"Jaunt with Jim" - Bike Ride through Southern Minnesota

Even though I had a picture a day from the bike ride, I want to add more pictures to the group, since the Blackberry doesn’t take very good pictures, I have found out! We arrived at Chatfield, Minnesota, the day before the ride began. A spectacular sunset was not our “sailor’s delight” as the next few days were filled with many showers and rainstorms. Dusty and Karen helped me a lot on this trip as I had never done a ride like this before. Southeastern Minnesota is beautiful with rolling hills, state forests and many rivers; we followed the bike trail along the Root River for a while then worked our way over to the mighty Mississippi, then circled back to Chatfield. We were in Amish country, and one of the tours available was to the Amish farms in the area where we could have viewed quilts, furniture, and many other beautiful items. Another tour was to one of the top 10 caves in the United States, all by Harmony, MN. You can see the limestone along the trail and many sinkholes were in the area. I love the picture of Dusty and Karen riding “into the light”, as you can see how green and wet everything was. After a rainy ride to LaCrescent, we set up camp at the high school then took a boat ride up the Mississippi on a replica steamship. The rest day included drying out a bit, doing laundry and touring LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The next morning began with a pretty steep hill and Karen, Dusty and I gathered for a picture at the rest stop at the top, overlooking the beautiful Mississippi below. Winona featured a lovely lake and great overnight at the college. The next day we worked our way up another big hill and then hit strong headwinds before we settled into Rushford, Minnesota at the high school. The last day we followed the trail to Lanesboro, then took on a steep hill, then a wonderful tailwind blew us back to Chatfield where Ron picked me up for the ride back to Sioux Falls. I felt very honored to have been a part of the ride, and even though it was rainy and difficult for me, I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do this. Thanks again, Dusty and Karen, for all you did for me!