This was a short one; two nights, three days. "I want to drive by the river." he says. So, towards Ole Miss we went by way of I-80. Now, to follow the river, you get on Hwy 67 in Iowa. It's pretty much a right turn before you're even totally off the bridge. Now, during this trip and the one we did two weeks later, I've now seen about 2/3 of the Great River Road. Here is a link on it: http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2279/. There are better ones out there, but this will give you an idea of what's on the way. Also, you can pick up the book Road Trip USA. It lists everything you need to know and see along the way. It is by far one of my favorite stretches of road I have ever been on. But, I digress. We headed north on 67. For the most part, you can look out the passenger side window and see the river the whole way. Le Claire is a pretty little town, as are the others you hit along the way. We headed back into IL on 64, going thru Sabula and entering IL north of Savanna on 84. Savanna is a pretty city; I've been thru it on a previous trip with the uncle. We followed 84 thru Galena and into WI. 84 turns into 80 when you enter WI. Hwy 80 is another road I've seen quite a bit of. Rolling hills in the south and slightly rolling in spots in the north. Some decent scenery. We followed it into Cuba City. As mentioned in another post, Cuba City has profiles of all the presidents along the main drag. It's worth checking out. In Cuba City, we jumped on County Road H, heading west. We merged into CR HH into 61/151/35. We passed thru Dickeyville and up to Potosi and Tennyson. Nice towns, nice area. We got on 133 and that took us back toward the river. We followed it thru Cassville and north and east til we hit CR V. We turned onto CR VV to CR A. A heads back to the river. There are times you are on the GRR in WI but not near the river. Kind of weird. A turns to X in Bagley. We followed that til we hit CR C and from that onto 35. We followed 35 all the way to La Crosse where we spent the night at the Holiday Inn downtown. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but at this hotel, you are 2 blocks from the river. Bring your camera. Downtown La Crosse is pretty and you're at Ole Miss.
We head out the next morning and got on CR XX just outside La Crosse. Takes you thru New Amsterdam. We connected again with 35 towards Trempeleau. We stayed on 35 til we hit CR F, at the north end of Prescott. We stayed on that to Hudson where we picked up 35 again. We stayed on that thru St Croix Falls and north to Hwy 70. From there we went to Minocqua. Now, you may be wondering why we were off and on 35 the whole day. It was all about staying near the river. And while I could go on and on about Minocqua, I won't. I'm sure I've given enough about it to interest you.
Next morning we decided to head home. Uncle Roadtripper's leg has been bothering him since last October, some days worse than others. So we started south on 51 on what was supposed to be about 6.5 hours in the saddle. We get to Hwy 8 and he goes "Let's go east to the Lake." So we got over to the lake, and CR LS. Followed that thru Two Rivers and Manitowoc. I think in an older post I commented Two Rivers is "a nice little town." It's a little town of almost 13,000. I never realized it was quite that large. We spent a little time on 43 til we hit 60. We decided to stop for some lunch. It was 3:15. We had left at like 6:30 that morning. We headed west again to 51 and took that home. We pull into town at 7:10 that night and the uncle is like "Wanna get something to eat?" LOL No, I wanna get un-braindead. But, I didn't say that. And thus ends the first trip of 2010.
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