Day 15 - 48 miles River Falls to St. Paul

Cathy surprised Tim with a nice card and dark chocolate to start his birthday. The rain dissipated as we biked along some nice rolling hills out of town, only to return in very short downpours.



There were a number of trails that took us into downtown St. Paul and you can see below how the clouds turned to nice clear skies.














A few sites in downtown St. Paul.









After a quick look at downtown Tim took Cathy to Lake Como. He used to run around this small scenic lake. Then we searched for his first house in the Midway area.









We reached our final destination of Ron and Tricia's where we were greeted with a nice Happy Birthday sign.




Ron had a large area in their cool basement cleared to dismantle and packed up the bikes. Tricia took Tim to the FedEx drop off so they will be on their way to Angels Camp soon.



Northbound Smokehouse and Brewpub was a great local restaurant that had lots of smoked items on their menu. Of course we started with a sampling of the local beer and some smoked cheese curds!




We learned of a great story where the entire Pearson family has the same tattoo of a tree from their family camp.



The birthday celebration ended by enjoying wonderful gourmet cupcakes that Tricia provided.


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Location:Howell St S,Saint Paul,United States

Day 14 - 65 miles Eau Claire to River Falls

No rain in the forecast until late afternoon at our destination of River Falls. It was a pleasant journey out of Eau Claire since the streets were quiet at 6:30 in the morning.

We were on a nice bike path for a short time that took us past a community garden.






There were no places to have breakfast after 30 miles but did find a small bakery in Spring Valley that had tasty strawberry-rhubarb and raspberry muffins.

Good that we fueled up since it turned into our most climbing day on the tour.



We were within 15 miles of River Falls and thought we were lucky when we had fresh new asphalt to bike on that was so smooth. It was great for a few miles until we were forced to ride on freshly poured asphalt for about 4 miles which coated our bike tires.

Looking perfect for awhile:



Oh oh - this does not look good:



Cathy avoiding the fresh asphalt as long as possible.



We made it to the end of the road construction and contemplated if we needed new tires or not. We went to a bike shop and we decided since we had only one day left to bike we scraped off our tires after first reducing our frustration with beer and cheese curds 😏





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Location:Spring St,River Falls city,United States

Day 13 - 60 miles Black River Falls to Eau Claire

Even though we had a unplanned day off and a good nights sleep it took awhile to get into the biking groove again.

Once we were past a few miles of rough roads we found a rhythm as we biked past a number of pine forests, Christmas tree farms and some horses coming to greet us including a mom and her colt.


















To fuel up we stopped at great pie place in Osseo called the Norske Nook place per Tim's Uncle Skip's recommendation. Tim had this huge fresh raspberry pie.





We were surprised by the steepness and number of hills we had to climb but they were followed by some fun downhills.

We passed a winery but unfortunately it was not open.








We made it to Eau Claire at about 12:30 and found the Pine Meadow golf course. It was a perfect 9 hole par 3 course to try out our all-in-one club. The clubhouse had a great selection of beer and very friendly staff. Scott was fun to chat with and he provided some suggestions of where to eat in Eau Claire.



















We stayed within walking distance of the historic downtown and sampled the beer at the Lazy Monks Brewery, which has a German themed Hofbrau house interior, and enjoyed a meal in the Water district.












Eau Claire has a number of Bridges and scenic interconnecting paths crossing the river. There was also a number of unique sculptures throughout the city.























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Location:S Barstow St,Eau Claire,United States

Day 12 - 7 miles walking Wisconsin Rapids to Black River Falls

Unexpected day off from cycling.
The forecast indicated that there was a high chance of thunderstorms throughout the day. We tried to find a 5-6 hour window that would be safe to get to Black River Falls - 60 miles away but it was looking grim.



It just so happened that Tim's mom and uncles had planned to go to a casino in Black River Falls today so Uncle Skip and Aunt Nancy drove the extra hour to Black River Falls and loaded up our bikes and gear in their trunk at about 11am.

Thank you Uncle Skip and Aunt Nancy for rescuing us from the predicted thunderstorms!



We drove the same route that we would have biked and it was mile after mile of forests and farmland with only two small towns in-between. Not many places for shelter so it was better to be safe than sorry in this case.




We were welcomed at the casino by Tim's mom and then met up a bit later with Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Jerry.



After caravanning to our hotel, we enjoyed a tasty late lunch at the restaurant next door: The Mocha Mouse - along with another good batch of cheese curds😉



Speaking of cheese there was also a fine selection of "Cheese Head" hats.




We got our bikes/panniers out of Skip's truck and said our good byes. It was nice unexpected visit with Tim's family before we finish our tour and head back to California.



It seemed the bed in our room was calling our names. Less than 10 minutes after entering the room, both of us were snoozing!

Semi-refreshed after our nap, we enjoyed the blue skies with big white clouds. This time the forecast was not correct. It was a good thing because we were able to explore the downtown area including the 4 mile paved Founders Trail that went around the city (and get a break from sitting on the bike seats!) It was a great park like setting with huge shade trees that meandered along the creek like setting.













We found a great place with lots of character to have a beer and a bite on historic Main Street.



Our feet were very happy to get back to our hotel room after walking 7 miles.

All in all a very nice and needed unexpected day off.

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Location:Oasis Rd,Brockway,United States

Day 11 - 76 miles Greenville to Wisconsin Rapids

The morning was beautiful and bright. We started by chatting with Mark and Debbie over a cup of coffee.. Logan, the oldest, came down bright and early to greet us, even though he returned very late from a full day and night at concerts.
The morning was perfect for a ride… The sun was behind us, the temperature perfect, the winds were calm, and the roads were smooth.


We stopped for bite after about 20 miles of riding at a 50s style diner near Wolf River.


When we got back on our bikes we noticed the wind picked up. Unfortunately for the rest of the day it was in our faces. We still had nice roads that had very little traffic. The scenery was wonderful; lots of rolling hills, farms, some lakes, forests, and even a cranberry bog.








There was a very informative historical marker about the Greater Prairie Chicken that has lost much of its habitat. This road side display was interesting, but what we really appreciated was getting off the bicycle seat and out of the wind for a short while.


A couple miles before we got to our hotel we stopped at a golf course. It was a busy Saturday afternoon, so we were not able to get on for 9 holes. It was probably for the best since were both fairly tired after the 76 miles on the bike.
There were three restaurants in a 1 mile radius from our hotel. We decided on Mexcal - Mexican Restaurant. Upon deciding what to drink… beer or margarita, we got both in our drink special.

Location:10th St S,Wisconsin Rapids,United States