Fall Trip 2025 Day 6

18 September 2025

My route today was the dark blue line on the map, a total of just 276 miles, all on back roads again. As I was still in Minnesota and approaching the Iowa border, I saw my first hawk of the day, sitting on a power line on the right side of the road, watching me drive by. Not five miles later, I saw another hawk in exactly the same position! They could have been matched bookends.

I realized as I approached the bridge across the Mississippi that I had been on that same bridge two years ago! Marquette IA is on the west end of the bridge and Prairie du Chien WI (named “Dog’s Meadow” by the French voyageurs who settled there in 1673) on the east end. In between, the bridge “touches down” on “Island Number One Hundred Seventy-Two” because apparently there were too many islands in the Mississippi to bother giving them all proper names!

In Prairie du Chien, I stopped at a Tesla Supercharger that seems very new based on the concrete, although the chargers are still the older V3 units. As you can see, I was the only car here and I charged from 34-90% in 33 minutes. The chargers are located at a Casey’s gas station and this one was exceptionally clean, even the bathroom! If I’m on this route again, I will absolutely stop here.

While I was waiting for the charge to complete, a Bald Eagle flew by from west to east. I assume it had been fishing in the Mississippi, a mile to the west, and was heading for the forested hills visible to the east. Even more surprising, as soon as it was out of sight, another came flying out of the west following the same path east! I normally see eagles either soaring or perching so it was especially exciting to see them in flight and realize how fast they can fly.

This is my only other photo from today’s trip and it was in Mt Horeb WI not far from the Grumpy Troll Pub. I’m not sure exactly what it is (and I was too lazy to walk over and see) but it has a dragon’s head at each end of the roof peak and a Norwegian flag flying on the pole. There did used to be a Norwegian cultural/historical location not far from here called Little Norway, but it closed in 2012. It’s safe to assume there are a lot of Norwegians in this part of Wisconsin.

I’m now in Rockford IL and will be here for two nights. It will be nice to stay in one place for an entire day after five one-night stays. Here’s where I am so far on the trip. I’m actually over halfway by miles but a bit under halfway by time.