July 18
Wednesday July 18
Rochester MN to La Cross WI
82.0 miles
I surely
had many “Travelling mercies” today. That was Cindy’s parting words and her
blessing for me last evening before she left. As I came across the Mississippi
River this afternoon nearing the end of an 81-mile ride, I couldn’t help but
think how great a day today had been. I did experience many travelling mercies
today. First, I had such a high energy today compared to yesterday when I was
so close to heat exhaustion. I wondered how today would be with temperatures.
As high and humidity even higher plus a lot of rolling hilly terrain.
I didn’t
eat very much for dinner last night. Dinner was, unfortunately served in a
stifling hot room and it seemed to take my appetite away. But, I woke up at
midnight and was my stomach ever empty! With our metabolism working overtime,
we must eat lots of food. So I couldn’t get back to sleep because I was on”
empty” Cindy had saved the night. She had brought me those goodies from home.
There I was up in the middle of the night eating Calamities (little baby
oranges), granola bars, oatmeal cookies and fresh apricots. Slept like a log
until wake up call at 5 AM.
Breakfast
was again served in this lousy room – but it was a few degrees cooler this
morning. I was on the road early. My first travelling blessing was the
rainstorm had ended and we didn’t get wet. When we came to the first rolling
section of terrain and the wind was in our face, I hardly even noticed. I
charged right on through the wind and made it to the first SAG stop. I ate
bananas and fig bars, refilled water and went off. Then the biggest rollers
came. I called it ten mile of “Deerfield hills”. Deerfield hill is a 16% grade hill near my house. It is a monster
hill. But today we did one right after another – fun thing was once we got to
the top it immediately went straight down and then straight back up.
Another travelling
mercy that I could do every one of them, and still breathe just fine. The
scenery was so beautiful. It now had changed totally from what we have been
riding through for the past several days. Hills, valleys, tress, lakes, it was
all so beautiful. I was making good time. It just surprised me so because it
was coming so easy for me. I stopped in a small town and had a yummy piece of
apple pie and I knew that would get me to the next SAG stop.
We had
climbed up on a bluff and then a screaming descent down into a long beautiful
valley. Not for long because we had to eventually climb for 10 miles up over
another bluff. As we got closer to La Crosse on highway 16 the traffic was very
heavy. But, again more travelling mercies as I was kept safely on the narrow
shoulder. The ride was so enjoyable and so beautiful I was quite emotional many
times. The beauty all around me just made my heart sing and today was so
thankful to God for “America the Beautiful”. How fortunate I am to be here on
this marvellous adventure.
At 75 miles, we came to the Wisconsin
State line. We were all taking lots of photos of each other under the nice
Welcome to Wisconsin sign. Then the big thrill was just up ahead. The
Mississippi River… Now I have crossed over the Mississippi River many, many times
(near Hudson, WI) in the car. Let me
tell you, it brought tears to my eyes going over this mighty river and this
expansive bridge on a bicycle! All of
us that were together at this point were in such awe we got off our bikes on
the bridge and were taking pictures and walking slowly with our bikes just
basking in the beauty of crossing over into the town surrounded by bluffs: La
Crosse.
It
was around 2PM. Father Jim and I were
looking toward the city and saw church spires and he was guessing it might be
the Cathedral for the La Crosse diocese. It ended up our route took us within
two blocks of it and we rode up to the Cathedral. It was St. Joseph the
Workman. We parked our bikes inside and
paid a visit to the beautiful place of worship. Another travelling mercy for today.
When
I got to the motel, I called my cousin Jane. They were soon on their way to
pick me up to take me to dinner. By they, I mean Jane and her husband Bill and
my cousin Judy and her husband Larry. It was so good to see my first cousins
and husbands. We had a great fish dinner, and a surprise birthday pie was
brought to the table and we song happy birthday to Judy. They gave me a short
tour of a few sights around here. We drove way up on a high bluff called
Granddad Bluff and over looked the city. What a sight. I had to be back for
route sap by 8:00, so they took me on back to the hotel. What a grand day I had
today. Thank you Lord for all the “travelling mercies” I was blessed with the
day.
Oh,
I almost forgot to mention about the road kill count. I am relieved that when
we left South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho behind and entered Minnesota there were
no more sights of rattlesnakes. However, some sort of mass suicide had taken
place here in south-western Wisconsin and south-eastern Minnesota. Frogs, thousands
of them, belly up dead on the shoulders of the roads. Pretty gross trying to manoeuvre
my bike amongst the carcasses.