The Dakotas – Days 17-19 The Hanlons (We’ve had worse!)

60.3 miles, 2357′ of climbing (772.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

We left Arial’s at 8 as she had to get to work at 8:30 and we didn’t want to impose any longer than we had to. We had a quick breakfast at the Kwik Stop — not scenic, but certainly interesting given the characters going in and out and hanging around. After what WAS a scenic crossing of the Mississippi River from La Crosse to Minnesota, we headed up the MRT (Mississippi River Trail) headed for Fischer Hill Rd in Plainview, home of my longtime friends, Eric & Wanda Hanlon.

A little backstory. Eric & I were in the Consultants’ Network in State College in 1993ish, and later at Roadware in Kylertown. After Roadware relocated the PA office back to Paris, Ontario, Eric & Wanda moved to Minnesota, Wanda’s home state. On my first cross country trip in 2005, I was headed for the Hanlons when I fell and tore up my knee and right gluteus maximus ( for all the deets, see my 2005 Tour blog, July 16-19). Eric drove the 1 1/2 hrs with his pickup to rescue me. Eric, Wanda, Zack, Hannah, & Sam, nursed me for 4 days until I was stable enough to move on. Also at the time, Eric was growing grapes and making wine as a hobby.

Fast forward 20 years. The winery grew from a hobby to a full-fledged operation, with Eric taking care of the production side, and Wanda running the Winery and marketing, et al. When Dana and I rode up to 10832 Fischer Hill Rd (I was determined to go on my own power this time), we saw Eric walking up the road to get the mail, and the winery busy with customers. It wasn’t 20 years since I had seen them, but it had been many years and they hadn’t met Dana (so, 13+ years at least?). Amazing how you can just jump back in. But not like we hadn’t spoken either — on my 2022 Retirement trip, I stayed with Hannah in San Jose, CA. Hannah is now working at another winery near Rochester. Sam, the youngest, is still at home saving for a place of his own and he and Dana connected with some spirit tasting late Friday night when the rest of us were in bed.

We felt like royalty. 3 squares a day and flowing wine and scrumptious desserts. Dana got to get 2 runs in and I got to rest! On Saturday, I helped Eric with a few chores around the vineyard, did some work on the bikes, and that afernoon, we took Wanda’s car into Elba and Plainview to check out a couple of local festivals, and that evening, there was a band at the winery, where Hannah (a trained vintner herself) treated us to a tasting. Eric’s wines, to say the least, are excellent across the spectrum of reds and whites. World class, in our opinion. As the vintner himself said, “If it wasn’t good, you wouldn’t be tasting it!”

On Sunday, I helped Eric with a few more chores, and that afternoon he took us to their friends Tom & Patty. Tom took us onto the Mississippi on his pontoon boat — a beautiful day for a boat ride and we learned a lot about the river, too. That evening, we were treated to sushi and Ahi tuna steaks, and a little party for my 70th birthday.

We all went to bed early Sunday night — Eric and Wanda to rest for the upcoming week, and us to prep for getting back on the bikes on Monday. Lots of photos and a few videos from 3 wonderful days below. Oh, almost forgot an explanation for the subtitle of this post. Wanda told us “I’ve had worse!” is a “compliment” given by the locals when tasting something you’ve prepared. Sort of like the Southern, “Bless your heart!” but about your cooking. We repeated the line multiple times as we were being fed feasts.