All Creatures Great and Small, Dead or Alive

We spent our 4th in the lap of luxury with the Wyse family. Our day was highlighted by a ride in the go kart, a few exciting rounds of Yahtzee, and visits to the chicken coop. When it got dark, we had some completely legal sparklers to light on fire, since any other type of firework is illegal in Iowa, and we're all rule followers here. We may have transferred to the neighbors yard to watch them blow some stuff up that they had smuggled in from Missouri later in the night.
All in all, we had a great day off with the Wyse family, and much appreciated the hospitality and a chance to sleep under a real roof.

Saturday we were back at it. We had Russ drive us back to the exact location we had been picked up at, in order to "avoid any asterisks on our trip" as Dad says, "you know, we rode our bikes across the country... *except for that one time that Russ dropped us off a town before the one we were picked up at".

Jed Wyse and Chicken Jane

We took off with a huge tailwind, and found an easy way to cut some miles off of the Adventure Cycling map without even hitting a gravel road, just sticking to the main highway. We only rode 54 miles that day to Dyersville, Iowa, although the map believed we had done 65. Although we hoped to ride the tailwind further, there was no good place to stop further down the road, so we turned in early at a Super 8 in order to avoid an oncoming storm.

That night we met up with Dad's brother Darrin and his wife Anna from Dubuque. They drove down to have dinner with us and we had a great time finally getting to catch up with them and reminisce the good ol' days of working at Cap's Trail Service over some pie.

Downtown Dyersville, Iowa

Sunday we rode 64 miles, still heading north, and with a less noticeable tailwind. We were getting back to the Mississippi River valley, and beginning to climb and descend more hills than we've gotten used to. We finally stopped in a tourist-y town at around 3 that was right on the river. The plan was to stay at Pike's Peak State Park, which was only 3 miles outside of the town. Turns out, those three miles were straight uphill. Though we had a fabulous view of the river from the park, we had to climb a lot more than we wanted to at the end of the day and with stomachs full of bad Mexican food.

Flooded campground

It rained hard in the early evening, but had cleared up by morning. We biked 72 miles that day to La Crosse, WI. Unfortunately, the campground we had hoped to stay at, an RV resort that advertised its prime location right on the banks of the river, was flooded and closed to camping. We must have looked pathetic enough to convince the manager to let us find a patch of grass and use the bathhouse for the night.

Where are we again?

After getting dinner and breakfast supplies downtown in La Crosse, we returned across the bridge on the bike path/sidewalk next to the highway. Cruising the downhill section of the bridge, these two furry river otters pop out from the grass, and begin to scurry across the sidewalk. The first makes it across right in front of the tandem. The second, however, was less fortunate, smashed by the back wheel of the tandem, then left helplessly squirming as I hit it square with both tires. I may have screamed, and I might be traumatized. I have no idea if the otter survived.

It rained hard again last night, but we woke to a cool morning. Unfortunately the winds were entirely from the wrong direction, hitting us from the Northwest at 15-20 mph. Riding was really tough today, so we stopped at mile 15 for second breakfast at the Kwik Trip. That place is amazing. As we left, we met a lady who wanted to know all about our trip, as many we meet do. This lady in particular was very worried about Shelby and how much she was eating. Despite our attempts to explain that yes, Shelby is normally that skinny, and yes, she eats plenty, and no, this trip is not completely child abuse, she remained concerned. While most people tell us we will look back on this trip as the best experience of our lives, this lady told us that we would only look back and say "What the hell were we thinking???"

View from above the Mississippi River

Later on the road, Dad announced that there was roadkill ahead, and a big one. As we got closer, I yelled out, "I don't think that's dead!"Soon we were swerving all over the road, trying desperately to avoid the baby racoon crouched in the road eating a turtle. No one ran over this mammal, thankfully.
69 miles later we're at an RV park in Wabasha, MN. We plan to hit Red Wing tomorrow, then turn west and make our own route across South Dakota.

Roadkill Report: Rabbit, Otter, Rabbit, Bird, Snake, Deer, Raccoon, Bird, Bird, Bird, Almost A Deer, Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird, Badger, Turtle, Baby Raccoon, Bird, Mouse, Bambi, Squirrel, Snake, Frog, Turtle, Frog, Bird, Bird, Bird, Frog, Frog, Frog, Frog, Frog, Frog, Turtle, Turtle, Turtle, River Otter Meg Ran Over