Just for fun. None of these are real

It’s OK

Dave, a satisfied reader

Not that bad

Don, an enthusiastic reader

It has a lot of talking in it, but that’s OK.

Betty, another writer with a pretty good book.

If you forced me to read it a second time, I probably wouldn’t hate you for too long.

Kylie

The author is, like, as old as my grandmother so, like, I’m not going to say anything bad about the book, but the chapters are too long. They should be, like, the length of a FB post if you want to attract a younger crowd. And the humor, OMG. Get to the point. Only old people need, like, a full paragraph for a joke. You won’t find me RAOTFL if you can’t get to the punchline in five words or less, preferably less.

BTW, learn FB Eng. Your never going to make it if you write the hole word every time. Only old folks read that stuff anymore, and their dying off.

Ashley

A new multiuse trail is being constructed on
the north side of the Minnesota River from Lyndale
Avenue. Currently it is a 1.6 mile paved trail that ends
abruptly near Mounds Springs Park. Eventually this trail
will stretch east to Fort Snelling State Park and west to
the city of Jordan. The trail is a boon to walkers and
paved trail bicyclists, but mountain bikers will have a
degraded experience. One rider compared it to riding
on a frontage road next to a highway.

The trail connects to the multi-use trail on I-35W and
will eventually create a loop connecting to the Black
Dog paved trail on the south side of the river via the
Cedar Avenue bike bridge.

Effigy mounds, ancient burial mounds, can resemble animals such as bears, eagles and long tailed underwater creatures. They are unique to the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin and prominent along the lower Wisconsin River. “On His Own Terms” mentions them briefly, but they deserve much more attention because of their archaeological significance and unique formations. One of my favorites, Shadewald Mounds, shows a bison and eagle among other effigies and can be seen in Google’s aerial photos. They are located near the intersection of Highways 60 and 193 and north of Muscoda, Wisconsin. A series of conical mounds, thought to be a calendar for agricultural purposes, is preserved across Highway 193 to the west.

Following the death of George Floyd on May 25th, the Twin Cities Bike Club acknowledged its own shortcomings in promoting a more welcoming environment for non-white riders. They issued what has become a standard declaration about their intent to do more. It could have ended there, as these statements often do, but board member John Benda decided to do more. He worked with Louis Moore of the Major Taylor Bike Club and fellow members of TCBC to develop a black history tour of the Twin Cities, with a focus on the racial inequities Black people have faced in the Cities. The 35 mile route starts at Minnehaha Falls and stops at the obvious spots, such as 38th and Chicago, where George Floyd was murdered and the Philando Castile Memorial and Peace Garden, but it also takes in the Rondo Commemorative Plaza where the thriving Rondo neighborhood was replaced by I-94, the African American Heritage Museum at Plymouth and Penn, and other, lesser known sites.

Black History Tour Route

The Fourth Ward in Prairie du Chien was a neighborhood on Feriole Island in the Mississippi River. After a massive flood in 1965 nearly wiped out the neighborhood, many families abandoned their homes and left the island. Two years later another flood inundated the island. All but one of the homes was removed and the island became a park.

Villa Louis, an historic estate sits on high ground on the island as does the Historic Dousman Hotel below.

Heavy rain in 2019 flooded the island again, so I toured it by kayak. The garage door for a park board storage building was left open, so I paddled in and took pictures.

The Fourth Ward and nearby Wyalusing State Park play an important role in my novel “On His Own Terms.”

You can now cross the Minnesota River using the separated bike lane on I-35W. The bridge connects to the Minnesota River Bottoms where you can either ride on the mountain bike trail or a paved trail being constructed along the river.