6 July 2017
I thought I was doing well; I had the trip report done before I went down for breakfast, but what with this and that (I really need to identify what those are) it was after 9:30 before I pulled out of the motel parking lot.
And I was chagrined to find that my projected arrival time on one of the GPSs was after 1930 (7:30 pm)--that's not good. The one with the real route said 1845--better, but still...a long day.
So up US63 into Iowa and the first stop of the day for fuel in Bloomfield. Casey's only had 87 octane, but one of the pumps was "no ethanol," so that's what I chose--don't remember the difference in price, but the increase in mileage is definitely worth it.
Up past Ottumwa and Sigorney, across I-80, east under Marengo on US6, past / through the Amana Colonies...somewhere on this leg I caught an intriguing whiff of spices, then rolled past what appeared to be some central distributor of such; don't remember the name (it wasn't Frontier, or Tone's).
Around (most of) Cedar Rapids, then mostly up SR13 toward Marquette and across the Mississippi into Wisconsin. Wound my way around a bunch of traffic circles in Prairie du Chien, then realized there was no gas ahead of me, so wound back to a Kwik Trip where only the 91 octane was "no ethanol."
Then back out again, on a road I'm not sure how I found--Irish Ridge Road, then Gran Grae Road--1½ lanes (at most), twisty, hilly, almost scary, since I had no idea how much traffic it ever held. (I think I expected to be routed on SR35 / SR60, which were perhaps a half mile longer.) I doubt I saved any time, but it was certainly entertaining.
I always feel like I'm almost 'home' when I cross into Wisconsin, but I still had 200 miles to go--SR60 along the Wisconsin River, then US61/14 north up to Black River Falls and east on SR54. Then the GPSs disagreed--some wanted to continue on 54, others thought a series of county roads was the better choice. Finally I said "The hell with it..." and punched Xavier's waypoint into one of them and took its suggestions the rest of the way: up to US10, across to CRs S & C and a couple of miles of gravel to X's garage, opening for my arrival.
(BTW, that last tank of gas got me 201 miles, and the "Range To Empty" shows 40 miles. High for the trip, wish the corn lobby would go away.)
Motel: $0
Food: $0
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