Rapid City, SD

Hello from Rapid City, SD! We arrived here last night after battling those swirly, side-tailwinds!! But let me start from where we left you last in Presho. We had a nice breakfast at a cafe (the ONLY cafe in Presho) and headed out on the "mystery road" along I 90 west again. It was a great road. Hardly any traffic, we really had it all to ourselves. Another hot, sunny day. Let me see if I can describe the terrain.............there's nothin out here except green grass, wheat or corn fields and a few horses and cows. We do see the occasional ranch. We stopped in Vivian at a truck stop and talked to two couples on beautiful Honda Goldwings with matching trailers. They said that they were on their way west with another couple on a goldwing but in Custer, SD they had crashed trying to miss a deer. The lady on the back ended up being flown to Sioux Falls, SD for surgery to repair her broken leg. So they were on their way back. What a way to end a trip. We were not sure if the "mystery road" continued or not, but we something that looked like it so we took it. We had been told it went all the way to Murdo, SD. In Murdo we stopped for milk shakes and tacos. They were healthy tacos of course, cause they had tomatoes on them. When we asked about our "mystery road" several people in the dairy bar said mmmmmmm no, not sure. So we stopped at a gas station and they said sure it does, but it is on the south side of the highway. So we found our road and headed west. Have I mentioned how hot it is?? In the 90 something. We had our friend the sidewind again. We saw some signs for an 1880's town that had some props from "Dances with Wolves" so we decided to stop. This movie had been made in S. Dakota. So THAT'S why it looked familiar. It cost $8/pp to go through it. It was very interesting and the "props' were kind of cool. They had Dunbar's (Kevin Costner's) cabin, one of the teepees, the fake buffalos that were killed, and the fake horse that was killed. They also had Dunbar's horse (Buck) that was one of the horses in the movie along with the wagon that he took out to his new "post". I think it was fun to see but I think it was more like $5 fun not $16 fun. Oh well..... We headed out on our rode to Belvidere our stop for the night. Since there wasn't a campground we decided to stay in the only place in town, the Belvidere Motel. Let's just say our friends Bill and Jill wouldn't stay there...........But it had AC, a shower and a TV that we could catch up on the news. We went down to the ONLY gas station and got vegetable soup, corn and green beans for dinner. We had a microwave that we heated them up with.

The next morning as we were getting ready to leave we saw five cyclists outside on the corner. I went out to talk to them and it turned out to be a family of five, the Talbotts. http://www.talbottadventures.com/. Dad and FOUR daughters ages 16-23. They were headed cross country going east. We had a nice chat with them. They were on two tandems and one solo. They told us that the "mystery road" went all the way to Cactus Flat. So we headed west. The terrain is becoming more rolling. We had a southeast wind, so at times it was a tailwind, and sometimes it was swirly sidewind. Todays temps were 98 degrees. But as one lady told us at lunch it was a DRY heat! We picked up our mail in Kaduka and sent home a few things. Thanks George for the mail!! And thanks to Mary from Alpha One for the cards that she sent us from Alpha One that give info about Alpha One to people we meet. It is really hard to explain Alpha One to someone in a 45 second conversation but were tryin. In Kaduka we stopped for lunch. On the wall was a signed picture from the BIG RIDE that is put on by the American Lung Association. It is a cross country ride. We couldn't read the signatures, so if anyone out there was on that ride let us know. We're just curious. After leaving Kaduka we road to Cactus Flat and stopped at a visitors center. We also went into the Minuteman Missle Museum. These missles were placed in South Dakota during the Cold War to protect the US. It was really interesting. Here is where we had to get back onto I 90. It really wasn't bad riding on the freeway. We had our own lane. Most drivers went by gave us plenty of room and even waved or blew the horn. All along the Interstate for miles and miles we have been seeing signs for Wall, SD. Carla back in Madison had also mentioned be sure and stop in Wall for free ice water. WHAT?? We finally got into Wall and went to the drugstore. What it turned out to be is a huge building that you could buy anything S. Dakota in it. And yes, Carla, we did have our free ice water! It was sortof fun just to walk through and look at the old pictures and history of the place. You can check it out at http://www.walldrug.com/. We stayed at the Sleepy Hollow Campground. We picked up food, mac and cheese and salad for dinner. We also got our laundry done. How many times can you wash the same three pair of bike shorts?? We are doing a scientific experiment to see how long they last. We met Jim, Karen and Maggie (Brittany Spaniel) that were camped next to us. In spite them being from Michigan they were ok and loads of fun to talk with.

Yesterday morning we ate breakfast in Wall at the Cactus Cafe. When we were getting on the bike several motorcyclists started talking to us about our ride. It was fun talking with them also. I didn't ge their names, but we did talk to them about Alpha One and gave them one of our new cards. We stopped at the visitor center on the way out of town. Our mystery road has dissappeard so we are now riding on I 90 again. The shoulder has gotten alittle narrower and to make it more exciting there is NO SHOULDER on the bridges! Wouldn't want it to get boring. We had a nice downhill outside of Wall but you always have to pay for that. We had a huge climb after that. An interesting thing happened as we were climbing. A motorcycle went my, pulling a trailer and dragging a gas can. We could smell the gasoline. We didn't know if we should expect a big fireball or not. A short way down the road they pulled over through the can in the ditch and kept going. We stopped at an information center and asked about a paved road off the interstate but they didn't seem to know of any. So we kept going. As we were riding on the interstate we looked over and saw a side road so we pulled off the interestate. Hap flagged down a rancher and asked if that road was paved and where it went. He said he thought to Rapid City. We took the side road. It was alittle more hilly but it was nice to be away from the traffic. We stopped in Underwood for lunch. The girl said there were five cyclists in there a few days ago. It turned out it was the Talbott's. The wind today was interesting. Swirly, side, rear, front................. Temperature 98 degrees DRY! We got close to Rapid City on our side road and then we couldn't figure out where to go. We could see I 90, we were on the side road. We asked someone and they didn't know how to get to the side road. Mmmm....well, all we can do is take that entrance ramp onto I 90. So off we go up the ramp, just around the turn what do we see....the little side road! We also see bumper to bumper traffic on I 90, and construction! Abort...Abort.....there's a hole in the fence let's go over on the side road. Great now were on the side road and now we see the ROAD CLOSED sign in front of us....oops. We can get around that Hap says. And yes we could. But once we got around it we see that the construction means that our little side road is now the off ramp to the HUGE TRUCK STOP and Information center. Which means everyone including their brothers and anyone they know is on the same little single lane we are on. We make it into the truck stop for a What do we so now break??? We get out a phone book, the best way to get a decent map of a city. Because if you asked someone they always say just get on the interstate and............ It looked like if we could just get on the bypass and go over Interstate 90 on the bridge there was a side road that went where we wanted. The problem??? The construction was ON the bridge so there was NO shoulder and two way traffic at a major interchange. See any other way?? NOPE?? READY?? YEP?? As we were going over the bridge traffic got backed up behind us but they were actually pretty good about it. We got over the bridge, made our right turn and got out of the way. We had decided to head to a campground on Rt 16 just south of Rapid City. We made our way through the city, made our left turn onto Rt 16 and immediately started climbing. This was the major rode to Mt Rushmore. It was a four lane road with bumper to bumper traffic and a small 3 foot berm/shoulder. The shoulder needed some work, it was very bumpy and full of holes. The wind was swirly, the traffic was close and Hap was having a heck of a time going straight. It was a bit climb but the biggest problem was all the other stuff. We stopped alittle way up trying to decide if we were going the right way for the campground. Wouldn't that be funny???? We started again, turned a corner and there was our campground, the Lazy J. Yeah! It was a nice campground, very clean, showers and even rented movies. They even had pizza delivery! So we ordered a pizza and sat in the family room watching a movie on the computer. It was a good day!! Until next time!

Presho, South Dakota

Score:

Wind 116

Hap and Diane 2

That about sums up the last two days of riding! But let's start where we left off. We packed up the tent and gear in Mitchell and met our friend Steve in a restaurant for breakfast. We sure had a nice chat before heading out. Steve lives in Mitchell and said are you guys sure you don't want to take another day off. The wind is howling from the south and it is supposed to get very hot. Nah, we'll be fine....no problem........ Did I explain the part about being on a fully loaded tandem and side winds, swirly winds and wind gusts?? Let me try again. At one point I was taking a drink of water and I went to put the bottle back in the water bottle cage, a big gust hit and I completely missed the bike, through the bottle on the ground and had to chase it about two miles on foot. How's that for wind? It was an exciting day. Glad I wasn't drivin! Sorry Hap! It was also that hot stuff again. Somewhere around 96 or so! The plan was to ride to Chamberlain to visit a niece and nephew of Steve's that we had never met. We are riding due west following along I 90. Supposedly we are on "old Rt 16" or at least that's what people keep telling us. We haven't actually seen a sign for it. So we just kept asking directions. Cause it sure wasn't on any map we had. At one point the road seemed to turn due north, uh oh, isn't this the wrong direction, we have a tailwind??? We asked two people, one said I don't know "old Rt 16 goes somewhere down there". Another guys said sure just go north for awhile and "old 16 will turn west again. BUT there doing construction and there is a detour. You just have to turn north on a gravel road for awhile." Sure no problem, we headed west on "old 16" until we got to the road closed sign, road through the construction and just kept headin west. The route was actually very pretty. Rolling hills, with green wheat pastures, lots of cattle and horses. One field had a strange combination of long horn cattle (I recognized the long horns!), regular old cattle, horses (brown) and buffalo with calves. When we started by the them all of the buffalo started running. I don't think they have ever seen a double bike! They ran for quite a while with us.

We got to Chamberlain alittle later than expected because of the slight winds. We called Kim and Jim and they met us just on the edge of town to lead us to their home. They had also called the local newspaper who came out and did a story and picture about Alpha One. Chamberlain is down in the Missouri River Valley right on the river. It is part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The first thing we did while following them was to go DOWN a huge hill to the river (you know what that means for tomorrow don't you?). Then they made a right hand turn (they were driving their van) and started up a hill. I said they probably live in that big house up on top. Yes, you guessed it! They took us out to Al's Oasis for a great dinner of Walleye. We also met Brittany their daughter and their two dogs. Ella and Allie (sorry I don't think this is right, but she was a beautiful golden retriever and I petted her enough to make up for my mistake I hope! I hope she doesn't mind I don't remember her name exactly).

This morning Kim was nice enough to make us breakfast of french toast and sausage. It was sure nice to sleep in a real bed and have a good home cooked meal. Thanks Kim, Jim and Brittany! Kim suggested we take another day off because the winds were howling once again, but this time from the north! We headed out, across the Missouri River and up out of the valley. We started out on I 90 which wasn't that bad to ride on. Afterall we have our own lane! The terrain was green, lush and rolling with big farms. Towns were few and far between. We stopped a couple of times to eat, but mostly just spent the day fighting the swirly, wind gusts again. We decided to stop in Presho because it would've been at least 25 more miles to any campground or anything and we decided we had enough of the wind. It was alot cooler today though, in the 80's which helped alot. We stayed at the Prairie RV park, pitched the tent, did our laundry and ate dinner at the cafe. Until next time!

Mitchell, South Dakota home of the famous Corn Palace

We left Pipestone and headed west on Rt. 34. We were 10 miles from the S. Dakota border. The wind was blowing once again, from the southeast. It was sort of favorable (from the southeast). Sometimes though with a big bus like ours the sidewinds can catch the captain off guard, and the stoker has to "help" him steer the bike! I am not sure that I explained that the captain is the person on the front of the bike and the stoker would be me. Alot of people ask us if we ever trade spots. Our tandem is sized for Hap on the front. I have ridden on the front. My mom and I have done lots of riding. But it is really not very comfortable for me. Especially now with the neck and back issues. I enjoy riding on the back but sometimes I miss riding by myself. But I have learned alot from riding with Hap. He used to roadrace motorcycles so I have learned alot about cornering and braking at high speeds and I love it!! What do you do when you are going 60 mph downhill?? Don't move!

We stopped at an exit for Interstate 29 at a truck stop for lunch. Hap had barbeque and I had a hamburger special. As we were riding we got a call from Tiff for a baby report. Everything is good with the twins. It was so good to hear from her. We arrived in Madison and stopped for dinner supplies. One of the pictures above is of our thermometer on our bike. Yes, this is not a mirage. It does say 122 degrees. But that was when it was sitting in direct sunlight while we were getting groceries. I am sure it wasn't that hot out on the highway. Besides we turned our air conditioning on. We rode on to Lake Hermon State Park that was just outside of Madison. We got the last campsite. As we were checking in a couple drove up and started talking to us. Walt and Beryl were getting ready to take their first bike tour on their recumbent tandem. They were leaving in the morning to ride down the Mississipi River for about a 9 day ride. We talked to them for quite awhile. It was fun reminsing with them about our first trip way back in 1986. We flew out to Portland OR and rode to San Francisco. We got our panniers (bike packs) the night before we left, put them on the bike and said that'll work. Put the bike in a box and got on the plane. We had no idea what we were doing. It sounded like they had planned alot more than we had. We hope you guys had a good trip and let HIM lead the way! Send us a note!

The campsite was really nice. We set up camp and started talking to another couple who were camped there. Let's see now we met Carla, Woody, Larry, and Denise (if we have the names wrong sorry but we didn't write them down and at our age you know what that means). We spent quite a bit of time talking about S. Dakota and where we should spend time in the Black Hills, Mt Rushmore area. They gave us some great tips on camping and sightseeing. Thanks guys!

Saturday morning we left for Mitchell, SD. Once again we had our favorite wind. I took some movie clips with our camera as we were riding. If I could figure out how to put them on the blog I could show you what the wind was like. Rt 34 was flat and flat. Let's see what did we see?? Cows, cows, cornfields, windmills (!), and cows. At one point we saw an interesting thing. In a field there were two piles of cows. One pile had all of the adults in it. About 30 feet away there was a pile of baby calves. So we decided that the adult cows were having a meeting and didn't invite the babies. As you can see it was a very interesting day of riding. There wasn't much shade along the route, oh it was 96 degrees! We found a shade tree at a turn in for a farmhouse, so we pulled under the tree. A young boy (we thought it was a girl for awhile), was parking a big truck pulling a huge cattle car. He (she) came walking over actually I think he/she was sauntering over. He/she was about my size. He was really interested in our bike. I asked him how old he was. He said 13. I said how long have you been driving that big rig, he said mmmm I don't remember. He was so cute. He also had a nice black lab pup with him.

We stopped for lunch out in the middle of nowhere. It was actually a town although we didn't see any buildings only a gas station. But at least it had a restaurant or maybe at least it had something it had something we could eat. When we left we had to ride straight south for about 20 miles. Now we really had a wind. At least it was flat. I think I would rather climb a hill than ride down a straight road into the wind! We got to Salem and stopped for something/anything cold and found some shade. It was HOT! We continued on Rt 34 all the way into Mitchell. In Mitchell we stopped for something cold to drink before finding the campground at Lake Mitchell. Our campsite was really nice. It was right on the lake. It was pretty crowded but Sunday morning everyone went home. We did our laundry before heading to bed.

Sunday was a rest day. We went to Mc Donalds for pancakes on our way to church. We went to the Mitchell Weslyn Church. After church we went to Cabelos for some shopping. We needed to get more fuel for our stove. Our stove is a Whisperlight stove. There is a funny story about this stove. When we went to France on a bike trip, we took this stove. Of course we couldn't take our fuel with us, so once we arrived in France we looked for Coleman fuel but couldn't find any. For three days we couldn't cook and just ate cold foods. Then I said hey Hap the instructions for the stove are here, is there anything else we can use for fuel. Mmmm let's see it says here you can use unleaded fuel, white gas, coleman fuel or jet fuel. So we went to the gas station for fuel. Wouldn't you think we would've figured that out??? We also made a stop at Walmart and the grocery store before heading back. Dinner was caeser salad with tuna, sweet corn, and watermelon. We got chased into the tent again by the 'skeeters. Tomorrow we head for Chamberlain...............

We have a question for everyone or at least the Ohio crowd. The question is "What is the Ohio state song?" I have already used my phone a friend who gave me the answer of "Beautiful Ohio". We are wondering if that is the correct answer. So if you know give us a shout. Who knows, it could be the million dollar prize question!

Pipestone, MN

So here we are in Pipestone. Home of the famous quarries that the native american indians get their stone to carve pipes. We thought we would be alittle further down the road since we left Granite Falls. But a couple of things happened. The first was WIND and the second was WIND and RAIN. We left Granite Falls after having a great breakfast in an actual restaurant with actual cooked food. We headed southwest continuing on Rt 23. The temperature was 96 degrees and the wind was blowing. I think that a few times we moved forward. Man it was a hot one! But we did have a good road with about an 8 foot shoulder so why should we complain?? Maybe 'cause you could have cooked an egg on that nice shoulder?? We were headed to Camden State Park just south of Marshall. I called the state park to see if they had a laundry and they did not. So when we got to Marshall we stopped in a laundrymat and did our laundry. It was very convenient that it had air conditioning! Across the street there was a Taco something or other restaurant calling my name so we walked over and got some healthy tacos. After the laundry we headed southwest again to the state park. It turned out to be a pretty campground. When we checked in they said we have 2 campgrounds one up on top that is a mile down a gravel road or one on the river. Now which would you have taken? We headed to the river. Oh, THAT'S what she meant when she said take that road DOWN to the river. You know what that means in the morning? Oh, well at least there is some shade down here. As we were setting up camp the camphost, Shirley came over and told us there was a thunderstorm warning with hail possible. Great. So we battened down the hatches and had our dinner of salad and tuna. Oh.....and skittles (just to taper off with). Shirley invited us in to talk about our route and to enjoy playing with her dog, Sparky. He was the cutest beagle. After we got in the tent we didn't have any storm or rain.

Todays ride was much cooler and sort of favorable winds. We started out the day in Shirley's camper having coffee. Thanks Shirley! But first, yes we climbed the hill and got back on Rt 23. When we got to the town of Ruthton the sky was looking pretty black where we were going so we decided to stop in a gas station and see if it would pass. Several people told us it was storming down south in Sioux Falls (where we were headed). One guy in a delivery van told us he was going that way, so he took our cell phone number and called us from down south. Aren't cell phones great? He said it wasn't raining now. We stayed in the gas station for an hour or so, eating.......... Finally we got started riding again and had no rain all day. As we got closer to Pipestone we saw lots of windmills (I told you...). As we got into town there was a place for trucks to weigh so we stopped. Our tandem weighed in at 180 pounds! I think it needs to go on a diet. The last time we weighed it was 150 pounds. Do you suppose it is the computer??? Once again it looked like rain so we decided to spend the night in a Super 8. We walked up the street for dinner. I had chicken alfredo pasta and Hap had pork chops and mashed potatoes. Pipestone seems like a neat little town. We plan to head west into South Dakota tomorrow. So until next time.......

Granite Falls, MN

We spent two nights in Avon, MN at the home of Jan and Mary. It was wonderful to be in a home again. They took us out for a great mexican dinner. The next day was a beautiful sunny day. Several of their family came over with their kids. There was a houseful of kids. Maybe this is getting us ready for all of our new babies next fall! We enjoyed the family time with them. We took a pontoon boat ride on the lake. It was really interesting to see all of the fish on the "fish finder" (I don't know what you really call them) on the boat. We kept looking for the Mississippi Missy that we heard on the river, but I guess they don't go into lakes. Maybe Bing can explain that to us!
We got up Sunday morning and left their house heading for New London. It was very hot again and to add to the fun, we had a huge headwind. Headwind Hap rises again! We felt like turtles moving along. While we were riding we got a phone call from someone and we stopped to answer the phone. Aren't cell phones great???? As I was talking on the phone, someone stopped and asked if we needed some help. I think the people in Minnesota are the friendliest people we have ever seen. I can't tell you the number of times people have stopped to talk to us or asked if we needed any help, directions or anything. We stopped in the small town of Richmond for lunch. While sitting their a guy stopped and asked if we needed a place to stay. We could stay in his camper down the street if we needed to. I told him we needed to go alittle further, even with a HEADWIND! So off we went into the wind, singing all of the way. We stopped again in Paynesville to get out of the wind and get something cold to drink. As we were sitting in the park, a lady stopped to talk. She told us about a bike trail called the Glacier Lake Trail that followed Rt 23. We could get on it in Hawick and it went for about 25 miles to Wilmar. We found the trail and just before we got to New London we saw a campground called "Old Wagon". We had had enough of the wind and heat so we stopped for the night. We averaged a whopping 10 mph! The best news was the camping only cost $10/night. And it was clean and had showers. We cooked brauts for supper and headed to bed.
We woke up to the sound of thunder and heavy rain. So we did what most people would do........turned over and went back to sleep! We checked the weather on the computer and it looked like it might clear so we decided to wait it out. We took the computer, food and book over to a shelter and paid some bills and read. The rain finally cleared about 1pm. We decided it was too late to ride, so we stayed another night there. After it cleared up we did go into New London, it was just up the bike trail and did some eating and some shopping. On the way back up the bike trail we saw a lake with a waterski jump on it and a sign that said Little Crow Waterski show. They were just getting ready to practice. They have weekly shows every Friday night. It was really fun to watch them do flips off of the big jump. There was alot of crash and burns. They also did some barefooting and pyramids. When we got back to the tent we just went to bed since we had eaten so much in town!
Today's ride was .............yes.........you guessed it! WINDY. But this time the wind was from the northwest and we were headed southwest. You would think THAT wouldn't be so bad. But with all of our bags on the bike it catches all of the wind. We went into New London for breakfast and to mail a few things. We rode most of the day southwest on Rt 23. We had a huge berm all day until the last few miles. The berm ended so we found a back way into Granite Falls. We stopped for our lunch in Raymond. For lunch we had apples, bagels, peanut butter, and skittles (just to taper off with). It was quite a ride with the sidewind but we may as well get used to it. Someone told us the wind is bad in Minnesota but it is worse in S. Dakota! Mmmm........ We got into Granite Falls and found a campground just on the edge of town along the Minnesota River. It is a nice place and has a shower! We cooked our rice, green beans, chicken and for dessert had pineapple. All day we had been hearing a funny noise in the back wheel so Hap took it apart and found the freehub had loosened. He fixed it and we are good to go. By the way we are still on our original tires! I think we have a world record (for all of our trips anyway) for tire wear! The mosquitos (Minnesota's state bird) chased us into our tent again. I forgot to mention that the temperatures were much cooler today. But did I mention that it was windy!
Until next time...........

Avon, Minnesota

We tried to get an early start from Lake Elmo because of the really HOT weather. It was 9:30 am when we left the campground. Our plan was to ride across the northern edge of Minneapolis/St Paul to Elk River. We knew that we would be riding in some traffic, which we did. But the roads were all very wide with good shoulders. There were alot of rolling hills as we rode through the towns. We road on Rice Creek Trail for awhile and then got lost. We stopped some cyclists on the trail and asked for directions. Eventually we found our way to Anoka. We stopped at a gas station for some cold drinks. Did I mention how hot it was??? We got some directions to Rt 10 so that we could get to Elk River. As we headed on to Rt 10 there was one of those signs that say something like "no bicycles or non motorized vehicles". Mmmmmmmm.....well there's a frontage road and it's going the right direction, let's see where that goes! Yes you guessed it, the frontage road ended in a couple of miles, but thankfully by that time we were no longer on a limited access highway and could ride on Rt 10. The bad news was that by now it is 5pm and everyone in the world is going the same way we are. We are riding on a four lane highway, but at least it had a big shoulder. We rode into Elk River to the Watiki Campground. It was the worst campground that we have stayed in. But we found a nice grassy site so it was ok. For dinner we had a salad with salmon in it. We got chased into the tent by mosquitos.
The next morning we tried to get an early start again because once again it was super hot. I thought it was supposed to be cooler up north! We got back on Rt 10 and headed toward Avon, MN where we had planned to spend the night with some friends. The traffic wasn't quite as bad on Rt 10. At Becker we got on Rt 8, which was a two lane highway with alot less traffic. When we got to St Cloud we stopped at Riverside Park and watched kids playing in a splash pool. The traffic in St Cloud was pretty heavy. We stopped at Walgreens to pick up a prescription and then headed to a bike shop. It was a really nice bike shop. They gave us some directions to Avon. We rode part of the Wobegon Trail from St Joseph to Avon.

The first 1000 miles

Today we reached the 1000 mile mark of our trip. We are estimating that it could be somewhere between 10-12,000 miles total. Tonight we are in Lake Elmo, MN just northeast of Minneapolis/St Paul. This is a really nice campground with the cleanest showers we have ever seen. The ride today can be described in two words HOT and HILLY. Our thermometer on the bike said 96 degrees. Climbing the hills there was no wind at all. The route went back across the river to WI and then crossed again at Prescott, WI. There wasn't much traffic on the roads. Today we finished up one of the Adventure Cycling maps that we have been using. You can check out their routes at http://www.adventurecycling.org/. We bought some more maps at a gas station and are now heading towards Avon, MN to visit a friend. From there we plan to turn west and go through South Dakota to Mt Rushmore. Then northwest to Great Falls, MT and Glacier Park. West by way of Spokane, and Seattle before heading south through Portland, OR and stopping at Corvallis, OR to spend time with Hap's family. So that's the plan, we'll see what develops!

Since this was our 1000 mile day we thought we would summarize the trip for you. There's been some wind (side, front, tail, swirly), some rain, some hills, some flat, lots of cornfields, two tornados (they missed), no flat tires, some rear wheel spoke loosening problems (fixed), communication problems between captain and stoker (apparently one of us can't hear!), lots of hot and some cold weather, some very friendly people. Every day has been an adventure and God has been wherever we are!

Someone sent an anonymous email asking about the red bandana. There's a funny story behind that. It was a gift from Dugan as we were leaving home. That bandana has been on every ride with him since he started riding a few years ago. He always kept it tied on the front handlebars. Since we are riding for Dugan it seems right that the bandana is riding with us. I am not sure Dugan expected it to show up in all of the places that you have seen it. So keep watching for the bandana. We just have to keep it safe for the next yea! And everytime you see it, remember that if Dugan can get out to ride his bike with his 29% lung function, his oxygen tanks and his NEW bandana then what are you waiting for! GO TEAM ALPHA! http://www.alphaone.org/

Red Wing, Minnesota

Hello from Red Wing, MN. We have had some great times the last few days. Let's start with our day off, Sunday in La Crosse, WI. We went to Christ Episcopal Church. It was a beautiful historic church built in the 1800's. Everyone was super friendly and made us feel very welcome. Anyplace you can take your bike inside is a good place. After church we celebrated 65 year wedding anniversary and had some excellent Rhubarb.......something. When we left church we found the YMCA and went swimming which felt great on my neck and back. So far they are holding up pretty good. Sorry I can't say that for the migraines but what can you do?? La Crosse was an interesting town on the river. There was a great park so we bought a sub and went to the park to eat. After that we rode back over the bridge to our campsite. Hap did some maintainance on the bike and I helped by taking a nap! A lady working at the visitor's center told us that there was going to be a jazz concert at Riverside Park so after my nap we rode back across the bridge, picked up a pizza at Big Al's and headed to the park. Several people were there waiting, but there was only one problem. Someone forgot to invite the band. After waiting awhile we rode back across the bridge and headed to bed.

An OLD friend of Hap's explained what the splashing in the Mississippi River was the night before so I want to share that with you. Keep in mind that he is a Retired pilot, went to Purdue AND is from California! "That splashing was most likely the Mississippi River Monster, called “Missy” by the locals. No one has ever gotten a good photo of it, but there have been several sightings reported by drunken fishermen and other reliable sources. A grainy video was posted on youtube.com several years ago, but the original tapes have been lost. Some believe they are stored in a large warehouse in Area 51 with a crate containing the Arc of the Covenant. The thing that you thought was a snake was probably a young Missy. There is some speculation that there is, in fact, a mating pair somewhere between New Orleans and Minneapolis." Nuff said!

Yesterday, we didn't leave La Crosse until 2pm. Ok so let me 'splain to you! We had to pick up our mail in La Crescent, MN which was 3 miles west in MN from where we were camping. So we got up and rode the wrong direction to pick up the mail. Then we spent alot of time going through papers, maps, clothes and stuff that we didn't need to mail home. Once we left the campground we had to ride across the Mississippi again going east this time to Wisconsin and then FIND the post office. After finding the post office we decided it was time for LUNCH! I had seen a European Bakery restaurant (wouldn't YOU have stopped there) so we ate lunch. The lady at the visitor's center (the SAME one who told us about the jazz concert) told us about a bike trail that went 25 miles north to Marshland WI started from right here. So we took off on the bike trail (it's right here you can't miss it...) and of course realized that we really wanted to ride NORTH not EAST. So we got out our trusty maps and ended up riding up RT 35 north until finally we found the trail. In the meantime we passed a Walgreen's and I needed a refill of a prescription. And of course they said it would be a half hour wait. We waited and I got my prescription only to realize that when they called the pharmacy in Circleville it was transferred wrong so they had to call them AGAIN. So we waited some more, and then they didn't have enough of what I needed...........whew I'm tired already. Now it is 2pm. He said he could have them tomorrow. We told him we would get them at another Walgreens. OK so now we found the trail and are headed north on the Great River Trail. It was very pretty. A packed dirt trail in the woods. We ended up on Rt 35 again and headed BACK across the Mississippi to Winona, MN and stayed at a campground on the river. For dinner Chef Hap cooked spaghetti noodles, beans and mandarin oranges (not in the beans!). The weather was warmer. The mosquitos chased us into the tent!

Todays ride was all on the Minnisota side of the river on Rt 61. It was generally flat and we had a tailwind. How did THAT happen? It was really hot today. We had breakfast at the Country Kitchen in Winona and headed north. Just as we were passing Wabasha we saw a sign for a DQ..........so what would YOU do? Hap forced me to eat ice cream. Wabasha is the town where the movie "Grumpy Old Men" was made. All day we had a huge berm, low traffic and great views of the river. We rode into Red Wing and found the Island Campground. Of course that meant going across another bridge to get there. Are you seeing a theme here? We did some laundry, took a shower and headed to a restaurant on the harbor for dinner. It was a great place.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Last night, Saturday, we arrived in La Crosse, WI or just across the river from it in La Crescent, MN. We are camping at Pettiford RV camprground right on the river. All night we could hear something BIG splashing in the river. We tried to see what it was, but we didn't see anything. I am sure that it is one of those Minnesota alligators that eat bikers! Our ride from Lansing was beautiful. It was a sunny gorgeous day with a slight tailwind. We rode right along the river all day on Rt 26. It was flat and a great ride. We stopped in St Albin for lunch. You can see the picture above. Our new friend Allison took the picture of us eating hot dogs. I know what you are thinking.....but these are healthy hot dogs because we put saurkraut and onions on them (vegetables). There wasn't much traffic until we reached La Crescent where there was some road construction.

We stopped at a grocery store for dinner supplies. We had spaghetti with hamburger added (thanks to our new titanium frying pan). It was delicious. Chef Hap did a good job. We did our laundry, did some yellow pages church shopping for tomorrow and headed to bed.

While walking to the shower house, we saw this BIG snake. I think it was one of those Minnisota Anaconda Cobra Vipers. It was 5 feet long and as big around as my leg................ok so it was only 3 inches long and as big around as my little finger............it still looked at me with those beady little eyes, laughed and slithered away. It sure was fast!

Sunday is a maintaince day, rest day and church day. I hope to find a YMCA or some place I can get in for some swimming. Don't worry I'm not swimming in the Mississippi with the alligators. Later.

Lansing, Iowa

Two days age we were in Dubuque in a hotel where we stayed and the sun came out. As we were looking through info about Dubuque we found that there was a local bike club and found a name and email address. Since we needed help finding a better way out of the city than riding through all of the traffic, we decided to call him, Ken was his name. It was about 9:00pm by the time we called him. Hap asked him bicyclist and his reply was "does a bear.......in the woods!" Hap said he knows they do in Montana where we were last yr. We decided Ken was an alright guy. After talking for a couple of minutes, he said how about if I just come over and bring some maps? He came over, we figured out a route and then Ken suggested we go for a beer. Now we really like him. He was planning to ride a very similar ride that we just did. Davenport IA to Dubuque this weekend.
The next day we left Dubuque on a bike trail and rode to Sageville. We are still riding north on the Mississippi River. It started out sunny, but as the day the went on it became overcast. It was VERY windy all day. Mostly a side wind. We had checked the weather before we left and there were tornado warnings out. Supposedly it was going to start storming at 3p or so. The route was gorgeous! We rode up and down some ridges with great views of the river. The biggest problem was the SIDE winds hitting us on the downhills. Alittle sketchy from the stokers point of view. Ken had suggested we stop at Breitbach's bar in Balltown. The oldest bar in Iowa. We talked to the owner Mike and his wife, ate a piece of pie and headed into the storm. When we reached Guttenberg we stopped at a grocery store. We planned to go about 20 miles further but about 5 people stopped us and said there is a tornado coming towards us. We called the campground we had planned to get to and she said it was thundering and lightening there. So we decided to stay inside once again. We stayed at The Landings, a beautiful old building right on the river. It used to be a button factory. They made buttons from the shells in the river. We walked down to a restaurant for ALL YOU CAN EAT shrimp and salad bar. We watched a huge barge come through the locks that were right in front of the restaurant. Of course by this time the sun was shining! The storm somehow had missed us.
Today, Friday, it was a beautiful sunny but cooler ride from Guttenberg to Lansing. We had a major headwind (of course). We did alot of climbing up and down the ridges again. But it really was beautiful. Traffic wasn't too bad, although we did have alot of truck traffic. We stopped for lunch in McGregor and had mexican food. It was a neat little river town. It would have been fun to do some exploring, but with our weather record we thought we should head out. We had another 30 miles or so to ride to Lansing. I can't say enough about how pretty this area is. The views of the river were awesome.
We are camping tonight at the Red Barn campground just outside of Lansing. It is a really nice campground. As were were riding to the campground we met some other cyclists who were headed this way. Hopefully they will come here to camp. Tonights dinner is mac and cheese, spinach, pears and chocolate milk. Mmmmmmmmmm....
Later

Dubuque, Iowa

We woke up this morning to bright sunshine although alittle cooler temperatures. We cooked oatmeal for breakfast and had bananas and peanut butter. We left the campground and headed west on Rt 20 towards Dubuque Iowa only 15 miles away. About 5 miles from the campground it started to rain! The rain got harder as we got closer to the Mississippi River. There was alot of traffic on Rt 20. As we reached the river and got to the bridge. we saw that there were two lanes, fast moving traffic and NO berm. So we opted to get on the sidewalk. But we didn't count the sidewalk being so narrow. I guess they didn't plan on a "bus" on their sidewalk. So we walked across the Mississippi in the pouring rain. It was at least a 40 minute walk! In the picture you might be able to tell how much fun I am having! Just across the bridge there was an Arby's so we did what we usually do when weren't not sure what to do. We ate! After considering our options we decided to stay in a hotel. This puts us alittle behind schedule but then we don't really have a schedule so I guess it is ok. I called a hotel and asked where they were. Do you see the big hill just across the bridge?? We are right on top of the hill. Of course, I said......So we headed up the hill still on Rt 20 with all the traffic and pouring down rain. Once we got in the room, had showers and relaxed some, the sun came out............. Now don't you wish that you could have as much fun as we are?

Stats report: Total mileage for the trip so far----750 miles. Mechanical breakdowns-loose spokes.

Galena, Illinois

The last we posted I was sitting on a curb in Rock Island outside a bike shop waiting for Hap to work on the back wheel. The Hike and Bike shop let Hap use the truing stand. He got it all fixed up and we headed off to buy dinner at Aldi's. We got a Lipton noodle dinner for supper, a can of chicken a can of peas and some pineapple. Our cooking gear consists of two pots, one frying pan, lid, forks, knives spoons, spatula, large spoon for stirring, two bowls, coffee cups and a coffee strainer. We use a whisper lite stove that we have used for many years and it hasn't failed us yet. Our new addition for this trip is the titanium frying pan. We are really going high class now! We left Aldi's and rode around Rock Island looking for the KOA in Milan. Apparently they have this really neat street numbering system. East and west streets are numbered as avenues (3rd ave, 4th ave etc) and the north south are streets (3rd street, fourth street etc). But what we didn't realize was that we were traveling between two cities. The bike shop was in Moline, not Rock Island. So that meant that the numbers we were looking for were in the WRONG city! Guess who's fault that is, as we went roundy roundy the blocks! We finally arrived in Milan and then we had trouble finding the KOA. It would be amusing if we weren't tired, hot and trying to beat yet another storm. The KOA was nice and everything but it sure was expensive. At first the price was $26 then she said oh you didn't make reservations so it is $28! But you get a discount with your KOA card. I almost had to break out my computer to figure it out, good thing I travel with an engineer.

We cooked dinner and the black clouds and thunder started so we hurried to finish, got everything covered and headed to bed. Too bad we couldn't use the hot tub in our $28 campsite!

Sunday was an off day, so we headed off to the Four Square Church in Milan www.thebridge4.org. We had an awesome service. The music was special and the sermon was great. Pastor Matt did a wonderful job. Now we knew why we went to Rock Island instead of Muscatine. By the way while we were talking to someone at church, they mentioned that a tornado had hit Muscatine the day before.........and you wonder who is in charge of this ride???? After church we rode to the Mall to get vitamins at GNC. Just as we got there...yes, you guessed it .....rain and lots of it! So we took the bike in the mall, they really don't mind tandem riding in the mall! Actually we locked it up to the wall and went "shopping". Someone asked me what we "shop" for on a bike ride since we don't have room for anything. FOOD, EATING! We also bought some rechargable batteries and a portable recharger. It was fun watching the rain. I don't think I have ever seen it rain when the sun is shining. We stayed at the mall until it closed at 5pm. We left and rode back to Milan to a chicken fry we had seen the fire dept was having. We decided to buy it and take it back to the KOA so we could beat the rain. Guess what! We were too slow. So we ate at the fire house. As we got back to the campground it started raining again so we grabbed all of our "stuff" and headed to the laundry room. Because someone had the great idea to do laundry before we left and hang it out to dry all day. We spent all evening in the laundry room working on the computer and reading. Of course it was pouring the whole time. It also rained throughout the night but we were nice and dry inside our new tent. Big Agnes (our new sleeping bag) kept us warm also.

Monday we got a late start (as usual). This was partly due to the fact that we had to move everything over to a shelter house to pack because it looked like rain! We left about noon. We discovered a bike trail called the Great River Trail that followed the Mississippi River for 60 miles on the Illinois side up to Savanna, ILL. The trail was great. It was nice being away from traffic. We stopped in Moline at the National City Bank for some $$ and headed north. We were mostly right on the river. It is really a beautiful ride. We stopped for lunch in Huron at a Blimpie's and had a great sub. Have you noticed that food seems to be a common theme?? It was overcast and windy all day. But we didn't get rained on. A new concept for this ride.

We rode into Thomson and camped at Thomson Causeway Recreation area. This is the best place we have camped so far. There were students there from Iowa State doing something. They kept looking at the ground. Finally we couldn't stand it and said what are you doing. They were studying turtles. Apparently this is abig turtle area. Maybe that's why on the trail a turtle crossed in front of us. That was the fastest turtle I ever saw. We also saw some black squirrils that were different. Our camp spot was right on the river. There were lots of birds on the water. It was really pretty. We had a great shower, talked to some interesting people who had a sheltie with them. So of course we spent alot of time talking dogs. We sure miss Katie the wonder dog. If she were here that would make the trip perfect. She would have been keeping a close eye on all of those birds I am sure of that. We had dinner, Lipton noodles again, peas, peaches and cookies.

The ride into Galena today was very windy. The bike trail ended at Savanna, Ill. So we headed north on Rt 84 towards Dubuque Iowa. We thought about crossing the bridge at Savanna into Iowa but once we saw the GRATED bridge we changed our mind. We once ended up WALKING our bike across the Columbia River in Washington/Oregon because it was grated! Do you know how wide that river is? And there was no sidewalk AND it was a two lane bridge with no berm. We had alot of happy drivers behind us....... Anyway, we took a side road to Galena called Black Jack Road. How can I describe this road? Head wind, I saw a sign for 15% grade and also one for a ski area? In Illinois?? But it was nice to be off the main highway on a low traffic road. We actually like the hills because we always bring "granny" with us. For the unbikers reading this. Granny is the really teeny tiny little chainring that makes you able to climb really big hills. So we are always nice to granny and talk to her to make sure she is happy! Galena is a neat little town with lots of history. It would've been nice to explore. But what we needed was a campground. So we stopped at the visitor's center for some directions. We were told there was one just down the road on Rt 20 which was where we were going anyway. What she didn't say was that it was all uphill two lane road, with lots of traffice including trucks and everyone was going home from work. Not a great combination! The campground was just at the top of the hill (of course). We had stopped at the Piggly Wiggly and picked up supper cookins. Steak and salad. At the campground we did laundry, cooked, took showers and we're asleep in .3 seconds. Until next time. We are headed to Guttenberg, Iowa tonight.

Rock Island, Illinois

Tonight we are in Rock Island, ILL better know as the Quad Cities area. We had to make a slight detour off the route into a town with a bike shop. Our back wheel spokes keep loosening up so Hap is using a truing stand and some lock tight to fix it up. Thought I would take a minute to let you know what has happened since we last posted from Danville, Ill. We left Kickapoo SP on a beautiful HOT (90's +) morning heading mostly north to hook up with the Adventure Cycling northern tier route. We had a great tailwind most of the day, but it sure was HOT. Did I mention that already?? The traffic was light again and the roads very good. I don't think that I have ever seen such straight roads. Now I know where that song came from "I can see forever". We were riding to Watseka, Ill. As we got closer to Watseka we had to turn west so now we had a huge side wind. We were pooped by the time we finally got into town. There weren't any campgrounds so we stayed at a Super 8 motel. We went to the Dollar Store and picked up dinner. Soup and popcorn in the microwave.

The next day we rode into O dell. According to our adventure cycling map you could camp in the city park. We found the park and went to find a store to buy groceries for dinner. We got baked beans, rice and peas. At the park there was a shelter, but the bathrooms were locked and there was no water. So we went across the street and asked a man to fill our water bottles and all (both) our pots. While we were eating another man stopped and asked if we wanted to use his cell phone. We said no thanks we have two with us. After awhile he came back and brought us home made texas sheet cake. I like the people in Illinois! The only problem with our campsite was that I didn't get my shower so that didn't make me very happy especially after being so sweaty from riding in the HOT (did I mention that already?) weather.
The next morning we woke up to cloudy skies. We hurried up and packed up the tent and went into the cafe in town for breakfast. When we told the lady where we camped she said. You should've camped at the "other" park in town by the city pool, they have showers! We had a great breakfast and as we were getting ready to leave it started to rain. And that is pretty much how the day went. Rain, wind, rain, wind........... rain, wind.............but at least it was warm rain! We stopped for lunch at a bar in a town and had some really good chicken salad sandwiches. We were debating whether to stay in that town, and camp at the city park. There was a laundry mat just across the street. Or to go onto Henry. When we came out of the bar the sun was shining! So we went on for our last 20 miles of the day. While we were riding Heather called with a baby report and said her ultrasound was good. The baby is good and the due date is Dec. 10. It was good to hear from her. We rode into Henry and checked out the park (the one by the city pool!). But.....the pool was closed so we couldn't take a shower again! We ended up at the Harbor Bay motel down the street. It was a really nice place. We went to the grocery bought some soup and salad and called it dinner.
The next morning we woke up once again to overcast skies! All day we rode with black clouds swirling around. We did have cooler temperatures though. We stopped at 9.9 miles for orange juice, bananas and peanut butter. Todays riding was more interesting because we had some rolling hills and farm land, not just straight roads. But again with the wind, what's up with this? We were watching the clouds and rain moving ahead of us so we flew into Kanawee and stopped at a McDonald's. As we were getting off the bike one of the workers stuck his head out and said. What direction are you headed, we said northwest. He said we are watching a tornado on the northwest side of the town. Mmmmmmmmm.........let's go in for awhile and EAT! Just as we got inside it poured! Then the sun came out.....then it poured.......then the sun came out........ We called the campground that we were headed to near Cambridge and asked if it was raining out there? She said NO, but did YOU get wet and laughed? She was so funny! We decided to ride the 14 miles to the campground, but we didn't calculate the wind. We were going northwest and the wind was coming from the west. At one point we were going so slow that I thought that if someone was sitting on the side of the road reading a newspaper and we passed by, by the time that we got by you could read the whole front page! Now THAT is slow. It was quite a ride. The campground turned out to be really nice AND it had hot showers. We cooked beef stew and green beans for supper and headed to bed.
Today's ride was alittle shorter than we thought because we wanted to get to this bike shop. Since it is Saturday and they are closed on Sunday. Of course when we started in the morning it was raining, but it wasn't nearly as windy. The roads were great for riding with not much traffic. We got alittle turned around in Rock Island/Moline looking for the bike shop but you'll have that! Now we just need a place to stay. We were hoping to find a campground here in town, so we could go to church tomorrow and spend the day shopping and looking around. So we'll see what we can find.

By the way the picture of me above is a baby alert. Tiffany and Dustin are havin twins. We found out one is a boy and the other is still a mystery. Both babies are doing great and growing. It sounds like they may arrive alittle earlier than expected so we may be home in late November for the first babies and then stay for Scott and Heather's baby. I'm gonna be a grand aunt! I can't wait to get them on a bike!