bike trip to mississippi palisades

   
  Our bike trip started out as a trip to Thomson to see a cheese-making demonstration at the newly opening Heirloom Cafe. Mark and Catherine told me that the presenter would be using their raw milk, and I was specially interested because I have been wanting to do just that. Then I suggested that we bike there, then one of us suggested that we just continue on to the Palisades and camp there.  So Saturday morning Jerome and I took off on his Next bike with a trailer for sleeping bags etc. and the battered Schwinn that we found laid out for trash that Bill fixed up.

We arrived a little late and missed the cheese-making, but I appreciated the chance to visit Thomson Heirloom Solutions where they sell Heirloom seeds and solar harvesting equipment.  I listened to Nick (seed connoisseur) and Jerome talk about gardening, farming, as well as chipping in some questions here and there. Next we stopped through to visit a bike shop that we had passed, Arnold's Bikes and Embroidery. The owner, I can't remember his name right now, but I know the last name is Arnold, let us play on his recumbent bikes and even ride his own bike. It was so fun! I am in love with recumbent bikes now. He also put some grease on the bearings of the rear wheel of the Schwinn for us so that it would stop that weird grinding noise it was making intermittently.  He came out with some copper wool and said that Schwinns are known for their chrome, scrubbing the rust spots right off. Then he sent the copper wool with us and told us to shine it up while we were camping.  

[dragonfly coming out of nymph stage at the river]

We continued on the Great River Bike Trail to the Palisades, altogether around 25 miles on a hot day and then jumped into the Mississippi where we hollered and waved to people at the Palisades lookout, snacked, rested our sore butts, swam, and made hair extensions out of sea weed (is it called that in the Mississippi?). I had gotten hungry/hot grumpy but the water made me feel better. Our intention had been to camp at the Palisades but the mosquitos were horrible at night (and we were sleeping in a hammock and sleeping bag, no tent) so we left our campsite in the middle of the night to head back and find somewhere along the way to lay out our bags where there might be a breeze or less mosquitos.

[view from where I woke up]

The ride in the dark was amazing! To the left was the park with fireflies scattered throughout the trees, to the right was the river and fog. After a bit a train rode next to us, offering one of those timeless feelings. It was one of those magical times where I was reminded of what true beauty there can be in the world.  We found a stopping place off of the side of the road a couple of hours in, and hiding our bikes in the trees slept very comfortably until sunrise when we took off for home.  We ate some wild blackberries and mulberries along the trail and snapped pictures of other plants we will look up later.

Upon arriving home we were told that Zac, Tuara, and Sabastein had gathered 18 eggs the day before, so of course we devoured some and fell asleep. My body feels fantastic after that trip now that the saddle-sore feeling has faded. We have decided that next time we won't bring the trailer and we will bring the tent--strapped to a bike.  It was definitely a beautiful trail that I would love to bike again sometime.

There's nothing like nature to help me fall back in love with my life when I'm feeling burnt.