Every riding day starts with a full breakfast! This one, thanks to the Stoney Brook Hotel.

It’s hard to believe that emJay can fit all this into two panniers!

She kisses the Stoney Brook moose goodbye….

And we leave the La Crosse River trail, and ride off on the Great River trail heading north along the Mississippi on the Wisconsin side (of course!). All totaled, we have ridden 101 miles on Wisconsin state trails. They are all crushed limestone surfaces; note for later entry….

We stop at the lovely trail head at Onalaska and enjoyed all it had to offer, including a great view of the river valley.

MJ took in the cultural music exhibit….live concert below!

The views of America’s greatest river are truly spectacular.

We saw several places where food and other amenities were available after a short walk up the bluff!

We biked past lovely managed and restored prairies.

Native wild rose.

Remember the crushed limestone surface? We rode on long parts with little exposed crushed gravel. Instead, soil and organic debris that were wet and slippery covered much of the path. And emJay’s zippy road bike spun out on her! See details below.

MJ picked up this mellow turtle to examine his/her patterns.

And yes, there were more trees across the trail. And did we tell you it rained lightly for several hours today? Some trees were just toppling over due to the saturated soils.

Many great concepts originate in Wisconsin, including the Great River Road which now runs through multiples states.

We were very excited to arrive in Trempealeau, not only because of Catfish Days…

…but also because we were hankering for walnut burgers at the Trempealeau Hotel. But it was not to be, due to limited hours mid-week. Very sad, hugely sad.

But we managed to make do at the cozy River Café a few blocks up the street. Burgers and cheesecake! Yum!

Joyful to be in Trempealeau and Perrot State Park! Note soil stains on left shoulder from big fall.

We learned about the Prairie Loop…

Then had a delightful ride through it. As long as you didn’t stop to let the deerflies find you!

 

Butterfly Milkweed.

And now we are done-done-completely done with gravel trails!

Cycled past beautiful farmsteads.

We are now in the magnificent bluff country of the Mississippi, where you  can imagine ancient rivers stretching from bluff to bluff, Minnesota to Wisconsin, setting the stage for the great floodplains and backwaters of today.

 

Thanks to a tip from the guys at Broane’s Bikeshop in Fountain City, we meandered off of busy Highway 35 and into rural roads along the floodplains and river. And we stopped to admire this beautiful field of wheat!

Buffalo City offered scenery and character, like these two Vikings Rick found!

Home sweet home! We arrived at our inn at 5:00.

 

We set about enjoying our cozy room and nice clean bathroom…and did I tell you, a wonderful shower?! That is all you want at the end of a long day biking.