Today we rode through three states: North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We rode in and out of Minnesota and Wisconsin several times. We got an earlier start than usual at 7:40am, heading east on 94 with our first destination St. Paul, MN, a mere 350 miles later.
We rode about 120 miles east through the remaining portion of North Dakota, already riding through about ¾ of the way through the state the previous day. The morning temperatures were cool, but the humidity level was definitely on the rise as the air felt considerably more damp.
We had seen pieces of a large windmill being transported westward. We finally saw one of these very large windmills. Wow are they large!!!
Crossing over into Minnesota we had a small rest break at the Minnesota Visitor Center at exit 2.
After a quick bio-break, we continued eastward along I-94 the remaining 230 miles into St. Paul, MN. The wind today was probably a good 20 mph straight out of the south. The southerly air was likely the cause for our warm temperatures today compared to the previous days.
Crossing into Minnesota, we encountered a bit of change in scenery with lakes (Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes) trees, and corn fields replacing the wheat vast fields of North Dakota. The traffic also began to pick up, which was a bit of a culture shock after being in such remote areas for more than a nearly two weeks now.
Once in St. Paul, Michele led us down the scenic Summit Avenue (Michele’s favorite street in America) with the gorgeous Victorian and Queen Anne mansions. The governor of MN lives on this street.
We arrived at Michele’s Mom’s house at around 1:30pm. Michele’s Mom had offered to feed us and provide us a cool place to take a break. We recharged our batteries with delicious Italian food, chatted in air conditioning for two hours and even had some pie and ice cream! Yum!
After lunch, we waved good-bye to Michele’s Mom at around 3:30pm and thanked her for her gracious hospitality. We made our way to I-94 east for a quick run to the US10 South passing into Wisconsin near Prescott. We then crossed over the Mississippi River to pickup US 61, crossing back into Minnesota.
We followed the Great River Road for the final 120 miles of our day.
The Great River Road follows the entire length of the Mississippi on both sides for most of its entire length from MN to the Gulf.
We passed through Red Wing, MN and traveled south getting fantastic glimpses of the mighty river eventually crossing back into Wisconsin at La Crosse.
It would be in La Crosse, Wisconsin that we would end our day at 6:15pm. We had dinner a few blocks from the hotel at a good pizza restaurant that was fancier than expected. Not to let down our blog followers, we each got a piece of chocolate cake to go—decadent!
Today’s temperature reached a high of 90 degrees, and we reached the lowest elevation we’ve seen in nearly 10 days at 700 feet above sea level. We covered approximately 450 miles. Needless to say, we had a full day.
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