July 1 - Along the Great River Road - Hwy 35 Maiden Rock to Alma WI

We camped at Nugget Lake County Park, north of Plum City to get some biking in this area. The afternoon we got there we drove around to check out the area for the routes Larry had mapped. It is so beautiful along the Mississippi River and we saw that the road had a pretty wide shoulder so we figured we would feel comfortable riding it on our bicycles.

When in Alma we were fortunate to see a barge in the lock system.

Taking some back roads to the camp ground we came across Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthplace.

We began our ride where CTH A & Hwy 10 intersect and took A as it generally follows the Rush River.

The corn was knee high on the 1st of July - we have a picture of Larry in a corn field on the Elroy Sparta trail last year on 7/16 and the corn was taller than him!

The old gives way to the new.

The Rush River

On Hwy 35 looking back to the park at Maiden Rock - very little traffic on the highway at this time - about 9am.

Nice wide shoulders - the road, not Deb - and the Mississippi River runs right next to the road. The temperature will climb above 90 degrees today - at this time the bluffs kept us in shade.

We took a break in a gas station at Pepin and really enjoyed the air conditioning. Stopped in Nelson for lunch at the Creamery - good food and ice cream and such a neat building. After Nelson we crossed the Tiffany Wildlife area and the Chippewa River.

Larry spotted a boat landing not far from the road so we stopped in for a refreshing dip. It was getting quite warm by this time. We weren't too far from Alma and as we approached town we saw a sign for the Alma marina and public beach, so decided to check it out.

Here was a nice beach and some shade so we swam, rested, napped and lounged and read our books in the 99 degree heat. We got lazy and decided to end our cycling here today. Larry's brother said he would pick us up where ever we wanted to end. We thought this would be a good spot on such a hot day - we biked 40 miles.

Two barges came through while we were at the beach.

Carol and Harv picked us up and we went into Alma for ice cream at "Fire &Ice" and viewed there secret garden.

Then we drove up to Buena Vista lookout - way up above the town to enjoy the wonderful view.

We had a fish fry in Cochrane City and Harv drove us back to pick to our truck in a storm - lots of lightning. Fortunately it did not cause havoc with the camper. Best part of the trip - we did not have to ride back up all those hills we rode down on Hwy 35 :-)