Rochester, Minnesota, July 17 — What better way to spend a birthday than a day of roadtripping along a highway near to my heart, US 63?
Route: Business 2, US 2, WI 122 to river and back, US 2, WI 13, WI 137, US 2, US 63, WI 29, Route Y, US 63, WI 35, Route VV, US 63, MN 58, US 52 to S jct US 14 and turn around
I took some morning pictures of the north end of US 51 (above), then went south into Hayward and east on Business 2, which is not signed in Wisconsin at all. I returned to US 2 and headed west.
WI 13 in Ashland had the roughest concrete on the whole trip, along with WI 137 to WI 112, where 137 became asphalt and was signed as Alt 2 (but no signs from 2 there).
At the Great Lakes Visitor Center, I watched a multimedia presentation and then wandered through exhibits. A big mural was just done in May, depicting scenes from the area’s history, and I suspect it features a lot of locals’ faces. Part of it is below.
Then it was time for one of the major components of the trip: Driving US 63 south from the north end all the way to Iowa. The drive in northern Wisconsin gives the route an entirely different character than in Iowa, but that goes for most long routes.
Just before 63 meets 53 there’s a St Croix watershed visitors center, where I saw a 20-minute movie and looked at exhibits about the river.
At WI 46, there were signs for construction and fresh asphalt on the east-west segment. But turning south on 63, it was oiled gravel more or less. Could only go 35 mph and it was that way the whole way. But at least it wasn’t detoured, I thought.
I was going on pretty well, but then saw a 63 shield above “Detour ahead”. No bridge across river between east junction WI 29 and Route Y. Nooooooo!
Black flagged on the last lap!
Then the same thing happened again right before the border. It looked like Route VV was asphalted and had new guardrails put in specifically for the detour. This was to build a bridge across the railroad. So there are about five miles of 63 in Wisconsin I missed, in two different places. BTW, the vast majority of paving in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula was asphalt, and much of it was very smooth. Can’t remember much if any concrete in Michigan actually. There are many benefits for pavement that doesn’t get caught in freeze-thaw cycles as often happens in Iowa.
Crossed bridge into Red Wing. Very scenic. Took pictures around the 61 junction, then decided to head straight for Rochester. GPS suggested MN 58, and I said why not. I was going to take that up instead of 63, but this worked better because 1) there was a lot of downhill going southwest-bound, and 2) the entire route was being resurfaced, and I was held up for 10 minutes at one stop.
Red Wing, Minnesota, just south of the US 63 Mississippi River bridge
MN 58 ends at an interchange at US 52, which isn’t marked in the atlas. Heading south, 63 was NOT signed on 52, despite earlier news reports that it had been rerouted around Rochester. The six-lane 52 is progressing/looks nice, though.
New counties so far: 34 (4 NE, 2 SD, 14 MN, 5+4 WI, 5 MI)