P2P13.... The Adventure Begins!: 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.