Day 50 – Nesbitt’s Nursery, WI, Hwy 35 to Kellogg, MN

24.08.2015

Nesbitt's Nursery, WI, Hwy 35

Diamond Campground, Kellogg, MN

96

59,652

4321,2

2685,07

19

18,34

648

26148

In the morning I had a nice chat with Leah’s brother, Lee, about my tour, cycling and his tree farm. Him, Leah and her husband had bought the tree farm in 1995 and together built the new buildings including the restaurant with huge kitchen so that Leah as a chef would have a livelihood when all of them moved up from further south. Lee said he really enjoyed working with his brother in law who seems very skilled in almost anything that has to do with construction and machinery. I always admire this entrepreneurship, maybe because my own path was so clearly outlined from the beginning that I never had to plunge into an adventure of that sort and see where it led to … At Red Wing, after crossing the Mississippi once again back into Minnesota, I had a nice breakfast (a Mexican omelette with hash browns and a lot of coffee plus orange juice – for those of you who wonder what kind of breakfast I am talking of 😉 ) and found out that the change of landscape that I had already noticed was due to the fact that the glaciers of the last ice age had not touched this area. I am getting south of the “drift-area” as the regions are called that were razed by the glaciers. The round hills which I keep seeing now are “drumlins” just as they can be seen to the east of Lake Constance in Germany, where Susanne and I cycled a few years ago. The areas formed by the glaciers – like in Montana and North Dakota – today show a mostly flat to rolling landscape interrupted only by the valleys of rivers and large creeks, as I have already described in my itinerary. As it happens, the town of Red Wing, where I had my extended breakfast, shows a good example of exposed bedrock which was untouched by the glaciers and therefore intact as it was created millions of years ago. Here, at the junction of US 61 and 63, you can see an exposed fault running through very old rock from the Cumbrian Age. Yellow and greenish layers are clearly visible from two old time periods the experts call the “Jordan Sandstone” and the older “Franconia Sandstone” which is greenish. See picture. The Mississippi, whose meager headwaters I saw at Lake Itaska, and which had formed a “normal” river has by now completely changed. No longer a single line of water it now seems to spread out over an increasing area. The valley is getting wider and wider, the borders are formed by steep bluffs, almost perpendicular hills. And the river seems to have become ten or more rivers divided by sandbanks, wooded islands and swamps. (Tonight I’ll have to be aware of mosquitoes again, I’m afraid) When I came to Lake Pepin and the town of "Lake City" I was reminded of our Lake Baldeney at home in Germany; however, this Lake, which is officially dclared "Birthplace of Waterskiing", is four times as long and twice as wide, but basically a lake fed by the Mississippi, just as Lake Baldeney is fed by the river "Ruhr". And both are sites of leisure and relaxation ... I decided not to do so many kms today because I calculated that in four days I’ll be in Muscatine, which leaves me one day to find a good place to leave my bike for a week when travelling with Niklas by car. I found a campsite directly on the river but it was 4 kms from the highway which I will have to backtrack tomorrow … Not too nice, but ok. And I met Chad and his son Mason at this campsite (Pioneer Campsite Resort) where they have a Camper for weekends. Mason told me interesting things about his high school subjects (see picture). He has a subject called “Personal Finances” which involves maths in the economic world. Now, that would be interesting for our kids at home, too! See image of “Table of Contents”. Chad is involved in producing new “Stuffy Nose Strips” which help you breathe better. Or are they not so new? I seem to remember this from Soccer at home… In any case he told me that when they were first used in horse races and the winning horse wore them this caused a scandal until they were legalized by the officials … I was invited by Chad and his son to some hamburgers and slices of pizza so I didn't even have to get out my newly aqcuired provisions ... No pics today, either, only phone connection …