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We’re half way to Key West! Before I started people asked how long it would take me. I guessed 10 weeks. 4 days behind but I didn’t pedal for 4 days so, to me, I’m right on track!

Started the day with a big climb out of Marquette. 500’ in 1.5 miles wouldn’t be a big deal hiking but it’s lots of work on a bike.

Spent a good part of the day on the River Bluffs Scenic Parkway. We were up on the ridges above the river.

The only problem on the Scenic Byway was I didn’t see the river or the bluffs all day…unless you consider this a bluff.

I usually stop in the morning after 25-35 miles. Get something to eat and sit on something other than my bike seat.

This morning I passed a town with a couple cafes at 28 miles. Didn’t stop because there was another town 6 miles up the road. Nothing there. As was the case in the next town. Ended up going 54 miles until I found somewhere to stop.

Discovered that 40 miles without a stop is as far as I can efficiently go. We were pretty slow the last 14 miles.

It was humid but relatively cool today (mid 70’s). Good for pedaling. Thought it was foggy/hazy early in AM but later realized it was smoke from wildfires in west.

Made it to Dyersville shortly after my sole break of the day. It was only 17 miles so a fairly easy cruise.

Dyersville is the home of Field of Dreams. Think I’ll be within 2 miles of field tomorrow. Hoping to stop there.

It’s supposed to be hot and humid for next week or so. By hot I’m talking 95, not 105 like MT. I’ll take the humidity over really high temperatures. The heat radiates off pavement. Humidity doesn’t. I just sweat profusely.

While I’m at at, why do most bad things on a bicycle start with H? Hills. Heat. Headwinds. Humidity. Is this someone’s idea of a joke?

Ride on.

Just Pete

DON’T QUIT 

When Things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and debts are high,
And you want to Smile but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out,
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up,
When he might captured the victor’s cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown,

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.”

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

Today was a much more reasonable ride. Only a couple big hills. Really needed that.

Went through Lake Pepin. It is the birthplace of water skiing. Ralph Samuelson figured that out nearly 100 years ago (thanks, Kay Fisher). It’s also the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Spent most of the day riding in the valley along the Mississippi. That’s why the day was relatively shy on hills.

This pic made me think of the Appalachian Trail. I can guarantee the trail would run right over that ridge.

Wisconsin has to lead the nation in bars per capita. I went through Alma. Population 781. Must have been a dozen bars. I’ve noticed a similar ratio in other towns. Guess that’s the only way you can be a Packer fan!! 😁

Stopped at the Wing Dam Saloon in Fountain City for lunch. Great experience. Food was good but the highlight was meeting Lauren (bartender, waitress, and server). She was intrigued by my journey and really wanted to help me. I suggested donating to the charities I’m riding for but she really wanted to help ME personally. She bought my lunch. So cool! Thanks so much, Lauren. Awesome to meet you.

Businesses have been short staffed my entire journey. I feel very sorry for those businesses struggling to find employees. Please be patient with those folks that are working. They have enough pressure already.

The final few miles were on a shaded, hard pan bike path. Very relaxing.

The next 1500 miles will be the most difficult of the trip based on my prior experiences. I’m not talking physically. I really have no clue what to expect there. I’m talking mentally.

It was new and exciting at the beginning. Then I had Bristol to look forward to. I knew I had friends and support for a ways after that.

It’s way too early to even think about Key West so I’ll just be grinding miles out for the next 3 weeks or so. This is when I really need your support.

I read and enjoy every comment on the blog and I love to see donations to the charities I’m riding for (https://at-pete.com/pledge-information/).

I am fortunate to have a great network of support. I’ll really be needing it the next few weeks.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Dave and I had a great breakfast at Main St Cafe in Stillwater. We met Michelle and Kevin Hileman there. Michelle and I worked together 16+ years ago. Hadn’t seen each other since then so great to catch up.

Kevin has completed many triathlons and works at an athletic club. I had never met him before so I was a bit nervous he would show up with a carbon fiber racing bike and ride my butt into the ground. He had the bike!

Today was a lot like yesterday. Big ups and downs. Kevin has a gadget on his bike that measures everything. RPM’s, watts of power generated, incline of hills, etc. We were on an 18% incline almost immediately. I can’t even explain how steep that is…especially before you’re even warmed up.

Kevin took it easy on me all day. Thank goodness.

We spent the first 25 miles on the St Croix Scenic Hwy but only saw the river at Stillwater and 25 miles later when we crossed the river into Prescott, WI. It’s probably scenic in a motorized vehicle but on a bike it was just hills and corn!

Leaving Prescott I could see a high ridge running parallel to the river. I knew we were going up there. Unfortunately I was right!

There were no services (food, water) for 20 miles after Prescott. Kevin was out of water and I was low by then. We finally came across a campground that had a small bar. Had some lemonade and got some ice and water.

The regulars at the bar were curious about where we were heading. When we told them Stockholm, they kind of laughed and told us we would have a big (2 mile long) hill to climb. Great. 😩

We finally joined up with the Mississippi River. The close body of water is Lake SomethingOrOther. The Mississippi is in the distance.

The big hill was real. Not that steep, but 2 miles of constant up. Not easy after 50 miles but we made it. Video is at top of hill.

The good news is that we got to coast down the other side. Gerty and I were pretty happy.

We finished the 64 miles in 5.5 hours. That includes about 30 minutes of stops so we had ridden at a pretty good pace all day.

Michelle was waiting for us in Stockholm. They bought me lunch and a couple Buds. Michelle had also reserved (and paid for) a motel room for me. How nice is that!!!

Overall a tough but really rewarding day. Kevin taught me a few things and was a pleasure to ride with. Not sure I would have made it quite this far today without his company.

A big thanks to Kevin and Michelle. You guys are awesome.

Starting to think that in another 1000 miles or so I may actually be considered a cyclist.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Took my time getting out of Osceola this morning. I was comfortable there and assumed I’d just roll right on down to Stillwater.

Reality hit very quickly with a short but steep climb out of town. Not exactly what I expected.

There were crazy ups and downs the whole ride. The toughest pedaling since I was in MT. Gerty hadn’t been in low gear for quite some time.

I actually had to stop and rest on 2 different hills. Got going 40 mph down one hill. That’s a bit scary but I knew what goes down must go up. I was at 3 mph half way up the next hill.

Going slow is not fun. Not only are you working really hard…it’s also hard to keep Gerty going in a straight line at those slow speeds.

Osceola and Stillwater are at essentially the same elevation. Both on the St. Croix River. The route was on the hills up above the river. Actually only saw the river at beginning and end. Everything in between was like a giant roller coaster. Up…down. Repeat about 50 times.

Ended the day back in Minnesota. Almost felt like no progress but we’re now starting to head predominantly south. I guess that’s progress because have to head that way sometime.

Rolled into Stillwater about 1:30. Thirsty and hungry. Fortunately I rode right up to Charlie’s Irish Pub.

Spending the night at the home of Dave and Stephanie Adams. They also have a home in our community in FL.

Spent a very relaxing afternoon and evening at their house. Dave had Buds on ice for me and we had burgers and chocolate cake for dinner. Add on a couple hours of appetizers and I’m pretty well fed!!

Tomorrow Kevin Hileman is going to ride with me. He’s the husband of Michelle, a former co-worker. I’m pretty sure it will be as difficult (or worse) than today. At least I’ll have company to share in the misery.

Thanks to Dave and Steph for your incredible hospitality. I appreciate it so much.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Crazy day that ended on a great note.

Was a bit lazy in the AM and didn’t head out until about 8:45. I usually wake about 6 but just wasn’t quite ready to start pedaling. That’s the toughest part of these adventures…the day after day grind.

Once we got going through we kicked butt. 30 miles to first stop in about 1 hr 50 minutes.

Had a great lunch and met a cyclist heading the other direction. Dan (didn’t get a pic) and I discussed what was ahead for each of us. I was at the lunch spot for 1.5 hrs!!

Had my first chasing dog. This time I was the impala! Fortunately it was on a bit of a downhill and he was more like an over-fed lion than a cheetah.

There are 2 seasons in these parts. Winter and construction. Talk about confusing.

I’ve heard the name, Richard Widmark. Guessing he must be kind of famous.

My goal for today was Osceola. 70 miles. 40 after lunch. No problem.

Cows seem to be fascinated by a cyclist. Get lots of stares. This guy really checked me out. No Rocky Mountain oysters from this stud. That’s not a 5th leg!!

Everything was great until that point. Only 10 miles to Osceola. Unfortunately I missed a turn. I just get rolling and forget to look at map. Happens quite a bit, right Dennis!

This one was pretty bad. When I realized I wasn’t on route, I figured I was paralleling route. Take the next right and all good.

I ended up at Taylor Falls. Actually had to ask someone what town I was in.

Saw an amazing view of St. Croix River.

Problem was that I was 10 miles out of my way. I was Just Angry Pete. Tried to blame it on Gerty but she was having none of that.

I headed in the general direction I thought Osceola would be and angrily pedaled for the next hour. I shouldn’t even admit this but…I had no clue Osceola was in Wisconsin!! Please don’t tell anyone.

My maps are horrible when not on route so I tried Google maps. No cell service. Tired, frustrated, and just basically pissed at myself.

Once I got to Osceola my mood changed. Amazing what dinner and a few Buds will do.

At dinner someone told me there was a town team baseball game. Osceola Braves vs Hudson River Rats. Wooden bats. Old school. I walked 5 blocks to Oakey Park.

What a great time. Bud Grant once played for Osceola and Joe Mauer played there for a St Paul team while in high school.

I had a blast…even though “we” lost 18-0 in 7 innings. Made lots of new friends. This is Kathy, Michelle, and Todd. Also met a super nice young couple, Alex and Monique. So much fun.

Awesome ending to the day.

Short trip to Stillwater tomorrow. Pretty sure that’s in MN!

Ride on.

Just Pete

We got some more media coverage in South Dakota. The Roscoe-Hosmer Independent had us on the front page. Thanks Brenda Anderson for your PR work!

The first half of today’s ride was on the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail. No motorized vehicles…except snowmobiles in the winter.

22 miles on a repurposed railroad track. Trains must like hills as much as I do because it was pretty flat. There were also lots of trees and shade. Hadn’t seen much of that since Glacier National Park.

It was also a very fast track. We were in high gear. Gerty felt good after her bath and she was humming.

There was even a covered bridge specifically for the trail.

You have to work to keep your mind occupied doing things like this. There was no traffic or crappy shoulders to worry about so I invented a game. Plains of Africa.

There were quite a few cyclists out so when I would see someone out in front of me (you could see quite a ways), they became an impala…and I was a cheetah. Pedal as fast as I could until I ran them down. Don’t worry, I didn’t tackle them and drag them into the jungle for lunch…but I did fly past them really fast. Pretty sure I got my limit!!

After all those high speed chases, I needed some lunch. Not exactly 5 star but I had a chair (kind of) with a back (sort of)!

Crossed the mighty Mississippi River. Sure I’ll see her a few more times but I’m on the east side.

The last half of the day was on roads but the shoulders were good…for the most part.

I had planned to stop for the day at Curly’s Corner Bar. Not near a town but map said they had camping available. Perfect. Food and Buds right by my campsite.

About 1 mile away, I could see Curly’s. As I got closer I could see 1 car in parking lot. Not a real good sign but beggars can’t be choosers.

I pulled up and it looked dark and door was locked. Really bad sign. Especially since I was already mentally checked out.

Guy in lot (he was just parked) told me it had closed a couple months ago. I didn’t have enough water to tent in campsite so I asked the guy how far to next town. He said Milaca was about 5 miles ahead.

That didn’t sound right to me so I checked my map. It was really 15 miles. Total and complete bummer.

Had no choice so I started pedaling.

Of course there was a road closure with a detour. That would be a minimum of 2 extra miles. Screw that, I’m going through. It was just after 4 and I was hoping the construction workers were finished for the day.

Went around the barriers. Construction area was 3 miles long. A few sections of real soft gravel but most was pretty good. They’re really just widening road. I made it through and into Milaca

As a wise person once told me “There’s no such thing as an easy day.” Dennis Peterson, June 2021.

Safe and comfortable in a motel.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Believe it or not…Starbuck, MN is not the home of Starbucks coffee. It is a really nice town along Lake Minnewaska though.

Mary had me back to Starbuck at 8AM and I set off for Sauk Centre, the boyhood home of author Sinclair Lewis.

Where there’s pelicans, there’s fish. Must be lots of fish here.

Love having my camera operational again!

Soybeans to the left of me.

Soybeans to the right.

Here I am. Stuck in the middle with Gerty.

Mary picked me up in Sauk Centre about noon. She had called a bike shop to let them know Gerty would be coming in. No openings until August! Uh oh!!

The second shop said they may be able to get her in if we got there soon. We headed right to Alex Bike Shop in Alexandria, where Barry and Mary live.

The shop said would try to have her ready by end of day but no guarantee. Didn’t open until 10 next AM and I was really not wanting to wait until then to start riding. I would say I crossed my fingers that they would finish today but I can’t. Fingers still not totally functioning.

After we dropped Gerty off we went by Alex’s tourist attraction, Big Ole.

The “Birthplace of America” is local lore. Vikings are said to have visited here in 1382. Personally, I think that may be a stretch but who’s going to argue with Big Ole.

Got a call from bike shop at 3:30 that Gerty was ready. The shop said she looked good and that she had really good components. That was reassuring. Tires are good. Will probably need a new chain along the way because a bit stretched. They even gave her a bath!!

We celebrated by going out to their lake cabin for dinner.

Mary and Barry have been incredible hosts. 2 nights at their house and carting me all over the place. I’m so fortunate to have friends looking out for me. Thanks so much, Mary and Barry!

It was a good night at the lake and Gerty and I will be ready to roll in the AM.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Lots of road construction my last 11 miles of SD. Rough shoulder. Came to a spot where they had a pilot car for 1.5 miles. Told flagger that I would ride as fast as I could.

I can go pretty fast but not 40 mph. Pilot car turned around and was bringing cars back towards me on the one open lane. I just moved to left shoulder. A bit rude in my opinion but I guess, if I had to wait in a car for some idiot on a bike to get past, I may have become a bit impatient.

I survived and made it to MN. Loved my time in SD but have to move on into state number 6.

I had to adjust my intended route from Ortonville, MN. Had planned to stay on Hwy 12 to Benson but road was closed to through traffic for 26 miles. Randy had warned me about that last night. I took Hwy 75 north for 19 miles. Not the direction I’m supposed to be going but…I did get to go through Graceville, the birthplace of former MN Twins manager, Tom Kelly.

The corn through this area looks pretty good to me. It’s tall anyway.

At Morris I stopped at my 3rd Verizon store in the last 24 hours. All closed Monday and Tuesday for “training”. What??

Stopped for lunch at McD’s and there was a Verizon store across parking lot. I just assumed it was also closed. As I was leaving, I planned to take a picture of Closed for Training sign. Lo and behold, it was open.

I got exceptional service from Nikki and Alexis. New phone (and camera) up and running!! Oh, happy day.

The corn is starting to tassel. It’s important, in my professional agronomist opinion, that it gets some rain at that time. I’d go into the details but I really have no clue. Someone just told me that.

Complaint of the day. Hey, MN, what’s up with these shoulders?

It was like this pretty much all day. What do you do? Ride on gravel? Slow and bumpy. Ride on 1-3 feet of pavement on shoulder? Hard to do because gravel is 3” lower than pavement and white line is a rumble strip. Ride in traffic lane? A bit sketchy.

I pretty much rode the lane until I’d hear vehicles coming up from behind and then rumbled over to “shoulder”. Took lots of concentration. Good example of why nothing in my ears (music, etc.).

I wanted to get pretty far today as there’s a good chance for rain tomorrow.

8 miles before Starbuck there’s a car alongside the road. It’s Mary (Cramer) Ronning, a high school classmate. She knew I was heading to Starbuck and wanted me to stay at their house in Alexandria tonight. Sounded good to me!

Mary will give me a ride back to Starbuck in the morning. If I drank coffee, I’d definitely get some of their famous mocha latte.

Planning a short (35 or so miles) ride to Sauk Center tomorrow. Rain possible and Gerty is past due for a check up.

One last thing…if strong thighs are a key to good golf, all of you boys from The Plantation should just send me $100. I’ll be a +4 in 8 rounds. You might as well just pay in advance!!!

Ride on.

Just Pete

My legs were actually pretty fresh today for the first time in a few weeks. Kind of a nice feeling.

I had some company on today’s ride. Jodi Storley, my cousin, rode the entire way with me.

There was little to no wind and relatively easy terrain for the first 25 miles or so. Temperature was good also so it was actually enjoyable.

The road through this body of water has been raised something like 25’ since I was roaming these parts as a kid. This is the Glacial Lakes region and there are a lot more and bigger lakes over the past 30 years. Roads and farmland have been taken over by bodies of water. The good news is that some of the best walleye fishing in the world is in this area.

If you’re ever passing through Waubay, SD, stop at the Purple Cow. A giant chair with a back and great ice cream!

The wind started to pick up (not a tailwind, of course) as we neared Summit. Obviously it was a bit uphill as we were heading to Summit…thus the name of the town.

Jodi’s husband, Larry, joined us at Summit for the last 25 miles.

I had been looking forward to Marvin Hill. It was a big, steep downhill back in my day. They’ve since leveled it out a bit and is now only a 4% grade. Bummer but it was still a good coast for a few miles. The air was a tad bit smoky from wildfires in the western US.

Down in the valley the wind picked up some more and we were dead into a 15mph wind for a few miles.

We made it into Milbank a little after 2PM.

I’m still having phone issues. A new one was delivered to Bristol today and Kris delivered it to me in Milbank. She’s on her way back home so it was a bit of a drop and dash! Now I just need a Verizon store to transfer all my “stuff” to new phone. Of course, the store in Milbank was closed. Bad phone karma for past week.

I do have a comfortable place to stay for the evening, Randy (college friend) and Robin Patnoe are hosting me and trying to fatten me up with some spaghetti and delicious cupcakes.

I was also able to see a couple of other long time friends, Pat DeFea and Dave Wagner. Fun to chat with them for a bit.

I’ve received a bunch of extra supplies the last few days. Pickle juice, deer jerky, energy tablets for water, energy gel packs, and 2 jars of homemade pickles. Glad I’m not hiking because my 2 saddle bags are packed to capacity.

Only 3000 miles to go!!

Ride on.

Just Pete