Since we stayed up pretty late watching our movie at the hotel and digesting our all you can eat dinner, we slept in a little this morning. As silly as it sounds, it was nice getting to watch a little bit of television this morning. Unfortunately the hotel didn't have a continental breakfast, so I just had a little oatmeal to tide me over. Once we were all packed up, we headed over to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium around 10:30. We found a good spot to lock our bikes up where no one would bother them. The museum was great; there were so many interactive exhibits! We even got to see two 3D movies, one on dinosaurs and one on ocean life, which were awesome too! After the movies, we decided that we were really hungry and since we didn't get to go out to eat in WI, we figured we could go out to eat one more time. We thought about going to the casino again for all you can eat, but the line was really long, so we decided against it. Instead, we went to the Ice Harbor Restaurant, which was also right next to the Museums. This was a floating restaurant that overlooked Port Dubuque. For some reason, whenever we go out for lunch the same thing ALWAYS sounds good: a cheeseburger and fries. We both had a "Paddlewheeler" which was topped with mushrooms, sauted onions, and swiss cheese on grilled marble rye bread. It sure was delicious!! After our bellies were full, we went back to the museum. Amongst all of the exhibits that featured artifacts and history information, there were two aquariums, one that featured a huge octopus and the other that featured a couple alligators and otters. There was also a huge dredge ship that we could walk through and see. Part of the museum also focused on steamboats and their history. We were so lucky yet again to have such beautiful weather. Although we could spend 2 full days at the museums and acquariums because there was so much to see, we decided we needed to get riding again so we could stay on schedule. We left the museums around 3:30 and rode north out of the city. We had a slight head wind, but the road we were riding was very hilly. There was one point where I would be going downhill at 35 mph and then 30 seconds later be going 3mph up the other side. The hills were pretty steep, but nothing that we haven't done before. We rode until a little after 6 when we came to a little town called North Buena Vista. There was a small bar in town called Hanks that had a picnic table outside. I went in and asked if we could sit there to make our dinner; they didn't mind at all. So, mac and cheese it was for dinner again. When we needed to clean up, the bartender was nice enough to offer the use of his sink, that had dish soap and everything, boy was that nice!! After dinner we rode back to the church we had passed on the way in. There was a large gathering of people in the building next to the church; it looked like an auction or something, so we quickly got behind the church and set up our tent as quietly as we could. After about a half hour or so, everyone started to leave the gathering next door and it got quiet. We went to bed pretty early with plans to wake up early in the morning so that we could make it to our warm showers host earlier in the day and since we had a lot of miles to do to get there.
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