The temperature would reach near highs and with the extremely high humidity it would be "oppressive". With that in mind, we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds and was on the road by 6:30.
The first six miles warmed us up on relatively flat terrain....then the climbing started. The vistas were beautiful, but the heavy, humid air almost looked like smog.
We climbed to a ridge and continued the rolling terrain for the next 20+ miles, passing Sherrill, where we admired the “most beautiful scenic overlook of the Mississippi in Iowa.”
The next climb was to Balltown (elevation over 1200'), again we could see fabulous views when we wiped the sweat from our eyes.
The next several miles were a well earned descent, followed by a couple miles of gravel road to the Cassville Ferry.
We waited with one other car for about 15 minutes for the ferry to arrive. The total journey across the Mississippi River took about 10 minutes.
Once across the river we were in Wisconsin! Hooray, our 8th state along the Mississippi River.
We replenished our water supplies and consumed quantities of Gatorade.
Today I did not "glisten", instead I dripped; Tim simply poured! It certainly was oppressive, and any pieces of shade we could ride in was a blessing. Therefore, when the route we planned turned to a shaded gravel road we weren't bummed. Here we stopped under the graffitied "kissing rock".
We had plenty more climbing, stopping for shade breaks and water stops before we finally rolled into Prairie du Chien. We did some exploration in this historic river town, the oldest community on the Upper Mississippi River.
Villa Louis a 19th century Victorian is one of the famous historic sites.
A cold tap local beer and some nachos, at a wonderful downtown pub, gave us the needed fuel to get to our hotel.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was much less eventful: swim, rest, eat, blog, and I am ready to sleep.
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