We had a great visit with Chuck and Amanda. They were excellent hosts with beds all set up for everyone, dinner last night and breakfast this morning. We slept in and visited a little before we left, so we did not get on the road until 11:15. This was okay though because we were already planning a short day; the hills were really getting to us!

When leaving the Rickard house, we were greeted by two big hills heading east away from the river. Whoaaaaaa! What a wake up for the legs before even getting them warmed up. Once we got over these the rest of the day was much better. Many of the hills were small enough to get a little speed to get up the next one. In the middle of the day, we had one more really big hill with all the 2-wheelers pushing to save our legs.

We pulled into Osceola about 3:30ish and got ready to stop to check out our options. The girls voted for ice cream at Dairy Queen. I decided that 6 days into the trip without ice cream was too many and we had to remedy the situation now!

We found a hotel on the far side of town, dropped off our belongs, and took our bikes back into town to see a waterfall and find a place to have some dinner. Katie and TJ had fun walking around the waterfall. The rest of us were waiting for them to fall in, but no luck!

Back at the hotel we met a few other touring groups. They were all riding "upwrongs" but were all very nice. One pair started in Fond Du Lac and was making a circle back home after heading down to La Crosse. The other pair started in Minneapolis and are following the NT out east.

We ended the day with a swim in the very HOT pool room and then showers and bed. We will need to get some rest for a big day tomorrow.

30 miles (263 total)