Day 5 - Trempealeau to Stockholm

Please visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/rideforbryce

Route

Trempealeau to Stockholm - 59 miles

For details of Part 1 of the route, click here.

For details of Part 2 of the route, click here.

Weather

Sky condition:  Clear
Temperature:  62 to 77
Visibility:  Unlimited
Precipitation:  None
Wind:  Light and variable, mostly a left crosswind

Significant Events

Had some delicious apple pie and pecan pie "a la mode" at the Stockholm Pie Company.

Dessert!

Today's Song

"Running Down the Road" by Arlo Guthrie

"Take Me Down to the Pocomoke City" (adaptation of "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses)

Wildlife Observed

Bald Eagle
Deer
Rabbits
Beaver
Turtles
Numerous Red-Winged Blackbirds
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Numerous American Goldfinch
3 chickens

NOTE: Bird IDs made possible by Jeremy and "Merlin" by TheCornellLab.

Today's Ride

Another early start. Today's route started on the Great River State Park Trail, which is a dedicated trail.  About 10 or 15 miles into the ride, we joined the Mississippi River Trail, which runs the length of the Mississippi. The MRT was entirely on roads today, which was fine. The roads have 4' - 6' shoulders and the drivers are cool. They generally give you a wide berth whenever possible.

The wind was light, the temperature was nice, and the road was smooth. We were able to make pretty good time today.  Dedicated cinder trails are nice but it is also nice to ride on a smooth surface!

Riding northbound on the MRT is very scenic. There are a number of small towns full of character. We stopped in Alma for lunch and ate at a pretty old place.  We made a rest stop in Pepin which is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The whole route is steeped in history.  Not only that but the views of the river and the bluffs on both sides of the river (Minnesota on the other side) are stunning.

Pepin, WI

Lake Pepin panoramic

Barge on the Mississippi

We arrived in historic Stockholm, Wisconsin, around 2:30 pm. I did a little cleanup on the bikes, we took showers and chilled for a few minutes before venturing "downtown".  Fortunately we didn't wait too late because Stockholm, population 66, closes at 5.  Beautiful town though, and the weather is beautiful. We are sitting on our private deck drinking a local hard cider and watching the streets where people would be walking by were there people here.

Stockholm Garage

Hard cider and cribbage (no board)

Now to teach Ileana how to play cribbage...

Los Dos Centavos de Ileana

Today was an eventful day.  Great weather for riding!  However, I do not like hills at all. Hills make me cranky and I do not like to talk while I'm climbing one (or trying to climb one).  On the other hand, Nolan loves hills and he becomes talkative when we are climbing a hill!

For instance, this morning while we were riding the most challenging hill, he started to talk about POLITICS!  Politics?  Really?  So, I gave him "the look" and he laughed and stopped talking politics.  We went down the hill and of course I go faster than he does (becuase going down hill is my favorite thing to do:)).  We go to the next hill (there is ALWAYS another hill!)  and Nolan goes "I can go faster than you up hill" and took off!  I'm watching him going up (I think he thought for some reason I will be competing with him going UP hill?). The only thing I can think at that moment was "you go tiger, show that hill who's boss!"

So I put my gear on easy and took my time going up!