Day 29 Winona, Minnesota (92 miles)

After leaving Owatonna, today's ride will be one of rolling hills and busy traffic in places. The riders will go through the city of Rochester, home of the world famous Mayo Clinic on their way Winona. They will be staying in the dorms at Saint Mary's University tonight.

Something about Winona: Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf.


Sugar Loaf

The city is named after Princess We-Noh-Nah, daughter of Chief Wapasha. Temperatures in Winona are generally very mild by Minnesota standards year-round; the January mean is 17.6°, while that of July is 75.8°. Steamboat Days is the annual celebration in Winona. It is celebrated with a carnival, fireworks, a parade, and many other activities. A curiousity: Mud retrieved from Lake Winona is used to make the thermal tiles found on the surface of the space shuttle for reentry in to the Earth's atmosphere.


Aerial View of Winona

Winona became the site of the first normal school west of the Mississippi in 1858 with the establishment of Winona Normal School (now Winona State University). Saint Mary's College (now Saint Mary's University) was founded as a private Roman Catholic school in 1912. Saint Mary's facilities are now used, owned, and/or operated by Winona State University. Heffron Hall is a residential hall at Saint Mary's University that was built in 1920. There is talk that this dorm is actually haunted by a ghost.

Today's weather forecast for Winona:
82.2 °F
Scattered Clouds
Humidity: 61%
Dew Point: 67 °F
Wind: 0.0 mph
Wind Gust: 0.0 mph
Pressure: 29.87 in (Steady)
Heat Index: 85 °F
Visibility: 10.0 miles

From Chuck's Face Book: Crossed the 2000 mile mark today. Crossing the Mississippi River tomorrow and headed to Cheese Country..Only 16 more days of riding. This is going toooooo fast. But loving it.


2000 mile marker

Chuck said when he left Owatonna the shoulder of the road got nicer to ride on. It was in the 80’s, humid, overcast and they had a light headwind. The 1st 75 miles were relatively flat with farm lands on both sides of the road. Because the towns were getting closer together he said that the traffic was busier and noisier. Especially going through Rochester.

In Rochester he was riding with Janet when a bicyclist came across the road to where they were stopped. The bicyclist had a strong accent and didn't speak English very well. Chuck said that he had the funniest gear set up on his bike. He had strapped his backpacks to the front and back of his bike. He wanted to know where the bike store was at so that he could get gear bags like Janet and Chuck had. Chuck laughed because they were standing in front of the bike store. Unfortunately for the bicyclist the shop was closed. He was riding his bike from Chicago to Minneapolis, so at least he didn't have very much farther to go.

Chuck said that the last 15 - 20 miles of the ride were gorgeous when he turned onto Country Club road. It was very green with farms, rolling hills, and more trees. He also enjoyed the well manicured lawns. As he entered Winona, there were the two big beautiful lakes on each side of the road. They stayed at the same dorms and ate at the same cafeteria that we stayed at in 2008.