A melancholy day in my head.
Rather pretty along the Mississippi- but scary narrow highway with no shoulder at the start and end of the ride. Quite a bit of hills, which was nice.
We crunched over mayflies on a bridge leaving la crosse... Back to Minnesota, and finally into Iowa. I got a pop and a smoked sausage just across the border, and drank the soda while I rode. I kept the smoked sausage in my pocket and nibbled on it all day. A bit of it remains on my motel table!
I had the glass bottle in my back pocket when I got to the highway construction stopsign man. I asked him if he had a trash can, and he said to chuck it down by the river :(
I carried it to the ice cream place and tossed it there.
We had a 66mile day, and 35 or so were on the same highway! The scenery really changed, though.

I almost forgot! The cornfields today were labeled with their hybrid name or brand name. One type had really upright leaves and were very close together. The corn is nicking here- didn't seem close in Minnesota. Weird!

I am happy I stopped and saw the effigy mounds. I hadnt heard of them before. It's always nice to go to a national monument center. The video was interesting, and even with a limited visit time, I saw a few mounds. I'm a but sad I didn't go look at more of the mounds- because who knows if I'll be back this way again?!
Here I am in Mac Gregor, a former port town that at one point had 10000 people living here. Seeing all the old buildings, I believe it! Now it has a weird mall thing with bad ice cream- and a specialty food/wine shop with about a billion kinds of meat, wine, and cheeses. We're at a waterfront motel that's been here since the 50's. Great river view.
I guess tomorrow we climb up and follow the river looking down.