Touring Europe!

Tuesday, June 09, 2015
New Prague, Minnesota, United States
Day 11 - Hutchinson to New Prague

What a great day! And how great it is to be able to say that! We so enjoyed our overnight with Leah in Hutchinson, seeing Abby & Ryan and their kids, and meeting Aileen and Josh, and then lots of visiting with Leah . Such hospitality!

We all got up about 7 and Leah had already fed the girls some cereal while Becca went for a 3 ½ mile run (at a sub-9 minute/mile pace!). The rest of us had bacon and eggs and toast, then Leah headed off to work and we packed up the camper. It was already warm at 8 am, and by the time we were ready to ride out at about 9, it was over 70. The plus side is that everything in the camper was dry, and we'd swept it out, so things were cleaner and more comfortable.

So where does Europe come into this day? Well, Dave and Rodney and I had an American breakfast in the typical mid-western America town of Hutchinson. Then we rode off on the bike trail (Hutch is laced with great bike trails!) to connect with Hwy 22 and headed east. We felt good and averaged 15 mph for the 18 miles to Glencoe – a taste of Scotland! The road had wound around and gone gently up and down, but it was fast and pleasant. We took our first break at a Casey’s mini-mart, and since they have terrific donuts, Dave and I each had one for a snack .

From Glencoe, we headed for lunch in "Ireland" – the town of Green Isle, with shamrocks on the water tower and the local baseball team called the “Fighting Irish.”  The roads had continued pretty easy, and we’d made good time, stopping occasionally to take pictures of picturesque farms. The soils in this part of Minnesota are a rich, dark brown with almost a touch of blue at times. And the trees are very green, and the fields are planted with corn or soybeans or occasional peas. We rode US 212 for a few miles eastward, then turned south on Route 25. Before visiting “Ireland,” we rode past “Germany” – the little town of Hamburg. Like so many of these little towns, there was a HUGE brick church. Very pretty. There wasn’t really any breeze, just an occasional puff out of the S/SW, so we were hot when we reached Green Isle. We bought a bag of ice at the mini-mart (they didn’t have a soda fountain) and met Becca and the girls at the very nice baseball park on the east end of town .

Our lunches are always the same – sandwiches, pickles, chips, grapes – but they are so satisfying on our rides! (At lunch today, Becca had to tell Sammi, "Sammi take the grapes out from between your toes, and eat them!"  Not something you expect to have to tell your child.) By the time we mounted up again at about noon, it was pretty hot. I soaked my “puffy” sleeves and the front of my jersey in cold water, and it made the first couple of miles more comfortable.

This was a harder section for me; in spite of the Coke I’d had with lunch, I kept wanting to fall asleep. Which is not a good idea when you’re riding a bike! Dave and Rodney were chatting about compressed natural gas engines, which probably didn’t help me stay awake! We stayed on Rte 25, and I eventually woke up when we enjoyed a long downhill to cross the Minnesota River. There was, of course, an uphill on the other side, but it wasn’t too bad. At the top of the hill, we entered “France” – the town of Belle Plaine . We found a Kwik-Trip on the far side of town (Rodney drives fuel truck for this company) and took our afternoon break. Another Coke revived me, and I soaked my sleeves and jersey again before we left. They stayed fresh and cool for 2 ½ miles! By that time we’d turned east on Route 7 and headed up a pretty steep, longish hill. But it was really pretty – woodlands and flowers along one side, and beautiful farms once we’d reached the top. We rode more slowly now – my average dropped to 14.7 – but it was pleasant and scenic. There was a bit more of a breeze from the south now as we once more rode past “Germany” – the town of Heidelburg. But we didn’t stop, as we were nearing the end of our day, going to “Czechoslovakia,” the town of New Prague. It is a very Czech town, too, in architecture and names. We finished the day with 62 miles at a bit before 3.

Becca had gotten a motel room, and there were no RV parks and no shade in the parking lot, so with the temps up in the 90s (my bike computer said 105-108 all afternoon), Dave and I decided to get a room there too . After a quick clean-up, we took Haydynne and went to the motel’s pool. Becca had taken the girls swimming earlier, and Sammi was asleep. We had a great time relaxing in the pool with Haydynne, then we all rested and stretched a bit, and went to dinner. The FishTale Grill was just down the road and we had a great dinner – I got walleye and a Czech soup that was different, but delicious!

The evening was spent playing cards and planning our last day. Becca and Rodney’s house is only 55 miles away, the weather is supposed to be back in the upper 70s, and a 10 mph west wind should push us along. We had planned a 75 mile ride to Winona, on the Mississippi River for the last day. But the winds are supposed to switch to the east again, and it’s supposed to rain, and the route is very hilly, and all in all, it just doesn’t sound like a fun way to end this year’s ride. Fitting, perhaps, but not fun! So we think we’ll ride 10-20 miles past West Concord and choose a good stopping place for this year, then spend Thursday with the kids just relaxing and playing with our grandchildren. The next year we ride, we’ll start where we left off and see where the road leads from there.


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