Driftless ... did you say Driftless Tom ? !!! I was just talking about this with my brother a few weeks ago..... and what a treasure it is. I grew up in Rochester, MN and I regularly rode to Winona and back in the 80's. I'd also stay at hotels on the Wisconsin side and take day trips around by bike. Oh heck, I guess I did tours on both sides of the river too, so many good memories of those summers. A buddy and I planned a whole tour around a Rush concert in LaCrosse only to find out it was cancelled when we got there. (((( laughing heartily )))) I can hear his tape recorder belting out Billy Idol's..... "White Wedding" and "Hot in the City Tonight".... and it was hot .... like 100 and humid as humid can be there in the summer. The most memorable bottle of Gatorade I ever had was at a Mom and Pop shop outside of Rushford, I can still feel that chilly glass bottle in my hand and oh what a refresher it was. Oh how I love me some Midwest sensibilities indeed !
While I live in Ohio now, it has those same sensibilities. I live in my driftless-like area along the Ohio River which is very much like the Mississippi River valley but on a smaller scale, so it's more easily accessible from my house.
The beauty in telling stories is in the speaking, animating them ;)