Mississippi River and Wisconsin.

We have experienced wonderful people in Minnesota, and great riding, with flat roads and a west wind almost daily. And, I would never have believed a corn field could be so massive until I saw it in Minnesota.  Once, I looked in my rear view mirror, and saw what looked like a true-life Transformer from the movie coming at me from behind, massive wheels and crawling along the road, taking up both sides.  As it passed us, we were dwarfed by it's size, and I was sure we were on some sort of movie set.  But when a few more of them passed us, I realized they were actually farm equipment, and someone told me they were sprayers.  Wow.... 

       We crossed the Mississippi yesterday, into Wisconsin.  I had never seen this great river before, and I really felt like I was far from home when I finally saw it.  It really is as muddy as all the songs say to is... We followed it for a while, looking for a bike path, and it was beautiful. Sometimes it was a great river, and then it turned into a swampy mess, then a great river again.  I think it must have many personalities as it makes is way down to the Gulf.

The landscape has changed from plains to rolling hills, and we rode through a beautiful hardwood forest, that was breathing a delicious fragrance into the air. We were challenged with a few more hills yesterday and having been spoiled with flat plains for the past week or so, we both felt our legs complaining again.

   The weather has changed abruptly, and tonight it is supposed to be near record lows here for this time of year (40s), and we were soaked with a misty rain today, with more ominous clouds moving in, so we are taking refuge in an Econo-Inn for the night.  Hoping to make some good miles tomorrow.

Corn and more corn, then some soybeans, and more corn again!

Stone built silo with an old barn.

  Camping at the fairgrounds under cover from the possible storm...

First glimpse of the Mississippi....

Another state line!!

So this is the "bike path" ?  Hmmmm.  Maybe a different kind of bike....

Good with the bad....

I was not going to blog about this, but a wise person told me that I should write about the good with the bad, and I want to relate the wonderful things that have happened because of an accident, so I thought I should quickly write about what happened over the weekend.

  We crossed the border into Minnesota on Friday afternoon, and we were going to stop for a grocery run, when I hit a bad patch of gravel, along with a cracked and split road surface, resulting in me taking a bad fall. I have no memory of events afterward, but Tino tells  me that he turned around to find me unconscious, tangled up in my bike.  He flagged down help, and as they tried to get me up, I kept going in and out of consciousness, asking where I was and what I was doing there.  That made them call 911.  Long story short, I spent the night in the hospital, after being transported by ambulance to the trauma unit in Marshall, 20 miles away.  They did a CAT scan and found a concussion, a few cracked ribs and also I kept fainting because  I was dehydrated.  I was given iv fluids and monitored overnight...poor Tino sleeping  in a chair beside me.  The next morning, I tried to convince Tino to let me try to continue the trip.  He wasn't sure, and talked of flying home from Minneapolis, until the doctor came in, and told us that if I could keep the pain under control while biking, and if I felt up to it, I could go ahead and try to keep going, after a few days rest, whereupon Tino agreed to let us try.  He had been through the worst of it, since I hardly remembered anything.  

   We realized that I had no clothes to wear out of the hospital, since they had cut my clothes off in the ER in order to take the CAT scan.  When we told our nurse, Deanna, she said we could take her car to get me some clothes at a nearby Wal-Mart, after she tried to find me some clothes to wear in the donation bins.  So I was discharged and Tino drove us to Wal Mart, thankful for this generous nurse, so willing to help us. We were thinking we would take a motel for a couple of nights so I could continue to recover, but we needed to figure out how to get our bikes from the nice people that had stopped to help us the day before. When  we called them, instead of simply getting our bikes to us,they invited us to stay with them for the weekend, so I could recover in their beautiful lakeside home, instead of a motel room.  That is how we met Shirley and Charlie Warren, along with their daughter Tammy, her three kids, their son Brian, his little girl,  and her uncle Howard.  They were all at the house when we walked in, and I found out that they had all been at the scene of the accident, and had been part of the team that had helped us before the ambulance came.  We have spent the weekend with these wonderful people, and we feel like we have found a new family in them.  They have shown us love and care and accommodation far beyond what anyone could have expected.  We are feeling so blessed and overwhelmed with kindness from these gracious people. Thankful and blessed!  God shows His love for us in such wonderful ways!  We try to leave tomorrow, with a 40 mile goal to see how I do.

(Since writing this, we did leave, and made 60 miles the first day, and although a bit sore, I felt pretty good overall. Looks like p2p13 continues!!! PTL)

   Here are some pics from the weekend:

One of the last things I remember....

Swelling down and healing already!

Minimal bike damage...

Reminder about the importance of wearing your helmet, kids!

The scene of the crime.....

Our wonderful hosts....Charlie, Shirley and their son-in-law Blair, and daughter Tammy.

Our angels of mercy and new friends, at their lakeside home.  Thanks you two....you are awesome!

Dakota memories

Traveling slowly through the by-ways of South Dakota has brought back so many memories of my childhood, growing up on the prairies of North Dakota.  I had almost forgotten what it's like to be able to see endlessly across waving fields of grass, how big the sky is when it arches from the horizon in an azure dome, cloudless and of a divine, achingly beautiful blue, how lonely the sound of a train whistle can be from miles away, the smell of the sage scented winds strong and unyielding, the clear uninterrupted sound of the meadowlark, and the rhythm of the summer heat as it pulses from the earth.  I find myself just living in each moment as the miles roll slowly by, memories and new adventures down the road mingling into one thought.

    Some high points....spending time with a ranching family, whose ranch has been in the family since 1891, meeting their little girl, an eye cancer survivor, who offered us cookies, and we ended up being hosted by her gramma that night as she spontaneously offered us a bed and a shower.  Or the party we created at the bar in Highmore, where when we told them it was my birthday, the locals kept buying us drinks (yes, too many drinks...)and we played pool and darts, having come in as strangers, leaving with hugs and friendship all around.  Sleeping on the floor of a fellow musician's house, getting treated to a Brahms piano piece played by him before bed, and a great breakfast served by his friend the next morning. 

  Also, we have become quite the sensation among the equine and bovine roadside populations.  We get the strangest looks, sometimes just pricked ears and questioning eyes (what the....?), sometimes causing  an outright stampede along the fence line as we ride by.

Amazing people and amazing experiences, sprinkled with severe heat (105 dgrees!!) and exhaustion has made for all the adventure we could ask for in South Dakota!  

Visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder home in De Smet today, actually staying in a cabin on the original homestead!

Can't you just hear them...."What in the world..did you see that weird thing on the road?  What the.....???"

Sweet Sarah, showing us true hospitality

Along with Gramma Ruby!

Balanced bikes, taking a break on the hot prairie.

First glimpse of the might Missouri

Camping on the banks of the Missouri, thinking about Lewis and Clark...did they camp here too?

The actual house that Pa built!

The Wyoming Bicycle Games; a Parody. . .

(Lights come up,Cue microphone feedback and loud tapping as a large cowboy dressed as a rodeo clown stands on a sun-lit stage and does a mic check). "Check check, is this thing on?......uh-hem....Welcome, welcome all contestants to our once in a lifetime Wyoming Bicycle Touring games!  All contestants must follow these simple rules in order to win the prize of actually exiting Wyoming on a bicycle with both you and your bicycle intact. Failure to do so could have dire consequences:

     Riding on the shoulder of the road, you must not cross the white line to your left, which contains fast moving traffic hazards, and you must not ride too close to the right, since there will be unannounced crevices and dips that could disqualify you from staying intact. Between these two hazards, there will be grooves that you must also avoid, since they are programmed to snatch at your tires and suck them down into the abyss.  You must also avoid the road debris that comes in the form of blown tires, broken glass, thorns, nails, and other clever devices designed to pop your tires.

     As you focus on these things, there will be searing heat, with no shade, since the only trees to be found will be those behind barbed wire. These will be off limits no matter how you long for the shade.  There will be vicious headwinds, and unknown and interminable distances between places where you can get drinking water.

     When you get to what cities we do have, you will automatically become invisible to the car traffic there. Your own creative hand gestures will have no effect on these people, and you must negotiate the roads knowing this, if you don't want to become disqualified by not remaining intact."

     Your "helps" may come in forms you least expect......stay on the lookout for any "helps" you may receive, since they may be rare and elusive. Calling home and crying like a baby is not considered a help. 

      (Cue confused whispering as Cowboy's assistant, in the form of a Convenience Store Clerk, reminds Cowboy of something). " What's that?  Oh yes, I almost forgot that one...(.and I really like this one)...an added challenge will be the unbearable reek of rotting flesh at random intervals, from road kill that will never be cleared off the road.

     Any questions? I certainly hope not, cuz we got no answers! " (Cue weak laughter)

      "Oh one more thing, we will NOT be watching you, cuz we'll be the ones passing you in the oversized horse trailer at 80 mph, gettin' to the next rodeo.

Good luck out there, and

Let the games begin!" (Cue mildly evil laughter, fade lights)

     

Ok, ok, a bit exaggerated, but not that far off the mark to describe the last 10 days.  Wyoming has it's stunning beauty, but also it's challenges if you plan on bicycling through... But we are safe and continuing on...

We crossed into South  Dakota yesterday, dodging severe thunderstorms as we try to time out our stops.  I'll save that for another blog!  We are so thankful for ALL of our experiences!  

Taking interstate as a last resort...it was great!

   

  Green Grass of Wyoming

Time to rotate the tires. These were new when we left!

Escaping a severe thunderstorm under the porch of a sale barn in a town celebrating red-neck days while we were there..oh and about 50 yards away was a 6 track railway carrying coal cars 24 hours a day.  Yeah, got a lot of sleep that night ;)

Another day, another State.  Thunderstorms are following us.  Many childhood memories from North Dakota come flooding back to me as the town sirens go off everywhere we have been.  I see a few more hotel rooms in our future for the next little while.  Tents and hail don't go we'll together....

Continental Divide and weird weather....

We crossed the Great Divide on the 27th.....and it was amazing!  Camped at a spot about 5 miles from the beginning of an 18 mile ascent.  We got up,to a brilliant morning, and we were psyched, knowing we would pedal over 3500 ft in elevation.  The weather was cool and sunny, and the climb was relatively easy, taking about 4 hours to reach the summit...(yes, that's slow, I kept stopping to take pictures and catch my breath!). I knew the elevation would make things slow, since I got dizzy just blowing up my air mattress the night before.  Tino said he felt the same, sort of breathless and tired, especially upon starting up again after a rest.  What an exhilarating feeling to reach the top!  9584ft. In elevation.  It was so beautiful and we stayed as long as we could to soak up the incredible beauty and majesty of the area.  

  Continuing through Wyoming, we found that antelope outnumber people here by a large factor, and 100 miles of nothingness means little to those who live here.  A typical inquiry goes something like this:

...Is there a place to camp 60 miles down this road?

...Um, no... 

...oh, ok, is there a place we can get water along this road?

...hmmmm...well there used to be a town, but I don't think anyone is there anymore.

...oh, ok...ummm can you think of ANYPLACE that we could get water and set up a tent?  We are on BICYCLES..

...No, not really...

...ok, we'll, thanks for the information ( sigh).

We had some strange storms pass us by, with high winds and ominous looking clouds, but nothing really came of them except soul crushing headwinds. Arg!

But we have managed, and met more wonderful people along the way. Like the guy who came running out of his bar in Highland, offering us water and menus and beer....after we had battled impossible headwinds for over 4 hours at an excruciatingly slow pace. So we had beer in the bar and started talking to the one other guy there, and I said, "so there's 10 people in this town, so the sign says?"

With a beer slurred chuckle he replied," Heck no, there haven't been 10 people here in years. There's 2!"   "Ah, " I said, " so we have met you both then?" 

"Oh no, I ain't from here...I live in Powder River and we got 5 families living there!"  I just smiled and nodded, completely enchanted with the thought of that.    AND there was a tiny motel next door!  (Yes, I mean tiny, think Hobbit meets Borrowers).Soon Mary, the other inhabitant of Highland came out to show me the tiny motel room.  It was beautiful, since we were so spent.  We had showers and slept like babies.  At coffee the next morning, Mary was preoccupied with swatting flies at our table, until she finally gave us the fly swatter, saying" I always give my customers a fly swatter so they won't be bothered by them.."  Utterly delightful!  We had a great chat with Mary before we left, she was so great. If any of you are ever near Highland Wyoming, please eat at the bar, and stay in the motel...he makes a mean burger, and Mary makes the tiny rooms really homey.

So much more to say, but I'll leave you with a few pictures and call it good.  We are having a blast...(along with many challenges).  

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Beautiful Tetons...

In the valley before the climb...

Yay!!!

Bar...

Tiny motel....

Lots and lots of these....