Our 5-day Bike Trip in Wisconsin

Friday, May 20 to Tuesday, May 24

We just returned from a 5-day bike trip—Wow, 5 days of biking in a row, that’s a first for this season! We did have to dodge raindrops and some very wicked storms but we managed to have a great time.


Friday and Saturday were spent with our tandem club, Couples on Wheels (better known as COWS), biking in and around Chippewa Falls, WI. Hosts for this spring rally were Lane and Linda from Eau Claire. They did a wonderful job planning various routes and events for the weekend. One highlight included the opportunity to climb an official category 5 hill—no problem for our mean machine! Stopping at the Leinie’s Lodge is always a treat—free beer samples and great tours and this year the lodge provided shelter from the rain when needed.

Our annual COWS meeting and banquet was held Saturday evening and the food was excellent. The restaurant staff came swarming out of all entrances to serve our group of 36 tandem teams. We ordered from a menu of 4 choices and each choice was delicious! Joan and John Laabs were our escort for the evening as we were vehicle-less for this trip which would allow us to bike towards home following this COWS rally.

Following the banquet, we went out on the town with Dennis and Ingrid. We finally found a quite little bar where we could visit without shouting above the music.

Back at our hotel room, we got things ready for our next journey with Kathi and John Johnson. We promised them an early ride start Sunday morning as we would be joining them for the start of their 6-week bike trip east along the Northern Tier towards Bar Harbor, ME. Our plans were to make it at least to Prairie du Chien with them by Tuesday.

The COWS Sunday Breakfast ride was mass starting at 9:00 a.m. but the Veerkamps and Johnsons would already be 2 hours down the road. Only a few COWS couples were up to send us on our way.

We headed west towards Durand, WI where we planned on stopping for the day but didn’t plan on such an easy ride. We reached Durand by 10:30 a.m. and then decided to continue biking towards Wabasha hoping to beat the afternoon forecasted rains. We made it to Nelson just as the rain started to pour down, and a great shower it was.


The rains lasted only about 10 minutes and then the sun returned to dry us off and stayed with us until we reached our lunch stop at Slippery’s in Wabasha, MN. Lunch was great and the rest was needed. Kathi and I got on the phone to inquire about lodging and we found an AmericInn on the edge of town. We were pleased with our choice. The Inn was very “bike friendly” and even had a sign on the entry window welcoming bikers on the Northern Tier—cool! We were welcomed to the Inn by Steve, our friendly desk manager. After a rest in the whirlpool and a game of Hearts, we walked to the Dairy Queen for a light supper. Lights were turned out early so that we could all get some rest before meeting at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and another early start to our biking day. We are still trying to beat the storms surrounding us. Tornados were spotted close by with touch downs in La Crosse, our next overnight stop. We felt like true storm chasers as we biked into communities renovated by the visiting tornados. We ended our biking day with 62 more miles on the tandem.



Our second day of riding with the Johnsons took us from Wabasha to La Crosse, WI with a total of 70 more miles on the bike. We were on the bikes and heading towards Winona by 7:00 a.m. We made it to Winona by 9:00 and stopped for a short visit with Ma Storsveen (Deb’s mom) before returning our tires to Wisconsin soil. The decision to bike the Wisconsin side to La Crosse was a good one as we avoided the climb out of Winona on Hwy 43—we celebrated this realization unanimously.

The skies looked very threatening as we pedaled down the highways but no rain fell today. We did see a rainbow peeking out at us but it soon disappeared as the sky began to clear.

We detoured through Perrot State Park and then through the town of Trempealeau along the Mississippi River making for a very enjoyable ride. We then got onto Hwy 35 and took it all the way into La Crosse. It had its busy moments but decent shoulders were a big help. We planned to have lunch at Fayze’s downtown La Crosse, but decided to stop at Features in Holmen as our stomachs were demanding food.


The chore to find accommodations fell to Kathi and me again. We decided on an Econo Lodge as the price was right. It wasn’t bad but would probably not recommend it to anyone. It did, however, have a very friendly bar within walking distance making our stay more enjoyable. We enjoyed pizza back at the lodge and watched Dancing with the Stars. John then had the great idea to begin tomorrow’s ride at 5:00 a.m. to avoid the morning rush hour traffic out of La Crosse and then have breakfast once through town. We all agreed to this craziness and headed to bed to rest for our next day of riding.

Morning came early on this last day of our biking adventure with Kathi and John. As we check out of the Econo Lodge, the night manager handed us a bunch of bananas to tie us over until we found a breakfast stop past La Crosse—what a kind soul. It was 5:00 a.m. as we began pedaling towards the outskirts of town.

We were 20 miles into our ride when we noticed a quite café open for breakfast. We had the place to ourselves and were treated like royalty. We all ordered the “Scrambled Mess” and when it was set down in front of each of us we all began to laugh. One portion would have been enough to satisfy us all. We had to leave part of this delicious meal behind. The cook thanked us for stopping and then stepped outside to take a peek at our transportation. We offered her a ride but she quietly refused sending us one our way rested and very full.

We then got back on our bikes and continued pedaling down Hwy 35 towards Prairie du Chien. The route was very scenic but rather stressful for our captains—heavy traffic and rough shoulders can make for a very long journey. We avoided rain again today and arrived at Prairie du Chien dry and with 64 more miles on the bike.


Kathi and John checked into a Microtel and then we all relaxed in the hot tub, walked to Culvers for ice cream and then played cards. Our escort service (daughter, Jill) arrived to pick us up around 1:00 p.m. and we loaded all our belongings into the van while Kathi and John looked on.

Saying goodbye is always tough after these days of sharing such wonderful moments with our dear tandem friends. We wished them a safe journey east and after a round of hugs, climbed in our van for our journey back to normality.