Covid Cross Day #20 La Crosse, WI to Stockholm, WI

Covid Cross Day #20

June 21, 2020

La Crosse, WI to Stockholm, WI 79 Miles

8:37 AM Finish 4:12 PM

Ride Time 6:19

Ascent 635 Feet

Descent 622 Feet

Tour Total 1789 Miles

Details at: https://cyclemeter.com/3f1ef27914a4c684/Cycle-20200621-0837-14327

Last night at the Holiday Inn In La Crosse, I slept probably the best I’ve slept yet on the tour. I was able to completely block the outside light with the curtains, and when I woke up at 6 AM my room was pitch dark. I rolled over and got another hour of sleep. It was a slow pack up and my body was sore. My socks were still damp from yesterday‘s wash, but I put them on anyway. My jersey and shorts were dry and clean. Last night, I had an opportunity to load my iPod with WFMU's Duane Train, Shiela B, and Small change archives. My music situation was now covered.

Riding through the streets of La Crosse I noticed that most of it's citizens were wearing masks. It was sunny with no clouds in the sky. I zigzagged through the city streets to get to the Bud Hendrickson nature trail. The trail proceeded alongside a train yard and a dozen active tracks. Folks were riding their bikes and walking their dogs. It eventually became the Great River State Trail, which had a cinder surface and was predominantly in the shade. After a mile the trail turned to asphalt. At six miles I stopped at Kwik Trip for an egg and ham croissant sandwich, two Starbucks Frappuccinos, and two bananas for the road.

I cut around through North La Crosse and briefly found myself on a snowmobile path. Afterwards I was back on the Great River State Trail. The surface was asphalt at times or dirt and cinder. I was traveling north alongside the Mississippi River with a pair of train tracks in between.

This route on the east side of the river was so much better than last year's route on the west side. I liked Wisconsin and it felt distinct from Iowa, although I realized that I was in a river valley and not up in farmland. I was seeing familiar businesses from when I lived in Minneapolis and recognized stores like Menards and the Duluth Trading Company.

I came to a great section of trail that was a double track with a canopy of trees branches above me. I reasoned that this trail had once been a railroad, because it was perfectly flat. I later read a plaque saying that the Great River State Trail had been built upon the abandoned Chicago-Northwestern railroad line. Created for recreational use, the trail was being utilized by numerous runners and cyclists.

The trail was awesome! That said, if it had been wet and muddy I would have been in trouble on my thin tires. There were a few soft spots from yesterday’s rain but, for the most part, today was firm. I was getting pelted by millions of tiny flies, some of which were sticking to my sunscreen lathered arms. I always wore goggles or sunglasses, and I tried to keep my mouth shut. I spotted the tour's first turtle, a good sized specimen hunkered down in the middle of the trail. The first town I came to was Trempealeau. I stopped and took a picture of my bike in front of the giant catfish sign. The trail circled around the center of town through people’s backyards.

Yesterday I heard back from Donn Olson, and the Bicycle Bunkhouse in Dalbo, MN is open. He said there had been very few cyclists through this summer. It would be my second stay, two years in a row. I entered the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. The milkweed was flowering, and I noticed a few Monarch butterflies. All of a sudden the wonderful trail came to an end, and I found myself on State Highway 35. I had a nice ten foot wide shoulder, but the highway had two lanes of busy motor traffic. From across the river I could see buildings from Winona and Winona State University.

A freight train passed alongside me as I approached the next US Army Corps of Engineers lock and dam. Highway 35 had a lot of motor traffic. It was partly cloudy, and I was no longer being scorched by the sun. I was passed by a day cyclist coming into Fountain City. I thought about stopping in Cochrane to grab a burger and beer but decided to push on to Alma for my lunch stop. According to my maps, Highway 35 was also known as The Great River Road. From miles away I could see the tall smoke stack from the coal-fired electric plant, Dairyland Power Cooperative John Madgett Station, just to the south of Alma, population 780. There was yet another Army Corps of Engineers dam and locks.

I stopped at the Alma Hotel for food. No one was wearing masks, although the tables had been appropriately spaced. I had a cod sandwich with fries and three pints of Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. I was on my third beer when westbound touring cyclists Sid and Chris walked in. They both had masks loosely tied around their necks. They had begun their tour from Brighton Beach Brooklyn the day after I had started. Their route had been more direct than mine, and they had gone through Chicago and Madison. They had just graduated from Cornel University in physics, and were doing their first cross country tour from Brooklyn to Seattle. We exchanged contact information and it seemed like we were on the same time frame. They had been in La Crosse last night as well. Sid and Chris been using Warm Showers and camping. They told me that it was supposed to rain tonight in Stockholm. Ugh! Apparently the forecast had changed.

It was hot, sunny, and humid back out on the road, and I wanted to get to my destination in Stockholm and drink some more of those delicious Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy’s. I rode through the town of Nelson which had plenty of liquor stores, creameries, and barbecue joints. It was tempting to stop, and maybe I should have.

On my way into Stockholm, population 66, I noticed dark clouds in the sky up ahead. It was 4 PM and there was an 80% chance of rain showers at 5 PM. I had picked Stockholm as my destination because it was halfway to Stillwater. Last year I stayed at Frontenac State Park, which was directly across the river. There were many tourists in Stockholm and most of them were wearing masks. I went to Stockholm Pie where I ordered the Lingonberry Lemon pie with vanilla ice cream and a six pack of Moon Man IPA by New Glarus Brewing Company.

I sat out on the front porch as the rainstorm hit. A nice woman offered me a place to camp three miles back at the YMCA camp. The nearby Stockholm City Park campground was full, but I planned to camp there anyway, under a pavilion.