconsin in Prescott, a pretty little town on the river.

For three days now I've followed Highway 35, "The Great River Road," as it runs beside the Mississippi. I went almost as far as Lacrosse, though the road itself follows the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

I think it's the most interesting stretch I've done so far, and I'd love to do the rest of it. Every little tributary rushing to the river comes through a valley, and it made for a rollercoaster ride of quick rushes down and slow climbs up. But by the end of the first day, the road had moved into the river corridor and flattened out.

The towns came and went: Prescott, Diamond Bluff, Bay City, Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, Nelson, Alma, Cochrane, Trempealeau, Onalaska. Most are tiny -- a hundred, two hundred, three hundred citizens -- and most of them cling to a hillside or are ingeniously puzzled into the space between the road, the rail tracks and the river.

The little towns make the most of what they are. Maiden Rock, population 119, has a bake shop, a wine store, high-end restaurants, a large brick inn, a couple of lawyers, and goats grazing in the yards. There's an architecture office in Stockholm, population 66. The city lists 29 total businesses, including an insurance agency, a pie maker, several restaurants, and a furniture dealer. Alma, population 779, has dozens of galleries, jewelry shops, and a quilting business. All this business activity is aided and abetted by the Minnesota towns across the river, especially Winona, 27,000 people, where surely some of the employees live, and much of the clientele.

Rolling down the road, I sometimes had to remind myself that I was in Wisconsin. It felt like somewhere else.

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I did trails today, and tomorrow I'll be on the Sparta-Elroy trail. Trails keep you off the road and let you ride in the shade, but unless they're paved, boy, they can be a lot of work.

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Assorted pix:

My lunch stop in Prescott --- a pulled chicken sandwich with thin apple slices.

Prescott

Fountain City

The big river.

Ice cream in Stillwater.
(Thanks, Gary Hoffman.)

Matt's house

Why trails are fun.
(I put my bike on its side and dragged it through.)

Matt's house.