Wowza!! Thanks so much for your words of encouragement. Sooo appreciated. I’m 99.9% sure I’ll make it but this stretch will just be mentally difficult.

I have usually responded to questions about how I can do this by saying I’m stubborn. Someone suggested I use determined instead. So now I’m determined…and kind of stubborn.

Late start today because I watched Jeff Bezos blast off into space. I want to do that!! You gotta love Wally Funk. 82 years old. Incredible.

Rode through La Crosse, WI. Some nice paths but there was some major construction areas. I had to walk Gerty through several construction areas.

Once through that it was a pretty smooth ride.

I like riding through the river valley but the valley is narrow. River, railroad tracks, road, really big hills.

Lots of islands along the river. Pretty sure I’ll meet Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer along the way. Guarantee we’d be good buddies.

No offense to vegetarians but too funny to pass up.

Stopped mid-PM at a local tavern for a Coke. You may find this hard to believe but I don’t drink Bud while I’m pedaling. Chatted with the regulars and another walks in and says “Paddle wheeler coming down the river. Probably 5-10 minutes away. Idiots lined up along road taking pictures.”

5 minutes later I said thanks but have to go. Had to pedal hard to catch up so I could be an idiot taking pics!

I had stayed on the WI side of the river while the route was on IA/MN side. Didn’t need maps and was going to end up in Marquette either way. Just a question of where we crossed.

Not my greatest decision but far from a disaster. This was from the east channel of the Mississippi. River so wide here that there’s also a west channel almost as big.

The bridge over the west channel was under construction. One lane with stop light. When it turned green, I waited for about 30 vehicles to pass. I then pedaled as fast as I could. Knew I had to get across before traffic coming other direction was heading at me.

I kept up with traffic for a while but was a ways behind by end of bridge. Thankfully car at front of line heading toward me was patient. Blocked traffic until I got across.

Somewhere I’m sure there was a Welcome to IA sign. I was a bit focused on getting across bridge so I missed that one.

So many encouraging comments today. Thanks to all.

Tomorrow the route goes north and west from Marquette for a bit. Exact opposite direction I want to be heading. Also leaving the river valley. That means hills!

Ride on.

Just Pete

George Moriarty’s poem The Road Ahead or The Road behind:

And so the fates are seldom wrong,
No matter how they twist and wind;
It’s you and I who can make our fates,
We open up or close the gates
On the ROAD AHEAD or the ROAD BEHIND