August 8 - Day 44 Monday

August 8 - Day 44 Monday
Start - Dalbo, MN
End - Trollhaugen, WI
Miles - 67 (Marcee 37.3, Larry 30)
Start time - 850am
End time 650pm (with an hour and a half break to travel to the Polk Info Center)
Weather - high seventies, low eighties, partly sunny

We entered our seventh state today - Wisconsin!  We talked to a lot of people today.  It was nice.  The riding was fine as well.  We each rode for 15 miles and then traded off and then Marcee rode the last 7 miles.

The day started out with breakfast at Perkins in Cambridge, MN about 15 miles outside of Dalbo.  It was a nice change of pace and a good breakfast.  Thank you to Maureen, our server, for her donation for water wells.  About 15 miles into the ride this morning a guy in a pickup stopped and talked to us named Jim.  He asked us about our ride and explained that he used to be on the cycling map as a place to camp for free, but some folks got asked for showers which he was not able to provide, wrote a bad review, and he took his name off of the list.  It is too bad, as he has a nice place on Fish Lake and I'm sure that others appreciated his hospitality.  He offered to us to use his picnic tables.

As we made our way eastward toward the St. Croix River which divides Minnesota from Wisconsin the terrain remained farmland, corn and other crops I could not identify, but we did start to see more trees which we did not see as much in North Dakota.

Rolling on we stopped in Shafer, MN and spoke to Lee who worked at the post office. We told him about our trip and he shared that his son had just ridden around the twin cities, 110 miles I think he said.  Lee also shared a less-trafficked route to Osceola, Wisconsin which would involve about 2 miles of hard-packed gravel.  We took his advice and it was fine.  The only thing about gravel and hills is that when you are going downhill you can feel the vibrations throughout your arms.  Just before crossing into Wisconsin there was a wayside park below the bridge.  Marcee got pictures of me crossing the bridge from there.

Entering Osceola we stopped at DQ for ice cream and chatted with Barb, who had given us directions to the chamber of commerce which was closed.  She gave us information on a nice hike to Cascade Falls which we took on.  Prior to taking the hike it was on to the Polk County Visitor Information center to get a Wisconsin map.  While there we spoke to Sue, the director, and she gave us information about a bike trail that we can use as an alternative tomorrow.  We plan to do that and we bought a one day pass and will ride the hard packed Seven Lakes trail which use to be a rail bed tomorrow.

We had a hot dog and a brat at the Joyful Morning cafe - it was good.  The ladies in the cafe were interested in where we were from.  We mentioned Wyoming, and they thought it would be nice to be in the west with the cooler mountain air.  After that it was on to St. Croix Falls for some wifi and nightly coffee at McDonalds and where we will spend the night car camping at the Walmart parking lot.  We had become so accustomed to the Wally world living, that it only takes us less than 10 minutes to set up our bed for the night.  The morning is pretty much the same.  It has saved us alot of money by being able to stay there.  As we move eastward past Ohio....we will have to think about staying at RV spots again, because there hardly any Wal-Marts in the NE sections of the country.