Category: 2016 Northern Tier: The ride

Today we decided to create our own route south through Iowa. We had heard from a few West-bounders that the roads were pretty bad with limited shoulders, and a little construction with detours.  Instead, of following the Northern Tier route, we decided to follow the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) along Great River Road that then meets up with Highway 52. The road was beautiful with steep open rock faces on our right and the winding Mississippi River on our left. The road took us through the small town of Marquette and on the corner of a block full of small shops blinked a large neon sign that read, Mexican Restaurant. The word Margaritas jumped out me, even though it was only 10am.   The road started to take us away from the river, as nice shoulders started to guide us up a steep climb. We continued to follow the MRT signs and relish in our choice to follow a different route. At the top of a climb worthy of the mountains in Washington, the scenery opened up to rolling corn fields. The road continued to carry only a few cars and the shoulder was nice and wide. Most of the morning I couldn’t believe why the Northern Tier Route wouldn’t take us on this road. Maybe it was the steep climbs out of the towns along the river? Either way, Matt and I both thought we had made a great decision on the route.

After our third tough climb, the road gave the wonderful yellow sign of a truck on a half diagonal line with a 6% grade. My fist pumped in the air, as the smile grew across my face. I kept a slow descent, creeping steeply down the ridge, keeping an eye on my speed and the road ahead. Suddenly I notice Matt slowing very quickly and then un-clipping from his bike petals. I pulled up next to him, and he had gotten his fourth flat tire on the descent. We walked the bikes the rest of the way down and pulled off the side of the road to repair the flat. A long metal shard had split Matt’s tire, and since he had some speed on the downhill, the shard didn’t just puncture it, it slit it in a long line.  He replaced the tube and we jumped back on the bikes. Less than a quarter of a mile, his back tire blew again. He took off the tire and put a boot patch on it. Luckily we were both carrying extra tubes. We headed back on the road, and thankfully the patch worked.

At around mile marker 30, our sweet road started to turn a little rough. We lost our nicely paved shoulder for a gravel one, which our bikes can’t handle. The road itself seemed to get narrow, while the traffic increased. Huge ‘oversized load’ trucks started to pass us, accompanied by a row of pissed off cars behind them. The two-lane road was not quite suitable to pass, but cars did it scarily on rolling hills. At one point, a semi drove behind me, and I could see it was not going to try and pass, so I pulled off the road and stopped to let it pass. As the line of cars picked up speed to pass, I guy yelled out his window to ‘f-off’ and stuck his middle finger at me. The people in Iowa are so friendly.

Our chosen path rejoined the Northern Tier trail for the last 20 miles. We thought we had made a mistake taking a different route, but the northern tier route was just as crappy. The road continued to have only a gravel shoulder and the road felt like it wasn’t strong enough to even drive on it, with so many cracks and repairs. We pulled into the campground a little after 5pm. It was great to get off the bike, shower and relax with Matt’s mom. Lilly’s kisses quickly washed away the Iowan stink.

Easy mile day. Gradual hills, beautiful views of the Mississippi River, high clay bluffs and even a quick spot at the spring to cool off and take a dip. We made it to Dakota by 1pm and headed back to the cousin’s house to stay another night. We showered, and played an endless round of cards. Towards the evening I went up to call my parents, and the reception wasn’t great so I stepped out on the porch. While talking with my dad, I sat on a chair, and within a minute was swarmed by wasps. My feet immediately started to feel pain. I screamed into the phone, “Wasps!! Dad got to go, getting stung!” I ran inside and it’s hard to describe the painful sting of a wasp. It felt like needles were continuously piercing my skin. I ran over to the sink and ran cold water over each foot one at a time. I was starting to panic cause of the pain. I got out the first aid packet and rubbed a stinging wipe over both feet. Within minutes my feet were swollen, and the pain ridiculous. Matt came up the stairs as I was crying, sitting on the floor, holding my feet in my hands. I told him what had happened and he reminded me that I should take Benadryl right away. I popped two and waited for the pain to subside. Within 5 minutes, the pain reduced and I was able to walk around. For the next hour it felt like red ants biting feet, but it was manageable as the meds started to fog out my senses. I went down stairs and played two more rounds of cards, before retreating to the bedroom to pass out. It was only 8pm. The next morning, the swelling was gone, the pain was gone, and all that was left were eight tiny puncture marks where I had gotten stung.  I found out that I slept through a fresh venison and cucumber salad dinner and a card game that lasted until midnight.

I set the alarm for 5:30am. We were downstairs and drinking coffee by 5:45am. Bill had loaded all of his gear on top of the bikes for his canoe trip up to the Boundary Waters and by 6am we were on the road. We made a quick stop at Walmart so that Matt could pick up a new pair of sunglasses. He lost his pair diving into the water yesterday. We made it to Prescott, said goodbye to Uncle Bill and headed south along the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side. At around 9:30 we crossed the bridge and entered into Red Wing, MN. As we came down the gradual slope off the bridge, there were a ton of construction and detour signs. I slowed down quickly, crossed through an intersection and heard a loud crash and screaming, “are you okay!!???”. I quickly looked back and saw Matt sprawled out in the middle of the intersection. I pedaled over to a parking lot, jumped off my bike and ran to Matt. Matt was starting to stand up and pull his bike to the side of the street. His camera equipment was all over the road. The cars continued to stop, until he was safely off the street. I quickly picked up the camera parts that had flown into the middle of the street and ran to his side. He had a deep scrape on both his knee and his arm, but his head was unscathed. Thank God he didn’t get hit. The cars that were lined up behind him could have easily not been able to stop and roll right over him. After he checked his bike out, Matt looked up at me and said with a smile, “I got it on film.”

“What?!” I said a little confused.

Matt then told me that he was filming us riding over the bridge and entering into the cute little town of Red Wing, but that when I went to break and slow down due to the construction, he couldn’t get to his brakes and just went down like a rock. He got the whole thing on camera, or at least until the camera flew out of his hand and landed in the road. He showed me the clip, and there in real time is his great fall. His arm was pretty bloody and so we started to look for a place for him to wash up. As we came to a stop light, a car pulled up next to us to warn us of the storm that was approaching. I knew that they were calling for 60% chance of rain, but the lady said that this storm had 50 to 70 mile an hour winds. Matt still a little shaken up from his fall, and me not wanting to chance the next 10 miles before the next town, we decided to head down Main street and pulled into a little coffee shop. There from the protection of glass windows we watched as the streets darkened with rain and the winds whipped through the shop signs. At one point the wooded board that the coffee shop used to display specials flew 5 feet and almost hit a small kid running into the coffee shop. I quickly got up and ran outside and Matt and I closed the board and brought it inside. As I sipped my coffee, I kept my eye on the bikes that were resting along the wall outside. Around 11:30am, the wind had died and all that was left was rain. We put on our rain gear, saddle up and headed back on the route. We biked the rest of the afternoon in pouring rain and pulled into an auto repair shop in Wabasha to call it a day.  I rung out my socks and we hung our jackets over the bikes and sat leaning against the outside wall waiting for Kathy to come pick us up.

That night we drove to Winona, MN to stay the night at Matt’s cousins Lynnea and Tess’s house. They live in a huge farm house with a lot of animals. They have 3 goats, two pigs, three dogs, a ton of chickens, and a lot of cats. I was a little nervous about Lily and how she would do with all of the dogs, but she settled right in. Micah even drove down to spend the night and brought his dog, Edie and so we had a big family gathering. I got to work helping Joseph feed the pigs and milk their goat, Tilly. I had never milked a goat before, and it was quite the experience.  It was great to be in a house full of animals, kids and family. After dinner we played a new board game called Ticket to Ride.

We said goodbye to Jeff at 4 a.m. Kathy took him to the airport to catch his early flight. We slept in until 7am and then made coffee and watched the news report on Trump’s speech given at the National Republican Convention. Kathy returned at 7:30am, and we started to get the bikes ready for the day. Maps, check. Water bottle filled and Gatorade taken out of the fridge, check. Sunscreen applied and packed in bag, check. Snacks put in deck bag, check. Tires inflated to 90 psi, check. Gloves on, check. Helmet on, check. Podcasts downloaded, and earphones in, check. Sunglasses cleaned and on, check. “Let’s do this,” I shout to Matt. This has been my morning mantra that gets me going.

Around noon we pulled into Prescott, Wisconsin. A beautiful small town right on the St. Croix River. We pulled into the visitor station to send a quick message to Kathy. No wifi. We biked over to subway, usually a good spot with reliable wifi. No wifi. This baffles me, since most of the trip if there is not a library in town, we head to either McDonalds, Burger King or Subway. We jump back on the bikes and find a bar and of course there is Wifi!  After a short discussion, we decide to call it a day on the bikes and cross back over to the Minnesota side for a quick dip in the river. We find out from Kathy that she has to get some work done on the car and that she’ll be able to pick us up at around 4. For the rest of the afternoon Matt and I soak up the breeze, swim and lay in the shade and discuss our future after we finish the trip.

At around 4:30, Matt’s uncle Bill shows up in his car with Lily and Frankie. He takes us back to his house where we stay the night and visit with him and Matt’s cousin Micah and their dog Edie. Bill has a week long canoe trip that he’s heading out for tomorrow and offers to take us back to Prescott in the morning. For dinner Bill and Micah cooked up a perfect meal of salmon, corn, and green beans. Before bed we eat black cherry ice cream mixed with black cherry whiskey.

JODI’S FIRST FLAT TIRE!