A Challenging Travel Day and a Really Big River

The first 30 miles weren't bad. But all of a sudden the pavement changed on I-90 and we were were on a washboard. We got bounced around for miles and miles. We kept wondering what Minnesota is doing with it's federal highway dollars. Every so often, we'd hit a patch of smoother road and everything would quiet down for awhile until the next rough patch. All in all, I guess we had 40 or more miles of really bad pavement. We also had a strong crosswind to deal with, so traveling today presented some opportunities for practicing patience.

Finally, we came to the end of Minnesota at the mighty Mississippi River. This is a view of part of the river as we crossed:

We arrived at Neshonoc Lake Campround, about 8 miles outside of LaCrosse, Wisconsin about 12:30. We traveled 197 miles and got 8.3 mpg, which I think is fairly good considering the awful road conditions. We bought fuel just before leaving Minnesota and paid $4.359 per gallon, cash price.

This campground is pretty large, with over 300 sites and 2 pools. It is situated along Neshonoc Lake. We're on the upper level at the end of a row. Below is our view in front of us. We don't have a lake view:

Below is our site. There is plenty of space between sites. We'll be here 2 nights. This is definitely an improvement over the campground we just left, but it should be - we're paying almost 4 times more per night!

I think tomorrow we'll do some exploring around LaCrosse and the river. We're just glad to be off I-90 in Minnesota!