From High-Tech to No-Tech in Under 30 Hours

At 8 am Tuesday morning, we left Rochester, MN, home of the Mayo Clinic, where some of the most sophisticated medicine in the world is practiced. A mere 29 hours later, at 1 pm on Wednesday, we arrived at our expected destination of Cashton, WI, home to a large Amish population. The Amish are a Christian sect that originated in the late 1600's in Germany and the German-speaking part of Switzerland, practicing simple living, plain dress, and avoidance of modern technologies such as electricity and motorized vehicles.

In between, we spent Tuesday night in Houston, MN, then crossed the state border into Wisconsin on Wednesday morning. The border is the Mississippi River.

As noted above, our expected destination on Wednesday was Cashton, WI, where we had a reservation at a B&B. We got to the B&B at 2 pm, but there was no one there to let us in. After waiting until 4 pm for someone to arrive, we left and cycled 27 more miles along our route to Hillsboro, WI, the next town with lodging. It was a long, hilly day, but the upside is that Thursday will be a short day.

Entering Wisconsin

Crossing the Mississippi

An Amish horse & buggy in Cashton

An Amish farmer at work with his horses

A road sign in Cashton

Peter getting a haircut in Cashton, to look presentable when lecturing at U Wisconsin later in the week

Lecturing and Visiting Friends at the Mayo Clinic

     On Monday, we biked through the rain from Faribeault to Rochester, MN, home of the Mayo Clinic. The Clinic grew out of a medical practice started in Rochester in the late 1800's by Dr. William Worrell Mayo and his sons, Drs. William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo. It has grown remarkably in size and reputation: it has over 1700 physicians in Rochester, Scottsdale AZ, and Jacksonville FL, and ranked second among all US Hospitals in the most recent US News & World Report rankings. Its presence in Rochester is huge, with seemingly every building being a Mayo facility or one closely related to Mayo (e.g., a hotel where patients from all over the world stay when they come to be receive medical care there).
     We were honored to have the opportunity to lecture there, and also very pleased to get together with our friends: Rusty Brown and his wife Tina, Carl Reading, and Bill Charboneau. Rusty, Carl, and Bill are radiologists at Mayo. Rusty and Tina generously put us up at their beautiful home and prepared us a wonderful dinner, with some of the ingredients coming directly from their garden.

Drenched in the rain

With our friends Rusty Brown & Carl Reading

With our friend Bill Charbonneau

Rusty and Tina Brown, our wonderful hosts

With Drs. William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo

The dramatic interior of the Gonda Building at Mayo Clinic

Carol lecturing

Marvelous Minneapolis

We arrived in Minneapolis on Friday. After doing teaching sessions at the University of Minnesota Radiology Department on Friday afternoon, we spent a non-biking day in the city on Saturday before biking 58 miles to Faribeault, MN on Sunday. We really enjoyed, and were impressed with, Minneapolis. Its downtown appears to be a vibrant, thriving place, with superb restaurants (a useful quality when on a calorie-burning trip like ours). Another impressive fact, relevant to our trip, is that Minneapolis was just named by Bicycling Magazine as America's best bicycle city. The city has 83 miles of bike trails and another 44 miles of on-street bikeways. Though we almost always shun bike paths and trails, we rode along their trails for the last few miles into the city on Friday and the first few miles out of the city on Sunday.

Minneapolis has also adapted to its cold environment very well. It has an extensive "skyway" system of covered bridges between buildings: the world's largest continuous network of skyways, 8 miles long connecting 69 blocks in downtown Minneapolis that allow you to travel from building to building without going outdoors. It also has an indoor amusement park, with several roller coasters and other rides, inside what is probably the most visited tourist attraction in America: the Mall of America, where we went on Sunday to buy specialty socks.

Our lobster dish that's a work of art (at the art museum's restaurant)

 A stomach-churning roller coaster at the Mall of America (we didn't take it, just listened to the screams of those who did)

Another ride at the mall

Crossing the Mississippi River on our way out of Minneapolis

A Day of Contrasts

Friday began and ended in strikingly contrasting ways. We woke up in the morning in a grungy motel in Silver Lake, MN and ended the day having dinner at an upscale restaurant in Minneapolis with the U of Minnesota Chair of Radiology and others in his department. In between, we cycled through a thunderstorm (a little nerve-wracking as the lightning exploded around us), checked into the Westin Minneapolis Hotel, and did teaching sessions with the U of Minnesota radiology residents.

The Silver Lake Motel

6:15 am: The weather as we took off on our bikes (image downloaded from the web)

9 am: Undressing on the side of the road, once the rain subsided

11:30 am: Arriving at the Westin Minneapolis

11:45 am: In our lovely, spacious room (a nice change after weeks of mostly mediocre roadside motels)

2:30 pm: Arriving at the U of Minnesota Hospital

3 pm: Getting set to start our teaching sessions

8 pm: At dinner with (L to R): Drs. Jessica Kuehn-Hajder, Chuck Dietz (department chair), Mike Nelson, & Tim Emory (residency program director)

Protecting Ourselves Against Man's (But Not Peter's) Best Friend

     The weather on Thursday was very unpleasant for cycling: fairly strong wind in our faces for the entire 55 mile route, and rain for much of the time. But we're tough, so with raingear and drafting we arrived at our destination town of Silver Lake, MN (population 799) safe and sound, and in good spirits.
     One of the pleasant surprises of our trip so far has been the absence of significant problems with dogs. Peter is afraid of, and hates, dogs, so his biggest concern when we planned the trip was not his strength and stamina for crossing the Rockies or biking 3800 miles, but dog attacks. He researched dog-protection accessories, and learned that the options are ultrasonic dog repellers (which are not very effective) and pepper spray. Pepper spray is illegal in a number of states, including Massachusetts, so he ordered it online for delivery to Carol's daughter Nicky in Philadelphia. He carries it in a holster attached to his bike (see picture below), but fortunately has not had to use it yet. In the 2500 miles we've cycled so far, only 4 dogs have run after us. Each of those times, Peter pulled out the can of pepper spray ready to use it, but in each case we were able to outrun the dogs or they proved not to be dangerous.

Taking a break from the wind and rain on Thursday

Can of pepper spray

Pepper spray in its holster on Peter's bike

Peter practicing his technique for using the spray

We're Now in Minnesota

Our progress eastward has now taken us into Minnesota. We crossed the state border from South Dakota 1 mile into our ride on Wednesday, then cycled for 76 miles in Minnesota. We reached our destination town, Willmar MN (population 18,000), at 1 pm, and were fortunate to find an excellent Greek/Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch and dinner.

Entering Minnesota on Wednesday morning

A pleasant change from lunches sitting in drainage ditches

Time to Split Up

After five wonderful days with Carol's father Martin Beer, sister Janet Garrett, and brother-in-law John Garrett, they left us on Tuesday afternoon. Janet and John were fortunate to have 5 days of good biking terrain and excellent weather (minimal rain, great winds).

Janet, John, and Martin

A proud father with two of his daughters

The high-class lodging that Janet, John, and Martin missed out on by departing