The Start of Something Big Day 2 - Rain Make the River

Marquette, IA to Lake George, MN:  437.3 miles

Some of the hotel reviews mentioned train horns all night, and the trains did not disappoint.  They did seem to stop around the time I couldn't sleep anymore.  Suffice to say, it wasn't the best night of sleep I've ever had.  A few cups of hotel coffee could only do so much, even while I really appreciate a coffee maker in the room.

By a little after 6:00 I was bouncing off the hotel room walls ready to go.  There was rain in the area and I thought that if I left a bit early, I could get ahead of it.  I originally was going to hop over to the Wisconsin side of the river, but stayed on the Iowa side and was glad I did as a beautiful sunrise over the Mississippi River pushed me down the road.  The first hour on the road was absolutely magical.

After that, things did go down hill just a bit.  The rain I was trying to get ahead of got ahead of me.  It started with a light spitting but soon enough it became more than that.  When I left, I had put on my rain pants assuming they were probably not needed.  They were.  Around La Crescent, MN, it turned into a full on thunderstorm.  The rain did let up from there, but I remained wet all the way to Minneapolis.

I hadn't seen my cousin Susan in several years and thought it would be fun to visit if she could since I was going to be going through Minneapolis.  Luckily she could make it work, so after hugging the Mississippi River for two half days, I headed to her house.  I got there early, so we had a chance to visit for a while and I was able to meet her SO.  We went to lunch at a café which overlooks the Mississippi River.  Pork Belly was probably not the best choice before a few more hours on the motorcycle, but it was good.  

I was curious what the big orange balls in the river were for?

It was great getting a chance to see her and catch up.  It is too easy to see cousins as frozen in time when we were kids, but life's twists and turns do happen to all of us.

I was originally planning on heading to the Kensington Runestone Museum, but there just wasn't time since it is only open until 4:00.  Not going was probably the right decision since it was a long day as it was.  This is the second time I did not make it to the museum (reason to try again...).

Back on the bike I headed north.  It should have been a really nice ride, but mentally it was brutal.  It was really windy and temperatures were dropping steadily.  It did take longer than it should have to get to Lake George, but it felt twice as long.

Once at the hotel I got some snacks before eating another noodle bowl for dinner.  After being cold on the bike it was nice to crank the heat in the hotel room to cook myself back into warmth.