Let's take a ride ... along The Great River Road, Highway 35.

The road runs for 250 miles along the western Wisconsin border, but we'll concentrate on a stretch between Prairie du Chien and La Crosse, starting at the southernmost town.

Prairie offers wonderful history of the Mississippi River and Wisconsin, going back to the fur trading era and some of the first treaties and compacts between settlers and Native Americans.

You can easily spend a day in Prairie, checking out Villa Louis, St. Feriole Island, the Fort Crawford medical museum and many other attractions. Go across the river too and visit Marquette and McGregor, Iowa, with their antique stores and other shops and river boat casino.

Once you head north, you'll travel along a beautiful stretch of the river, with high bluffs to your east and the river to the west. Look out for eagles, which are plentiful here. Winter actually can be one of the best times of the year, because they often perch in trees or on ice patches to watch for fish.

Communities along Hwy. 35 also still have aspects of classic river towns. You can envision paddlewheel captains and mates, barge crewmen, fur traders, even Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn walking around in them.

The first community you'll hit north of Prairie is Lynxville. Watch river traffic pass through Lock and Dam No. 9 just south of Lynxville. In 1896, during the heyday of Wisconsin's lumbering era, the largest log raft on the Mississippi was assembled at Lynxville. It was 260 ft. wide, 1,550 ft. long, and contained 2.25 million board feet of lumber.

Ferryville, to the north of Lynxville, is a little village perched on a narrow shelf between the river and bluffs. The hamlet began life as "Humble Bush," but became Ferryville when ferry service across the river was established in the mid-19th century.

An observation deck offers a beautiful view across Lake Winneshiek, a widened area of the Mississippi River formed by the Lynxville dam. A boat landing offers opportunities for hunters, fishermen and boaters.

Before you go to Desoto, the next Wisconsin community to the north, you might want to take the Blackhawk Bridge, often called the Lansing Bridge by locals, to Lansing, Iowa. That town offers a variety of attractions. You must go to Horsfalls variety store in the middle of town, but a word of warning: if you suffer from claustrophobia, don't go in.

Continue north to Desoto, named for the daring Spanish explorer who discovered the Mississippi in 1541. During the Black Hawk War of 1832, heavy fighting took place between here and the mouth of the Bad Axe River. Many historical markers detailing local Native American history and the war´s end are throughout this area.

Victory, the next community to the north, is named for the victory over Black Hawk, which many actually believe is a shameful event in American history. But, one of this writer's favorite restaurants, The Red Lion, can be found in Victory. It serves great English and East Indian food.

As you continue north, you'll come to Genoa. From there, you can watch towboats and barges "lock through" at Lock and Dam No. 8 at the south edge of the village. You can fish from a barge anchored below the dam. Genoa also has a concentration of Italian-Americans who are proud of their heritage.

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