Day 22: Hotter than the Hubs of Hell

Elkader, IA to Lynxville, WI

Stats!
Miles biked today: 47.5
Total miles biked on trip so far: 793.8
Max speed: 33.0
# of lynxes spotted in Lynxville: 0 so far
# of heat rash patches on my body: 5

Thanks to everyone for the comments! We are glad people are still reading! :)

Today was HOT. The heat record for this area at this time of year was broken. Tomorrow is meant to be a few degrees worse. It got rough towards the end of the ride, so we called it off early today. Energy-wise, we both felt great, despite all the hills we covered.

And there were a good few hills today. It was another day where I saw a few that I was sure would be walkers, but we ended up climbing them without much problem. We decided to go off the route today, mid-way, and went over into Wisconsin so we could avoid some killer river bluffs. Tracy, who we met in Hannibal, warned us about them and suggested we ride on the Wisconsin side.

When we first crossed over into Wisconsin, it was at Prairie du Chien, WI. I loved this town. I'm adding it to the short list of places that I could live that we've seen on this trip. Right now the list is Blacksburg, VA; St. Louis, MO; and Prairie du Chien, WI. That's it. There have been a lot of really cute towns, but they've mostly been too small to be livable. Prairie du Chien had everything you could want and was really pretty.

After that, we got on the main road that will take us all the way to La Crosse – Route 35. It goes right along the Mississippi and from our map it seemed to be a lot flatter than the route that ACA wanted us to take. But it's a busy road and was kind of terrifying. We're going to stick with it, though, just because I hate hills that much. I really wonder about why ACA chooses the routes they do.

Here's a handy lexicon, in case you ever read the field notes in an ACA map:

Scenic – miserable hills
Rewarding – miserable hills
Breathtaking – really miserable hills
Plain – yes, please
A Bit Boring – easy riding
Adventure – lunacy
Rolling hills – big hills
Steep hills – cliffs
Gravel alternate route – death ride
“It says pedestrians only, but bikes are allowed” - pedestrians only
Heavily trafficked - 4 cars per hour

I don't even know why I read the field and riding notes on the maps. They always give me false hope.

Anyway, today we were riding on the actually heavily trafficked route 35, the sun was beating down, and we just had to throw in the towel at Lynxville, population 179. Our reward is the lovely motel where we're staying – Hoochies II River Roadhouse. I am not kidding.

Naturally, I asked the Hoochies II barman why it was named Hoochies. He didn't know, but said that since they changed the name, they've had a lot of swingers' groups come through. I guess people just assume Hoochies is a swingers bar. Go figure. Yep, it's a bar and grill with a motel, too. Everything you could ever want, all here in Lynxville, home of no lynxes.

I think we're going to try to make it to La Crosse tomorrow, but it's going to be even hotter than today, so I'm not sure if we'll make it. I was breaking out all over in heat rash today.

Please send lots of good vibes for a nice breeze and maybe a few clouds tomorrow!