Monday July 21st: Pepin, WI or …anyone mayflies

Today we celebrate our independence day! We leave St. Olaf’s college with a good breakfast: toast and potatoes. My woman’s eating habits are certainly not improving! Out of breakfast Sweet Machine is standing there all alone, next to the bike repair station of the college – yes – everyone's gone again. 

First we cycle along country roads through the small village of Randolph. It reminds me of Rudolph, the red-nose reindeer! There is a nice lake (Lake Byllesby) with houses in front of it. What a way to live. The route then takes us to the Global Headquarters of Cycle America in Cannon Falls. The falls aren’t really spectacular and the office is fun to walk into. 

Tracy is talking to almost all the riders! After this short visit, the Cannon River Bicycle Path is on the menu: a 20 mile ride on a paved bikepath through the woods, along the river. Well – it said “NO PETS”, but I do go anyways! I’m a good dog and behave very well: no jumping out of the bag. The sun glitters through the leaves – it is as being in a disco bar: on and off – sun and shadow are playing games. Suddenly we see a big brown bird: it hardly moves away from us, even when my woman rings the bell. They tell me later it is a wild turkey. Welch – still on the path – is a pit stop for my woman.

It’s another 10 miles to Red Wing, where the picnic station stands along the river. What a nice spot. 

Yes… I do try to take one of the Red Wing shoes, but it is too big for me to carry. 

A sign tells us we are about to cross the Mississippi: what a scary ride over that bridge – and those heaps of mayflies… close your mouth and don’t put your foot in it!!! 

 Once over the bridge the roadway is making cycling very scary. My woman stops – of course – to take a picture of the sign of the next state: Wisconsin! 

A right turn takes us on Wisconsin road 35. 

Now we have a perfect shoulder and a bit of a headwind, but my woman ignores that fact. Bay City sounds like a town at a bay, with lots of boats, but I only see an ice cream shop, where Cooper, the dog, was the head executive. Here my woman sits down with the mechanic Cody and Australian Kate and Emma – the “Hey Renei” women! They are big fun! My woman has no problem climbing that hill with a coke-float in her stomach. The road changes into a rollercoaster: up and down– but not too steep. Lake Pepin shows up: I cannot see Pepie Monster. 

I guess he knows the dog is out here. Maiden Rock is the town where the eagles soar high in the sky. I look up at them in awe! Stockholm is the next town along the Pepin Lake – nice shops there! Finally we reach Pepin. They celebrate Laura Ingalls Wilder here in September, because her birthplace is just a few miles from here. At the school my woman has a hard job hanging “Good Job” flags on the bicycles of the other humans. She’s playing tricks again! During the meeting a fun thing happens. As soon as Gregg utters the word “SPARTA” a bunch of the C2C start making lots of noises. It is becoming very difficult for him not to say the word – it is our destination for tomorrow. And when Ed, one of the routers, gives his talk about the way we have to cycle, he just carefully avoids saying Sparta. It has to do with the movie, I am told later! There is still some time to relax before I can go to bed. Hopefully there are no thunderstorms this night – we are tenting again.