2017 MinnWisMi - Little Falls to Saint Cloud

Friday - September 15 - Little Falls to Saint Cloud
Up at 6:30 to check the weather. It was 63F, 87% RH, and no wind. The predicted morning thunderstorm was none existent but there was an air quality alert for high ozone levels from noon to 8 pm. We decided to head for Saint Cloud....an appropriate name for the day. 

The motel breakfast was pretty minimal so we stopped here for reinforcements.

It was a delicious choice.

Bet granddaughters Tia and Alana would love these!

Time to get moving.

A tailwind is in our future!

Mississippi River crossing #17

Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrating it's 100th anniversary.

The museum is only open on Saturdays so we were not tempted to spend too much time here.

The Lindbergh home.

A part of the Soo Line South Trail at Blanchard Dam. We didn't go all the way across so it doesn't count.

This section is paved.

Holy Family in North Prairie. Doug took the opportunity to do a little cable adjusting.

Mississippi River crossing #18

Lunch time in Rice. Checked out the weather forecast while we were waiting for our meal and now we had, at most, an hour before the rain starts as it is coming from the south. And, of course, that is the direction we are headed so it might be even less time. Waiting it out here didn't seem like an option as it was going to last awhile.

We had just left the restaurant when this veteran's funeral procession turned onto this street. We waited for everyone to get across.  It is 11:45. 

We heard the first thunder at 12:30 but it was pretty far away. Of course we need to go across those train tracks. It is 12:45. Our hour is up.

Shelter showed up just a little after it started raining at 1:00, so we used it to get properly attired and turn on our taillights. It was too warm for rain pants.

We only have about 5 miles to go.

This is the Highway 15 bridge over the Mississippi at Sauk Rapids.

The underside is part of Island View Park. It was scenic and it was dry so we played around a bit. Donna made 6 circles before Doug was happy.

About a mile later we both made more circles.

So we could be on top of the 9th Avenue bridge.

Mississippi River crossing #19

Almost there!

And "there" is a pretty darn nice place to dry out. We consulted all our weather sources and decided this would be a good place to stay tomorrow too.