Good Company = Quick Miles

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[The beginning of the second half]
[This is starting to feel more like TRAM]

[The ride along Lake Pepin]

[Mmm - cake. It certainly got someone's attention]

We began the second half of our Odyssey in the company of good friends. Mark Westpfahl is planning on spending a couple of days following us in his van while simultaneously carrying our packs and acting as our own personal photographer/stalker. In addition to our ride support, my brother Mike and our TRAM teammates David Eisenstat and Jeff Erickson decided to ride along with us for the 70 miles to Lake City. Ben and I began the morning by riding a relaxing 8 miles over to David's house where we met up with David, Jeff and Mike. From there we chatted and biked our way to Hastings. It is amazing how quickly the miles roll by when you have good conversation and stories to tell and hear. We stopped at a gas station in Hastings for a quick rest and just happened to run into Kevin who decided to stop at the very same place for a break. So phone calls and searching later in Redwing were avoided and our growing group exuberantly made our way down hill into Welch. There we had a lovely little stop where we managed to tear through an entire package of sandwich cookies before getting on the Cannon Valley Trail and following it into Redwing. We took in the beauty of the bluffs and the river before climbing back on our bikes and finding our way to highway 61. Before we knew it Redwing was far behind us and we were in Lake City where our riding buddies were due to depart. Lunch seemed a good way to soften the goodbyes, so we found a little restaurant and had some food...and cake (I turn 30 tomorrow!). My mom met us for lunch and was the taxi to return the worn out riders. After lunch, Ben, Kevin, and I made our way the final 13 miles down to Wabasha where we are spending the night. While we arrived a little later than normal, the standard pain and difficulty of 87 miles and hours of biking had been tampered by the presence of friends. Tomorrow we continue our our way south along the mighty Mississippi and, with any luck, will be reaching yet another state - exciting Iowa!