Packing

Tonight I'm packing my clothes, food and tools into my 2 saddle bags. On my bicycle trip to Madison, I'm packing light, yet have what I need. My bike weights about 26 pounds. The bags total 16 pounds, plus 4 bottles of water.

It's raining hard tonight. By Saturday/Sunday it will be chilly and dry. I checked the long-range forecast, and see the rains will rerun by Tuesday / Wednesday. Humm... Sunday will have a Northwest wind... that would push me down the Mississippi River trails. I decided an earlier launch, at 10:00AM on Sunday, May 10th. I phoned John, and he's a gracious host, and will have the apartment ready for whenever I get there. :-)

With my Gustavus ride last Saturday, I will gladly revise plans to pedal WITH the wind! Yipee!

I will eat a hearty Mother's Day breakfast with Jean, sing in our church choir, and depart shortly afterwards. My goal is to sleep in Winona by Sunday night. That would be the first 100-mile day. If this plan pulls off, I'll arrive at my son John's apartment several days later.

I hope those thigh muscles hold up! It's exciting to plan and anticipate this trip on my Raleigh road bike. When I bought it, it had touring racks, and solid components. It's ready. I'm ready. Hoping to get far down the roads & trails before the rains return. People ask me, "How long is it going to take?" 'A long time!' is my reply!

Last Saturday's ride was a wakeup call to the beautiful spring sights & sounds in the Midwest. I will take our little camera for a few snapshots. And I'll look for some tourist sites on the Mississippi and Sparta/Elroy trails...