Independence day - July 4th

Our starting point today was La Crosse,WI that we could hardly reach yesterday after the heaviest rainshowers we have ever ridden through. It all began in Chicago which we left around 10.00am to meet Gary in Mount Horeb at a place called "Schubert's Cafe" but thanks to rainshowers, holiday traffic and construction sites on the Interstate we were more than two hours late in Mount Horeb and missed Gary. Sorry so much, Gary - it was really a shame. So we stayed for lunch at Schubert's Cafe while outside it started to rain cats and dogs. So we decided to put our rainsuits on and restart riding. After four hours we arrived in La Crosse where we had to check 5 hotels for a room, because they had a Soccer tournament and the River Festival in town that attracted lots of people; but we weren't alone, along with us there were two other bikers, Anthony and Robert from Illinois, on their way to the Blackhills, who also got showered. But we all got a room and some nice dinner in Edwardo's Pizzeria.
This morning it slowly dried out and after some coffee we had to say GoodBye to our fellow riders and head for Minneapolis. We were a bit late thanks to Franz' limited packing skills - or better to say his masses of luggage (his wife told him that two trousers per week are necessary); finally we got off and had a hot, sunny day riding along the Mississippi with all his Swamps. We passed Lake City and tons of other bikers, who had also a good time on 4th of July. Around 5pm we reached St.Paul, had a coffee at Starbucks, where we started chatting with Martha, who knows ZMM and rode to SanFranciso back in '74 on her Norton Commander. She told us where to stay. Thanks so much.
Assumingly we almost had everything the last days, hot and rainy weather, good(meeting Anthony,Robert and Martha) and bad luck (missing Gary). Let's see what happens tomorrow when the ZENRIDE finally starts.