Tuesday July17th was a day that was defines the Big Ride. Everything about the day was bigger than life. It was only a 67 mile ride from Winona MN to Viroqua,Wisconsin but it was packed with action. First after an easy 20 mile ride to our first checkpoint we were treated to a huge feast hosted by the Meyers Family of Dakota MN. This family started out selling lemonade to Big Riders 13 years ago and now they host a feast for us. They have pictures of past Big Riders, they took all of our pictures for future postings, and they are a very nice family.  We stayed way longer than we should have but it was a hard party to leave. Then we had a 15 mile ride on the shoulder of a busy highway before turning into the hills. We went through a beautiful valley with rolling hills and small family farms. Then we had a steep 3 mile climb to the top of the mountain. Once there we were in the start of Amish Country. We rode past a horse and buggy driving down the road, saw a farmer using a horse drawn hay cutter and saw hay piled in stacks instead of baled. You could tell that the farms were old by looking at the barns. There were more buggies parked in the yards instead of cars.  We will be in Amish country for another two weeks so it should be very interesting. We finished the ride with 20 miles of long steep hills and by this time it was over 100 degrees. It was definately a full day on the Big Ride. By the time we made it to Viroqua the temp was 104  and the day was done.