6/25/19  

We stopped for breakfast at Johnson’s Café but we had one small problem.  It didn’t open until 7:00 a.m. but we arrived at 6:30 a.m.  We had some miss communication.

When they did open the regulars ordered as they came in and us strangers had to wait until the server came to our table.  Smart business.

The  plates were large and filling.  Then it was on the road and it started out with the first of 3 major climbs and a many other smaller but challenging climbs.  Of course with climbs come some fun descents.  One of these allow me to achieve a max speed of 43 MPH.  My new bike is more stable on the descents than my old bike.   This was fun.

We had a rest stop in New Albin Iowa.  We went into a small café for a mid afternoon meal.  There were locals mainly talking.  One lady asked where Ed and I were from.  One chimed in that her granddaughter had just moved to Texas when I mentioned I was from Houston.

Her granddaughter was just hired on as a ranch hand in south Texas.  I asked her if the ranch might be the King Ranch.  I told her a little about the King Ranch which made her excited to ask her granddaughter.

Shortly after leaving New Albin we crossed into Minnesota.  Since we weren’t on a major highway they didn’t have a real large state sign but it was better than Illinois.

About 2 miles outside of Brownsville we made two stops.  One was an overlook of the Mississippi River.  On the far side of the river is Wisconsin.

And the other one was to take pictures of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

We camped tonight at the local baseball park.  We took our garden hose shower with the propane heater.  Then went to  the local pizza joint.

We had no internet and limited cell phone service.  This can make it kind of depressing.