It was good to be back in the saddle again, though the cold I dodged earlier in the trip came back, so I was feeling a little pokey today.
I also got held up in downtown Winona by a train passing through.
But I was soon rolling again and crossed into Wisconsin.
My sister tells me that my mother always said Wisconsin was prettier than Minnesota. I chatted with a flag woman today at a road construction site while I was waiting for the traffic to resume, and she was singing the praises of Minnesota along the river just north of Winona. I’m not going to get into the debate, but I will say that I passed through some beautiful wooded and rolling country today.
The clouds were also intriguing.
Later in the day, the clouds turned into thunderstorms and I was held up by over an hour as we let them pass. It is a luxury to have an RV close by at all times, and though the pause made for a late arrival, it was a nice rest.
As you can see from the pictures above, some of the roads I travelled today were a cyclist’s dream, narrow and quiet. Some, particularly at the end, were not: busy with inadequate shoulders. When I looked at my route for tomorrow, I realized I had far too many of the latter, so spent a good hour revising tomorrow’s route.
Having lost time today to trains, rain and route planning, I will leave this post short. There were many good barns along the way today, so here they are.
Trempealeau, Wisconsin
Trempealeau, WIsconsin
Onalaska, Wisconsin
Tomah, Wisconsin
The technical stuff:
Winona, Minnesota to Tomah, Wisconsin
81.91 miles
2,687 feet of climbing
Average speed 14.6 miles per hour
Weather: High overcast with some sun; thundershower mid-afternoon. Temperature around 60 to start and mid-70s later in the day. Winds 15-20 MPH in the morning and up to 25 MPH in the afternoon; mostly tailwinds except headwinds last 10 miles.
You can see the entire route to date here.