OOOkAAAy

It's been a while so this is going to be tough, but using my journal as a crutch, I can hopefully recount the events of last week.
The most impressionable place we stopped after Dyersville was Elkader, this awesome little town with historic ties to Algeria. We ate at an amazing Algerian restaurant called Schera's, and chatted with the owner, who is super nice =). Highly recommend.
On the night of June 3rd we camped up on Pike's Peak and in the morning enjoyed the view of upper Mississippi.

We rode out through Harper's Ferry and into Lansing.
LANSING HO!

It is really stunning. Who knew there was anything so beautiful in Iowa?

Then we passed the state line into Minnesota.

Minnesoootaaa. Ooookaaay?

That night we camped outside of Brownsville at a place that was technically full, but the guy we sat next to in the local bar knew that host of the site and called him up for us and asked him to give us a little patch of grass somewhere. It was great! We were right on the banks of the swollen Mississippi and had a big campfire and our first swim in the river.

On July Fourth we road into Winona. We rode along a ridge with amazing views along flat, curving roads with amazing views of the valley's below. That afternoon we had our first sampling of frozen custard! yes!
Unfortunately we didn't end up anywhere very festive that evening. We camped at this wierd and mosquito-infested state park, John A. Latsch statepark (don't go there) and we were really beat. We roasted sausages over the campfire and grilled asparagus. Atleast the food was good.

We bolted out of there first thing in the morning to a glowing sunrise and churned out 15 miles in a flash. We flew through Kellog/Wabasha and Frontenac.

On our way to Lake City we found and hailed our third Mascott: Stone-Age Squirrle!!

In Lake City(The birthplace of waterskiing - FYI), just our luck again, the library was closed, but we met this very cool guy, Ron (awesome 'stash) who was selling his paintings at the local market and he let us use his computer to check our emails. He also happened to write for a local paper and did an article on our travels =) Sweet, media coverage.
We left the picturesque lake views for Red Wing,(WI-brief crossover) where we stopped at a bike shop before dinner and I fixed another broken spoke. We left Stone-Age Squirrle there because he smelled a bit funny. Then we did laundry at our campsite and hid out in our tent from the hoards of Mosquitos.

On the 6th we got in 40 miles pretty early in the day, which was really lucky because temperatures were very soon in the high 90's. We hung out in Stillwater for quite some time (Very cute place with a gazillion antique stores) and then biked in the sweltering heat almost all the way to Somerset and camped at Float-rite Campsite. The huge grounds were almost empty and the swim in the wide, cool river was like heaven! Lots of dragon flies. Dragon Bike Love

We also saw a fox that day - a big one, run across the street right in front of us! And we saw turtles in a creek and these little fauns -->

That was a good animal day. The best yet, I would say.

We had some beers and couscous with spinach

sauce for dinner and had good conversations about

Into The Wild. Lots more has happened since then, but I'll leave the rest to Lara.

Kuesse,
Maya