Here is an amazing view from Nelson Dewey State Park. The walk in sites had great views like this. Unfortunately, my (Megan) camera's batteries were dead when we were visiting the walk in sites, but this shot (along with the next three) was taken on a hike along the bluffs of the Mississippi.

We had arrived at the state park Friday night and gone on the bluff walk. The next morning, right after we finished packing our tent and eating breakfast, a huge thunderstorm came in. We read in the car (it was so dark because of the storm we could barely see our books) until the storm passed by about noon. Then the sun came out. This picture was taken right before we took off.

It was very humid and sunny that afternoon. We had a very nice route -- almost no traffic.

Thomas really enjoyed this road -- a lot of butterflies kept jumping out.

We stopped frequently for water breaks.

The landscape.

We decided to take a small detour down a big hill for our lunch break, to the small town of Glen Haven.

At the end of the main street was the Mississippi.

We went to the end of the street. We had to cross over rail road tracks. Several fast moving, loud honking trains zoomed by while we had lunch. It was exciting!

This was the best lunch break spot of all of our bike trips so far. It was shaded, with picnic tables, and amazingly close to the Mississippi.

Another train goes by.

It was so hot it was hard to find motivation to leave the lunch spot to climb back up the giant hill to return to our planned route.

Thomas found this red brick building and the Pabst sign for the bar down the street very interesting.

Here we go, back to our regularly schedule route.

Megan took these pictures -- she picked a scenic rest stop.

Our route was disturbed by a road closed sign. We started on the alternate route, although we were not sure how many miles it was going to add (25?).

Then Megan got a flat tire.

The tire was fixed, and we went on our way. Thomas stopped at a bar and bought about 10 small bottles of water, because we were running low. When we were arriving in Bloomington, in front of the county park, Megan's back tire went flat again. This time, she was out of spare tubes. There was a baseball game going on, and we went to the beer stand to see if we could find a cab. There were not cabs available, but we were so lucky that a lady offered us a ride back to Nelson Dewey State Park. Megan stayed behind with the bikes and gear at the park, and Thomas got a ride back to our car. He returned shortly and we packed our bikes and gear back on the car. Then we drove the remaining distance to Wyalusing State Park.

Here is our campsite at Wyalusing. Thomas really enjoyed watching butterflies in the woods over breakfast.

Thomas found something.

The campsites across the campground had amazing views of the Wisconsin River.

Megan took a picture of the windmills for her Dad. He was featured in a local paper in Colorado, expressing his distaste at how windpills pollute the natural beauty of the landscape.

Read the full story below:

We visited the Mississippi River this weekend for our bike trip. Stephen recommended that we bike along the Mississippi, since foreigners are always excited about this river. And it's true. Thomas says the Mississippi is well known among foreigners. His father and he spent a few days last summer touring the Mississippi. We left after work Friday and stopped at McDonald's in Plattsville, WI. We drove through an interesting town, Potosi, in a big valley with a lot of houses and even a few gun shops. It was very interesting and reminded me of the town with fishermen (Indianford) on our other trip. We arrived at Nelson Dewey State Park in time to put the tent up before sunset, and to go for a hike. We witnesssed what I would consider to be the nicest campsites in Wisconsin that I have seen, the walk in sites at Nelson Dewey. They had a lot of privacy (no neighbors two feet away with a radio, unlike our site), and an amazing view of the Mississippi. Megan discovered that her camera batteries were dead when we were at the sites, but later she took some pictures of the Mississippi with a similar view. We hiked on the bluffs of the Mississippi until it go too dark. Then we returned the the campsite with the radio polution and "enjoyed" more raspberry vodka and candles. The next morning when we woke up we felt a few raindrops, so we hurried and packed up the tent before it got soaked. We had breakfast and then a huge boom of thunder startled us. We took shelter in the car and read for a few hours while the rain came down. It was so dark there was hardly enough light to even read! Finally, at about noon the storm passed and the sun came out. We packed up our bikes and set off. It was super humid, sunny, and hot. We stopped frequently to drink water. The road was very, very quiet and free of traffic. We decided to take a small detour to the small town of Glen Haven, on the Mississippi, for lunch. The detour took us a mile or two straight down a long, long hill. We could not help but think of having to climb back up the hill in the heat after lunch. But, I think it was worth it. I rate our lunch stop in Glen Haven as the best lunch break spot of all of our trips so far. We were right at the Mississippi, with a shaded picnic table. Trains went by a couple of times, at super high speeds and they honked really loudly. It was exciting! There were boaters in the river to watch, too. It was hard to leave the lunch break, especially with that giant hill ahead of us. Thomas liked the town of Glen Haven with the Pabst sign and poor, old buildings.
The hill ended up being managable. Hills often seem like they would be hard to go back up, but really are not so bad when you actually do them. A lot of times when you see them they look almost vertical from a distance, but once you start to climb them, they seem flatter.
We soon came to our turn, and found out the road was closed. We started taking the detour, and Megan got a flat tire! It was the back tire, which she was happy about because last week Megan had had so much trouble with her front tire. Also, changing a back tire is more interesting and challenging than a front tire, because you learn about taking off the chain and how a bike works. She had one extra tube with her, and we fixed it in the shade. We continued on our detour, luckily running into another bar where Thomas bought 10 small bottles of water.
As we were entering the village of Bloomington, Megan's back tire went flat again. This time, she was out of tubes. It went flat right in front of the Bloomington County Park, where a baseball game was going on. Megan's cell phone had no reception (so much for Cingular/AT&T having the largest network). We went to the beer stand to see if we could call a cab, but there were no cabs available in this rural town or even in the entire area. We were soooo lucky that a lady offered us a ride back to our car. Megan stayed with the bikes at the park and read her book, and Thomas got a ride 20 miles back to Nelson Dewey State Park, to get his car. We loaded the car with our bikes and gear, and drove to our destination, Wyalusing State Park. Wyalusing State Park is located on the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. We arrived as the sun was setting, and quickly got to work making our spaghetti dinner. We also took advantage of the hot showers! It was so humid and sticky--I think we might not want to bike when it is so hot out again. Our entire trip I think we only saw 2 other bikers. And this is supposed to be a popular bike route. Thomas found out from the lady who gave him a ride that the roads were all shut because of the Mississippi flooding. More than half of the trails at Wyalusing were also shut--there was a rain storm July 18th where 7 inches of rain came down in a short period of time and caused a lot of damage.
Our site at Wyalusing was nice, but again, we found some nicer ones with better views which we will try to pick next time. Thomas enjoyed watching the butterflies over breakfast. He even saw a Giant Swallowtail, which was one of his highlights. At night we walked past the scenic sites and saw all of the city lights of Prairie du Chien, and even a fireworks show! We planned to hike some of the trails that were still open in Wyalusing, but in the end it was just too hot. We made it about 10 feet.
On the drive home, Megan took a picture for herdad, of the windmills that are just ruining scenic Wisconsin.