Follow the Rivers

Today was a non-stop panorama of rivers, bluffs, wooded valleys, rich dairyland, and historic picturesque small towns - the best riding we’ve had so far! We began by cruising once more through lovely Redwing, then headed south on MD highway 61. This section of the Mississippi has been backed up by locks and dams to form Lake Pepin and has a number of resorts and recreation facilities. About 35 miles downstream we cross to the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi at Wabasha because we’ve been told the scenery is better on that side. We are not disappointed with WI highway 35!
There are many sets of locks on the river that we choose not to tour as we can see them very well from the road and have actually passed through locks in boats which is more exciting than standing on them today. The locks provide the valuable purpose of controlling flooding further down river. The Upper Mississippi River is a very large impressive river at this point and the countryside is so green! When we stop at Fountain City to snap some photos of an old riverboat we realize that it is about 80F and quite humid. When we‘re moving we stay comfortable but it‘s hot in our leathers whenever we stop.
We’ve planned to stop in La Crosse, the biggest town on this section of the river and discover it’s actually a city so the map we have is totally inadequate. We manage to give ourselves a unintended tour of the historic downtown area and decide to have lunch and ask directions before getting more lost. Believe it or not, as we are eating our delicious lunch at the King Street Kitchen we notice a turtle about the size of a dinner plate making its way down the side of the very busy street outside. There was no sign of it after lunch so we can only assume it traveled safely too. A ride up to Grandad Bluff gave us a tremendous view of the city of La Crosse and the Black River as it empties into the Mississippi.
We travel WI35 to Prairie du Chien, a river town just north of where the Wisconsin River joins the Mississippi. We leave the Great River Road here, heading on WI60 to begin the Wisconsin River Scenic Drive. This drive is as beautiful as the one we’ve just completed with beautiful farms, lush green corn and hay fields, river-edged bluffs, and sandstone outcroppings. We have the road almost completely to ourselves and we are sure it was constructed just for motorcycles! The Wisconsin River is very broad with sandy banks and it is said that it looks much as it did when French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet paddled the route in 1673 searching for the Mississippi.
We stop for the night at another BW about 5 miles from Lodi. Had we known it was that far, we may have eaten in Lodi, as the choices within walking distance of this motel are all fast food. It is always tricky trying to find good accommodation within walking distance of good restaurants in North America as we’re such a car culture. The sky looks very threatening but we’ve had great weather once again today.