The ride took us again through corn field after corn field, and we also are passing through towns much more frequently, which gives us more opportunity for snacks and water refills. This also helps me reduce my reliance on PB&J sandwiches; I'm getting a bit tired of them by now. We passed through Walnut Grove, another of the Laura Ingalls Wilder towns, and then mile 72 found us in the town of Sleepy Eye. Bruce and I stopped for a snack at the Dairy Queen with Beth, Alan, David and Catherine, and after Alan spoke with a gentleman outside of the DQ he was handed a $100 donation! As we enjoyed our ice cream we chatted with 3 boys from town, Tyler, Brady and Jordan, who were working on a pile of DQ hotdogs that filled one of the trays. It took us a while to convince them that we were indeed riding all the way to Washington DC, but they finally believed us. They followed us down the street a bit, actually running to try to beat us, and we took a few pictures with them to commemorate the moment. It brought back great memories of being a kid on summer vacation.

Sixteen more miles of headwind brought us into New Ulm and anticipation of another rest day. We were still riding with the other four that we had joined at the Dairy Queen in Sleepy Eye, and we ended up at Jefferson Elementary School just in time to help (again!) unload the gear truck. Bruce's wife, Shelley, is here in New Ulm, and since they are staying in a motel in town I decided to get a room there as well - something different than another night in the tent. Shelley had a rental car and brought our bags to the motel, while Bruce and I rode the almost 2 miles. We spent some time cleaning our bikes, putting on new chains and a new rear tire for Bruce's, then came showers and laundry. Bruce and Shelley headed out for dinner by themselves (I don't know why J), and I went next door to the T.G.I. Fridays for a tasty and relaxing dinner before heading to bed.