Tri-State Ride Day #5

Day 5—Dyersville, IA to McGregor, IA: 52.90 miles
Comments: Ride Time was 4 hours 39 minutes, average speed: 11.3

This was to be our last ride day ending the Tri-State Tour for this year. We started out around 6:30 a.m. and stopped for breakfast at the Groovy Grounds before leaving Dyersville. We were thankful for the many miles before hitting the challenging hills around Guttenberg and Pike’s Peak State Park. We stopped for lunch in Guttenberg at the Riverview Café and had a very healthy meal of chicken, steamed vegetables and fruit as we watched a barge go down the river.

We had a long, mountainous hill to climb out of Guttenberg but the encouraging words along the pavement kept us cranking forward and upward. We stopped at the top to enjoy the view, take pictures and watch other riders sweat up the hill. It was on our minds that we now had only one more hill to climb to finish and it was a few miles away so we popped back on the bike to enjoy riding the ridge for the time being. The views are always so amazing from above rewarding each rider making it to the top.

We now have less than 15 miles left of this journey and try to prolong the end by stopping at Pike’s Peak State Park—as John Johnson would say, “WOW, WOW, WOW!” This stop was definitely a highlight to the tour. We stopped to take many pictures and say some good-byes to tour riders enjoying the view.

We were quickly back to McGregor where our van awaited to take us home after 5 days on tour. Rick and crew were there to greet us with clean towels and a shower before we all travelled for home.



The trip was a challenge with many new experiences—some good and some not so good. The hills were not only hard on us but also on our bike. On our way home, we paid Kevin a visit at the Blue Heron Bike Shop. The rear free-wheel hub will need to be rebuilt so no biking for a least a week but the rest will be good as we also need to rejuvenate our bodies.

Tri-State Ride Day #4

Day 4—Galena, IL to Dyersville, IA: 53.10 miles
Comments: Ride Time was 4 hours 56 minutes, average speed: 10.7

Not sure we’re up for more hills today but we were on the seat of the bike by 7:00 a.m. heading towards Dubuque, IA where we stopped for breakfast at a wonderful café called Café Manna Java. We were free to explore the town as the attendant at the Visitor’s Center invited us to bring our bike inside where she would keep an eye on it. We rode up the Fenelon Elevator and then took the free Trolley Tour around town. After spending a few hours in Dubuque, we got back on the bike to take on what ended up being a gruesome ride towards Dyersville. The sun was becoming very hot and we biked a long way before we saw a rest stop set up for us at a church along the route. We downed some Gatorade and water and pedaled on towards Dyersville.

Just outside of Dyersville was the 1980’s Movie Set, Field of Dreams. We pedaled into the park and got a few pictures then back on the bike to seek our camp site for the night at the Catholic High School in Dyersville. Before we packed the bike away for the night, we biked into town to find a pub to have a drink and discuss the route for the day. The rain has finally moved out of the area and the forecast looks good for the next few days. The tour staff shuttled all interested riders into town for supper and music at the Groovy Grounds. We really enjoyed this place—very good food. Dennis and I then walked back to our tent site where we visited with other riders and then crawled into the tent where we enjoyed our first cool, rainless night of sleep since the tour began. We were awed by the fact that we biked in three different states today but we are looking forward to seeing our van again tomorrow.

Tri-State Ride Day #3

Day 3—Layover in Galena, IL

We took a rest day from biking the hills and walked into Galena to enjoy more of the city. The rain is still with us so we decided a visit to the Galena Library would be a nice way to spend some time. After checking in on life outside of our tour via the free library internet, we spent some time reading. Other riders thought this was a nice way to spend the day and we chatted with each as they filtered in and out of the library. The Victory Café fed us breakfast and we lunched at Boone’s with Gloria and Marshall. Pizza at Cannova’s was so good on Tuesday that we decided to dine there again while in town. The tour group had a cheese and wine tasting party going on at Turner Hall (where the inside campers were staying) and we joined them for a bit and then walked back to our camp site at the City Park. I was resting in our tent—keeping away from the mosquitoes, actually—when the local police approached and informed us of heavy rains expected around 11:00 p.m. After making a call to Tym, our Shuttleguy tour guide, it was decided that we should all evacuate to Turner Hall. So, the Tour staff began dismantling our camp site and we took all supplies needed for the night and joined the other campers at Turner Hall for a new experience of sleeping with 50 other campers in one room. Lights went out at 11:00 p.m.

Tri-State Ride Day #2

Day 2—Potosi, WI to Galena, IL: 39.56 miles
Comments: Ride Time was 3 hours 36 minutes, average speed: 10.9

Oh, the hills! We started the day off great with a breakfast cooked by the Potosi Elementary School cooks. They served us a very delicious egg bake, oatmeal, fruit, French toast, bagels, cookies, juice… all for the low price of $8 per rider. That meal really got our motors running—they must have known what kind of riding day we were in for. We left Potosi around 7:00 a.m. under cloudy skies and with a temperature in the low 70’s.

Our first rest stop along the route was at Dickyville, WI at the Holy Ghost Grotto. We spent some time here with other riders enjoying the beauty of the Grotto and taking many pictures.

This was a shorter mile day but the hills kept the route challenging. We pedaled into Galena around Noon and surprised the tour crew with our early arrival. We found our tent at the City of Galena Water Park and helped ourselves to towels and the showers. We were now ready to check out the historic town of Galena. We stopped at Benjamin’s for lunch where I had an excellent fish sandwich. We then went on a 6-mile walk around the town and back to camp where we ordered pizza from Cannova’s to be delivered to our tent on the hill. Tom from La Crosse has been spending the week with our group as his wife, Jenny bikes the routes. I noticed he had a guitar and asked if he would play for us. After our pizza, a group gathered for an old fashioned sing-a-long. The evening was perfect and to end it all, we were blessed with the viewing of a brilliant rainbow across the sky.