Lansing to Dyersville

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The driftless zone
Iowa. Fields of opportunities (corn subsidies). Shunned by all glaciers. Roads without paved shoulders. Grid over contour. Land of the dead racoon. But I am getting ahead of myself. First things first.

Northeast Iowa is beautiful. It is much like southeast Minnesota or southwest Wisconsin, all are part of the driftless area that was untouched by glaciers through all four ice ages. The result is a beautiful landscape with gorgeous bluffs, like these, coming out of Lansing:

Iowa's bluffs

The many trees, by the way, are a result of relatively recent fire-suppression practices, which came with the white settlers. The Native Americans used to just let fires burn or even set fires to keep the natural prairie healthy. Average tree growth was about one tree per square mile.

The result of being missed by glaciers also makes for interesting riding. And it is not like in the Rockies, where the roads are graded. No, here it is just straight up and down, usually at 10-12 percent. As always, you can find all route information by clicking on the map at the top of this post, but the elevation profile for today should be singled out:

600' to 1100' to 600' to 1100' to 600' to. . .

After the first few climbs, the road took my past the Effigy Mounds National Monument, so I decided to have a look. It was a two-mile hike to actually get to the burial mounds. I decided I could probably use the exercise, put on my walking shoes, and went up to see what was there.

The first thing, right at the start of the trail, was a group of burial mounds with a sign next to it explaining how this ground is sacred to many living Native Americans and how one should not step on the mounds out of respect for them and those buried there.

Keeping the grass respectfully short

It seems to me that a better way to respect these sites would be to just not let anyone near them, and certainly not to mow them, but who am I to argue with the National Park Service? It should also be said that there are a couple hundred of these mounds as part of the monument, out of thousands that originally were in this area. Most of them were respectfully plowed over to make room for corn fields, although some were also lost to natural erosion, as the NPS will quickly tell you.

Well, the top of the trail treated me to some spectacular views of the Mississippi, even if it was a little noisy from all the sport boat traffic down below.

The Mississippi by Effigy Mounds National Monument

More crowded than it was for Tom and Huck

The burial mounds at the top of the bluffs were impressive. Not huge, but thousands of years old, and majestically quiet.

A glorious resting place

"This land was your land, now it is our land,
from California, to New York island..."

After a little more ups and downs along the bluff, there was a final up, and I was in what one might immediately recognize as Iowa.

Coming up from the bluffs into...

...Iowa as we know and love it

With the corn fields and the power lines came, you guessed it, the crazed red-winged blackbirds, too. This time, I managed to squeeze in an action shot and once even stopped to take a video of an excited fellow.

Under constant attack, all day long

Generally, these guys are all talk and now walk, but sometimes they dive so close that they almost touch you. Smart as they are, they do not go for the helmet (which would not bother me much), but swoop around to the ears, which is a little more unnerving. I think they enjoy it.

Through fields of opportunity to the field of dreams
The rest of the ride was spectacularly uneventful.

View from the road

Well, it's not quite that bad all the way, some corners of Iowa are still more interesting, but not many.

Iowa is not just cornfields. Not quite.

But the fact remains that Iowa has less untouched land than any other state in the nation. Huge monocultures of corn, okay, some soybeans, are what you get for implementing ridiculous farm-subsidy policies whose only outcome is that farmers wil squeeze more and more corn out of the land. It used to be, until the Nixon administration, that farm subsidies were doled out in the form of loans and grain purchase programs that served to level the demand and encouraged farmers to grow less corn in times of abundance and more corn when it was needed. Nowadays, you get a guaranteed price per bushel of corn, usually above market rates, and that's it. What would you do, not matter what the market demanded? Grow more corn, of course. You can't really blame the farmers, they are just trying to make a living.

For biodiversity, though, cornfields are about as awesome as parking lots. Which is reflected in the road kill statistics below.

Well, I ended my day in the quaint little city of Dyersville, which has a nice little downtown and is apparently home to the "Field of Dreams" movie set. I thought this movie was very boring and marked the beginning of the end of Kevin Costner's career, so I did not go to check it out and instead treated myself to a 2/3 pound Monster Thickburger at Hardee's, which was okay.

Downtown Dyersville

The police in Dyersville are nice, and they let you camp right between the little (real) baseball stadium and the city pool. Good night.

My field of dreams

Road Kill Tally
Today the racoons made their intentions for GC know with a vengeance. 20 kills in a single day is impressive by almost any measure. Everybody else had a rather poor showing, though. Think this has something to do with the universal adaptability of racoons and the huge monocultures of corn? Think it doesn't?

1. Racoon: 33
2. Groundhog: 11
3. Deer: 11
4. Skunk: 10
5. Cat: 8
6. Squirrel: 7
7. Mouse: 6
8. Opossum: 5
9. Frog: 4
10. Snake: 4
11. Turtle: 2
12. Fox: 2
13. Bunnywabbit: 2
14. Porcupine: 1

• Bird: 38

Wabasha to Lansing

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Leaving Wabasha
Wabasha was still impressive today. I went to a nice coffee shop in the morning (Eagle's Nest Coffee House), which had a good wireless connection and was the gathering place for the local cycling club. I would say about 30 people showed up, and they even had a bus to take them back from where they were going to ride. And someone had his 81st birthday, so they gave him an extra-special Schwinn electric bike, apparently one-of-a-kind. Nice. Beats a used San Lorenzo, doesn't it? Oh, and the breakfast burrito was excellent, too.

I left Wabasha on Highway 61 that took me all the way to Winona. The wind that had been rather gentle yesterday, had picked up to be extremely strong again. Luckily, it had turned back into exactly the right direction, so it was once again time for the big ring. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and use the big ring, even on a touring bike.

Highway 61 took me past Lock and Dam No. 5 (No. 1 is in Minneapolis). These Lock and Dams are part of the Army Corps of Engineers' 9-foot project, which allows barge traffic all the way up the Mississippi to Minneapolis. They are also the reason why the Mississippi is often wider than it would naturally be.

Lock and Dam No. 5

The Lock opens under a beautiful street of clouds that is once again going my way

Captain Nemo not quite sure about the waves

Mississippi South of Lock and Dam No. 5

The Showdown: Minneapolis versus Winona
Someone here, who goes by the name "anonymous," claimed a few posts back that Winona is more beautiful than Minneapolis. Well, the evidence has been gathered and examined closely, and the verdict is: wrong! He or she was probably of that opinion because he or she was from Winona and therefore biased. Since I am from Minneapolis and unbiased, I can easily call it for Minneapolis. Here is where it gets gritty, though: my camera crapped out as I was in Winona, and the only picture I could take was that of Lake Winona. It claimed that its battery was low, although about an hour later everything seemed to be working well again. I know, I know, you are probably thinking that I am cooking the evidence, but I wouldn't do that. I'm interested in the truth, and nothing but the truth. And the truth is: Winona is very nice, but nicer than Minneapolis it is not.

Lake Winona: you're one in ten thousand

The Great River State Trail in Wisconsin
After Winona, I waved Minnesota good-bye for the last time on this trip and went across the Mississippi again into Wisconsin, where, after a short ride along CR 35, I took the Great River State Trail, which runs as close to the Mississippi as the vast marshlands that line the Great River will permit. The trail itself runs over filled-in railroad beds, gravel, but nicely packed and very smooth, fitting even for 23mm tires, I would think. At first it goes through the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge that had a very confusing layout, which is reflected in the map up above. After I got out of that, though, it was smooth sailing all the way to Onalaska and on into La Crosse. Actually, I first visited a bike shop in Onalaska to have my bottom bracket, which was falling apart, greased and re-tightened (I forgot to bring my bottom bracket tool...). No problem. Here are some pictures from along the Great River State Trail:

The northern end of the Great River State Trail

The refuge: marshlands along the Mississippi

Great River State Trail or Lüneburger Heide?

La Crosse
Not much to say about La Crosse, home of one of the University of Wisconsin Campi. It has a very nice waterfront and cute downtown area. Not bad.

The Mississippi by La Crosse

On towards Lansing
Lansing was to be the final destination of the day, so I rode on CR 35 from La Crosse to just past De Soto and crossed the River into Iowa. There is another Lock and Dam, No. 8, just north of De Soto, by Genua with its coal-fired power plant. Downstream of the dams, the Mississippi reveals its more natural character, which is much less wide (and nicer, in my opinion) than the areas upstream of the dams would have you believe. Here's a picture:

The Mississippi without a dam nearby

Crossing the Mississippi around here is not just crossing the Mississippi. With it comes a large area of marshes and smaller side arms. In fact, the Mississippi basin is about 2.5 miles wide here, even though only a small part of that is actually designated as such. But from leaving CR 35 and crossing the first arm to arriving on the other side of the Mississippi was, in fact, 2.5 miles. This area, with all its small rivers and islands is also exactly how I had always imagined the Mississippi after reading the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Wouldn't you agree?

Mississippi Marshland

The Mississippi of Tom and Huck

Finally, crossing the Mississippi into Iowa was not too easy, as iron grate bridges are not the most cycle-friendly bridges out there, but okay. Oh, and it was pretty steep, too, not that I want to complain.

Leaving Wisconsin is no easy task

Entering Iowa

So now I am at the only campground in Lansing, or rather 2 miles outside of Lansing. It is quite nice here. Time for dinner.

Campground outside of Lansing, IA

If you look the other way, however, it looks a little bit different:

Campground outside of Lansing, IA, looking the other way

which gets me to. . .

The economics of RV'ing
There is something about RVing that I have never quite understood. You go camping, but not really. You stay at home, but not really. You are at a vacation house, but not really. You are at a hotel, but not really. You can go anywhere you want, but not really. So what is it that is so very attractive about RVing? People genuinely seem to enjoy it, and I can kind of see where they are coming from. You are traveling around and you always have your "home away from home" with you, don't need to pack your things in the morning etc. But often I find that RVs are pretty much made stationary at campgrounds. They are built into the campground and become mobile homes instead. Then, I would have to think, they become nothing but cabins for people to visit occasionally, but cabins really close to lots of other people.

What are the alternatives? Well, if I wanted to buy myself a nice 2008 Winnebago Adventurer 35L"King Bed Option," I would have to plunk down about $155,000. This would open the door to travel anywhere in North America, although I would probably be reluctant to venture outside of the U.S. and Canada. On the other hand, let's say I am retired and usually go on month-long trips, I could fly and stay at a hotel. Suppose I choose a nice, but not too nice, hotel (much like the RV), then I might expect to pay $150 per night. Add to that a plane ticket for $300, and your monthly cost would be $4800. This means I could be on vacation for over 32 months for the price of the above RV. If I go on vacation for two months per year, I can do this for 16 years. And I would always have someone to clean up after me. None of these calculations included money spent on gas for the RV, which might be substantial, interest earned on the capital otherwise invested in the RV, storage fees for the unused RV, or the freedom to go anywhere in the world that airplane travel affords.

So why buy and RV?

Mississippi River Crossings
I goofed on this one. As I have already said, my camera was acting up, and perhaps I was not aggressive enough in making it work. Even though I did cross the Mississippi twice today, I only have pictures of the second crossing, near Lansing, Iowa. The Winona crossing into Wisconsin is missing. Too bad, it was nice, but Lansing was actually nicer, so here two pictures of that one, upstream and downstream.

Mississippi River Crossing 24 - Upstream

Mississippi River Crossing 24 - Downstream

Road Kill Tally
It was a busy day today, especially on Wisconsin county roads. Kind of like the mountain stage in the Tour, when the GC begins to shake down. What I find most amazing to this point, though, is that I have seen at least one dead cat every day. I would not have expected that.

1. Racoon: 13
2. Groundhog: 11
3. Skunk: 10
4. Deer: 10
5. Cat: 6
6. Squirrel: 6
7. Mouse: 5
8. Frog: 4
9. Opossum: 4
10. Snake: 3
11. Turtle: 2
12. Fox: 2
13. Bunnywabbit: 2
14. Porcupine: 1

• Bird: 21

Minneapolis to Wabasha

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Leaving the Twin Cities
I met some people at the Birchwood Cafe for breakfast and to watch the Tour de France. Billy was there, scottErob, Ba-Dunca, VeloElena, and one who shall not be named because he was just "in the bathroom," as far as his employer was concerned. Usually I would not condone just skipping out of work like that, but you see, he was watching the Tour online at work, when suddenly his connection went dark—legal issues or something, don't ask—and he could not watch anymore. So what was he supposed to do? Of course he had to come to the Birchwood, where he knew the stage would be shown on a big flatscreen TV. It was won, incidentally, by a very tired-looking Tom Boonen. Sorry, Chris, that you had to eat your words. Maybe this will cheer you up. But it was a pretty slow and boring stage, and those slackers did not finish until after 11am, so that I did not leave until 11:30am.

St. Paul
Minnesota's capital city, which sometimes is pushed out of the spotlight by its more active (and all around more awesome) neighbor Minneapolis, has its own charm, so very different from Minneapolis. Definitely not identical twins.

The St. Paul High Bridge and Power Plant

This is where we celebrate my heritage

St. Paul's Cathedral could make St. Peter jealous

Our fair capitol

St. Paul in the rear view mirror

Rejoining the ACA route near Afton. Kate, can I have my $19 back?

Wisconsin
The first new state today, our friendly neighbors to the East. My brother and I always took pictures of me with the state signs, so I will continue the tradition. I will be straddling state lines, seeing how the Mississippi is a state border all the way South from here, so I will confine the border crossing pictures to the first time I enter each state.

Entering Wisconsin

Before the Mississippi turns into the dividing line between Minnesota and Wisconsin, the St. Croix divides the two states. It is the second notable tributary to the Mississippi. Notability is entirely and subjectively determined by myself. The first notable tributary that I bypassed today is, of course, the Minnesota River, which enters the Mississippi by Fort Snelling.

Second notable tributary: St. Croix River

Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin is 22 miles long, varies in width from one to two and a half miles, and covers about 38 square miles. It was caused by the delta of the Chippewa spreading across the gorge of the Mississippi at the southeastern end of the lake. Because of its steeper grade, the smaller Chippewa was able to bring in more glacial debris than the Mississippi could carry away.

Third notable tributary: Chippewa River

This delta provided a natural dam and as the water was backed up, Lake Pepin was formed.

"Lake Pepin ought to be visited in the summer by every poet and painter in the land."

—William Cullen Bryant

Maiden Rock

Maiden Rock

"It is told that many years since, a young and beautiful Sioux girl was much attached to a young indian of the same band, and who would have married her but for the interference of her relatives. They insisted upon her marrying another one whom she dispised, and she contrived to avoid the connexion for near a year. At length her relations, having sent away the young man she loved, on this point they compelled her to marry the one they wished. It was evening, and she had not been united more than an hour, before they missed her from the lodge. Nothing could be found of her until morning, when they discovered her at the foot of this precipice, down which she probably precipitated herself."

—James Duane Doty, 1820

Pepin
Pepin is a rather small town with an empty industrial park and lots of houses for sale. It is mostly famous for being the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. They have also been High School Softball State Champions many times, although I think that was mostly in the 1990's.

Wabasha
Back to Minnesota for the night.

Returning to Minnesota

Wabasha at first appeared to be a bit of a nest, but I quickly changed my mind.

Downtown Wabasha

Yes, it is small, but this town is exceptionally friendly towards cyclists. The police told me I was not supposed to camp in the park, but that they would not bother me if I did, and to make of that what I would. The city park is at the end of town, right by the Mississippi River banks, well-kept, clean, and even has an adjacent bath house with a nice shower and bathrooms. A tourer's heaven.

Camping by the Great River in Wabasha: Dry at night

Hey, they even had a free concert tonight, although apparently you had to be either older than 70 or younger than 15 to attend.

Irish (sort of) Minstrels under the bridge in Wabasha

Mississippi River Crossings
Again only two crossings today. I am afraid I have probably already crossed the Great River more than half of the total for the trip. But here it is:

Mississippi River Crossing 21, Lake Street/Marshall Avenue, Minneapolis

Mississippi River Crossing 22, CR25, Wabasha

Road Kill Tally
Okay, I have been thinking about this long and hard, but I have made an executive decision: birds are off the list. It's just not fair to lump them all together. They would have assumed the lead today, but so far the only repeats are some sparrows, all the others were different. I'm not good enough to keep them all apart, so they run out of contention from now on, but will still be listed, just for information.

1. Skunk: 10
2. Racoon: 9
3. Deer: 7
4. Frog: 4
5. Opossum: 4
6. Cat: 4
7. Mouse: 3
8. Squirrel: 3
9. Woodchuck: 3
10. Snake: 2
11. Porcupine: 1
12. Turtle: 1
13. Fox: 1
14. Bunnywabbit: 1

• Bird: 12

Okay, and if you are still wondering who Laura Ingalls Wilder is: check here.

One More Rest Day

I did not get everything done that needed to get done yesterday, so I decided to stay one more day, git 'r done, and really be free of any leftover baggage for the rest of my trip. It worked; now I'm good to go and much happier than I otherwise would have been.

I know that it was of some concern to Baba that I really leave and not fake-blog my way through this trip from my basement. Not to worry, I really will be leaving tomorrow. I promise. More news from the road to New Orleans after that.

No track for me tonight, sorry Skibby, although now I kind of wish I was there. It is not often that you get to race Spiderman.

Okay, the next few days are looking perfect, with highs around a pleasant 80 degrees. Couldn't ask for more. So long.