Rochester, Minnesota - Day 31

I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that we started our day with a civilized breakfast at the City Center Hotel -- ballroom with seating capacity of 89, linen tables clothes, real scrambled eggs, real bacon, real oatmeal, real fruit, and joy of joys--hot water for my tea.  


The theme of today's ride would be the three "H"s-- humidity, heat, and hellacious road surfaces. Our paper directions that we clip onto our handlebars were soggy before we even go up the first hill and so were we. Fortunately, we did have some cloud cover as the thunder boomers piled up and got darker through out the day. I bet the temperature didn't make it past the mid-nineties. Besides, we had a strong head wind most of the ride to cool us off. We, of course, rode through cornfields, past well kept farms, and little towns with Victorian homes.

Our major diversion and source of pain was the road surface. Actually the road surface wasn't too bad in Blue Earth County, Waseco County, and Steele County, but let me tell you about Dodge County. Those roads gave new meaning to the saying "Get out of Dodge."They  were patched tar with huge cracks. They didn't need rumble strips because just riding on the shoulder was like shaking over a rumble strip. The cracks that ran parallel to the road were relentless. I think I had better check my fillings to see if they are still all there. Needless to say, we were relieved to make it into Rochester, wind our way through the traffic in front of the Mayo Clinic and miraculously gain access to the bike path that took us to the hotel. Polly and I both had a first today: back to back centuries! The Antiques are pretty proud of themselves!


Day 31
Miles: 101
Total Miles: 2309
Elevation Gain: 3,068
Next Stop: La Crosse, WI


Link to Mimi's Garmin

Mimi. Rosy, and Jordan watching the train go by

This is a train.

Soybeans and an oasis of trees

A field by the railroad

Finally some animal life among all those crops 

Mimi takes wrong turn and winds up in a cartoon

Church bell in West Concord

SAG stop in the little town of West Concord

Looking down Main Street in the heart of America - a hopping place!

Every town has their water tower!