La Crosse Wisconsin Wedding

Today we were honored to attend the wedding of our niece Zoe Ault Brinker to Jason Niemuth. The venue looked out from the banks of the fast flowing Mississippi. The weather was perfect. The couple looked radiant in their devotion to one another and the bride's dress 'was to die for.' That's pretty much been my response when folks started talking politics at the wedding. "Wasn't Zoe's dress just to die for." So far it has worked well for changing the subject.

Nancy and I have been in LaCrosse since picking Augie up in Madison Wisconsin earlier in the week. Sophie flew in a few days ago. Madison was pretty cool. Lots of lakes in the city itself and a great bicycling infrastructure. La Crosse is a special town in its own right. It is located in the Driftless region of western Wisconsin/eastern Minnesota. The Driftless gets its name from tge fact that the glacial 'drift' bypassed the area leaving lots of pre ice age topography intact. Very pretty area. Worth a visit.

Nancy and I were able to get in a few bike rides in the area. We took a ride up to Trempeleau Wisconsin along an old railroad bed trail today. If Trempeleau sounds French it is due to the Trappeurs making their way along the Mississippi bringing in pelts for the beaver hat craze back in Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Pre Louisiana purchase. Napoleon was trying to fund his armies and needed the cash, so he sold the rights to the center of the continent. Lots of French names still dot the area.

Augie surprised me yesterday with an interesting invitation. He's off to southeast Asia next month. He asked me to join him in Vietnam for an epic motorcycle ride from Saigon to Hanoi. Not something I could take a pass on. We chose the Ho Chi Minh trail as a route. Here's a link to a blog detailing the route:
http://vietnamcoracle.com/saigon-to-hanoi-by-mo…

Tomorrow we're off toward Denver to visit Nancy's dad, Ed Wood, before heading into the Utah desert for s few weeks. We'll be back in Santa Cruz by late September.Read more