La Cross, WI - PEPIN!, WI

Pepin! Its like a town of my relatives...Perhaps?  Well I'm not sure of that but I do know that we found my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather who was a giant Viking. Another neat fact: Laura Ingals Wilder (Little house on the Prairie) was from Pepin.  And the town was TINY, so clearly it was appropriate to make a sign that showed everything in the entire town.

Gays Mills, WI- La Cross, WI

A steep climb out of Gays Mills, but it was worth it when we went downhill and along the M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I (I feel like I need to spell it and not just say the word) and headed into Iowa and then went to Minnesota and then back to Wisconsin.  What a neat-o day!

Madison, WI- Gays Mills, WI

107 miles is what our route map told us...but was the day 107 miles?  oh. no, no, no.  When we went down a road for 10 miles and then realized we were going the wrong direction we added 20 miles to our total trip (this happened to the entire group except about 5 lucky ones) then a second wrong turn with the group added another 2 or so miles...

At our second lunch stop Christopher said "only another 20 miles left!" I was so excited until....I saw the ugliest sign in America which read 'Gays Mills 20 miles' after we had already ridden 8 miles after Christopher told us it was "only another 20"  

Exhausted we pulled into Gays Mills at 7:30pm with 127.9 miles on my odometer. OUCH!

Good thing there was homemade applesauce for dinner. (views were pretty too!)

Madison, WI - Day Off!!!

If I was supposed to choose a fun place to play for a few weekends, it would be Madison, WI.  The weather was nice, the roads were nice and we had an all around good time.  Madison was a much needed day off after a few long days of riding.

Madison, WI - Madison, WI

The Ride to Madison was really, really beautiful.  We didn't see much traffic...buut that was probably because it had flooded and we had to do a river crossing.  We decided it was a lot like playing the Oregon Trail...all our oxen died but luckily we didn't lose any people to dysentery.

Were your parents beavers?.........

...cuz, Daaaaymmm.

My patience level with the slow internet here in Pepin, WI has wiped me clean of my ability to post photos or a decent blog, this is attempt 9 sooo....I'll have to actually post updates of the last few days along with pictures during out next time with internet.  

I would like to thank everyone who is checking up on me, for checking up on me, its great! (if you want my cell # ask me or my parents and we'll be sure to give it to you) and so appreciated.  For all those who know I was really sick, I am almost over it and and enthusiastic to be spinning at full pace in the near future.  Although I was under the weather I still rode out longest day yet (which included a wrong turn. detour) which totaled 127.9 miles! epic. yes. (a good story. more on that later..)

I would also like to add that I love WI!! It is a great state, beautiful like VT or NH except bigger and with perfect roads.  Some of the towns have been realllly small which is pretty wild. (more on all of this when I have pictures and time)

But it is getting late fast and I need to pack my belongings for tomorrow and clean up my bicycle a bit.  Tomorrow I am in St. Paul, MN (sounds like a place with internet!)

and my brothers birthday was July 18! Happy Birthday Andrew!

Grayslake, WI - Madison, WI

In Grayslake we met up with a family who has a son doing Bike and Build on a Southern Route (crazy hot weather on that ride!) who wanted to have us over for dinner.  We ate grilled asparagus and lived like queens and kings for the afternoon! We gave a presentation about bike and build from the roof of their garage "here ye, here ye, one and all"...we proclaimed as if we were the king from the popular newspaper comic 'The Wizard of ID'   It was a really nice evening that let us really relax and enjoy hanging out with a nice family. 

Chicago, IL- Grayslake, IL

Do you ever have dreams that feel realistic, but are clearly to bizarre to be real? Today was a real day..but it felt really bizarre we were woken up late at 7:30 because we had a really short bike ride today (40 miles.) and then were served cotton candy for breakfast by Craig and his Father.  After that we all went to coffee at Beans and Bagels again and locked at least 15 bikes in a tiny rack and rode to our destination by 1pm.  Along the way we Kate, Bobby and I met a cyclist from GA with calve muscles at least the size of my head who had just finished a 27mile run the previous day in GA and now was in IL to ride bicycle races everyday in the area for the next 2 weeks, he rode along side of me and talked.  Perhaps the only things that seemed fake to me were the cotton candy and the calve muscles....

1,300 miles and our first day off.

Our day off was in Chicago, how fun right? About half the group woke up and went skydiving. I didn't have $200 to spend on a 15 minute endeavor today sooo... instead I decided to sleep in until 7:30am (I think I am in fact not capable of sleeping any later than this anymore) then got up and went out to Beans and Bagels with Kate, Sean and Sharon for breakfast (great food!) we read The Onion (newspaper) and then went to the church we were staying at to give a presentation and bicycle clinic to some of the church members.  Kate, Isaiah, Sean, Sharon and I went to the Vietnam War memorial where some Isaiah,  Kate and Sharon took naps and Sean and I talked on our phones and watched hornets from the nest above Isaiah walk all over him while he slept.   Once we had energy again we went for deep dish pizza (at Giordanos) and then for Ghiardelli ice cream (splitting 2 between the 5 of us).  We eventually wandered to the 95th floor of the Hancock building and experienced our own version of skydiving (dropping 95 stories in an elevator in like 30 seconds..holy high speed!) Cruised for the rest of the day and then went back to our home for the night.

Night time in Chicago after 118.7 miles

A certain amount of exploring the city at night was called for and we decided to see some of Chicago's attractions at night.  We started by checking out the bean, which is a really neat sculpture and a lot of fun to play with and around. Phase 2 we roamed the city streets and eventually settled at Rock Bottom where we sat for quite a while and then caught the last "L" train back to our church.

Edwardsburg MI- Chicago Il

At night in Edwardsburg we taught a bicycle clinic about general bike safety and then went for a ride with all the youngsters.  We went to bed while it will still light out and then awoke when it was dark...at 5:30 am because today we rode 118.7 miles to Chicago!  Sadly the morning rained...buuut then the sun came out around the stateline to Illinois. Most of us hit the century mark on the bike trail in Chicago near the stone wall where we stopped for a break and to look at the skyline of the glorious city.  Do you want to know the most wild part of all this?   Its that once we got to our destination and had a group dinner we all went out and explored the city a bit.

Camden, MI-Edwardsburg, MI

Their sign said welcome to the middle of nowhere...and it couldn't have been more accurate.  The village of Camden had 1,000 people in it and I'm pretty sure that we rode by the entire village when we headed to Edwardsburg.   Leaving Camden the Pastor (man next to the dressed up poodle...named Tiffany...) showed us an alternative route which cut 2 miles off our ride and we followed him that morning which was a really nice start to the day. Once in Edwardsburg we all ate dinner and then went to bed early for our ride into Chicago.

So I have some extra pictures.

Bowling Green, OH- Camden, MI

Praise him! (Jason Jansen quote) We are out of Ohio!   Story of the day...5 of us stopped at a Dairy Queen to pee after lunch in Bryan, Ohio and somebody who happened to be in the DQ called the newspaper because all 5 of us were wearing the same jersey.  The lady from the NP got there in under 5 minutes because she caught us on the way out of the door she explained that she was called and then hurried over "as fast as she could".  She told us the town was really small and that she wanted to put us in the Day in the Life section of the paper.  Sooo I guess you can look for me posed in front of the Bryan, OH Dairy Queen with some bicycles in the upcoming Bryan Times.

Avon Lake, OH-Bowling Green, OH

98 miles into a head wind baby. End of story. Bed time is now.  No pictures because I didn't carry my camera today..

Avon Lake

So Kate and I easily have the best host family! Thank you Maureen, Phil, Erin, and Ian (Max, and the cat who we didn't see) for hosting us.  We got to stay with them for two nights and it was amazing to have a bed to sleep in and a family to stay with.  The first night that we were there Kate and I were so tired that we just went to bed, buuut finally we got to hang out with the fam. 

Earlier that day we worked on a build site in Cleveland and my Dad sent some Honest teas with his co-workers for all of my fellow B&B'ers.  It was a really nice surprise, Thanks Dad! While we were at the build site (where we accomplished sooo much!! I'd like to add) we met someone who knew the owner of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he got our entire group free tickets!  Awesome.  While inside I did think Cleveland rocked...and then once I went outside, where it was pouring rain and no longer had that feeling. 

Ashtabula OH to Avon Lake

Is anyone familiar with the Drew Carey show? "Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks...OHIO..." I cannot honestly say that I thought Cleveland rocked....the road was terrible riding to Avon Lake!  But Avon Lake was awesome! The people of the town were amazing.  On our way in we met a woman who told us that basically our lives were not good until we had tried Orange Blossom ice cream.  So of course we stopped, she was right my life is better having tried it.  We went to dinner and then met our host families who took us swimming at a fancy house on the lake with a water trampoline and a sunset.   After the fancy house Kate and I went to our host families house and crashed hard.

Westfeild, NY -Ashtabula, OH

Today we left NY! We took some pictures leaving when we left.  We met some pirates of Lake Erie they let us investigate the ship.  Somewhere along the way Kevin got a flat.  We had internet access for a little while at the McDonalds across from the church.  Ronald is really creepy.

Niagra falls-Westfield

87miles and still able to stand, I'd call today a good day.   I was a sweep today with Dae which means that we were the last people to leave and the last people to get to the church for the night so that we can make sure that we all make it to our destination in one piece.  It was a beautiful day to be a sweep.  We left at 9 am and rode at a slow pace to lunch where we ate Subway and then met with some riders with popped tires who we rode with for the rest of the day. We stopped at Frank Lloyd Wrights estate which was pretty neat to see.  At about mile 65 we stopped at Christopher's fathers friends house on Lake Erie and drank lemonade and dipped our feet in the water it was wonderful.

Lockport - Niagra Falls

Happy 4th of JULY!!!  We had the shortest day that we will ever have on this trip...only 20 miles, and then we had the rest of the day to explore the falls.  We went to dinner at the church we were staying at and then back to Niagra to see the fireworks.  What didn't occur to us was that the fireworks were put on by the Canadian casinos and our Independence Day wasn't their Independence Day.  The fireworks were the 8 minutes long and the same that the regularly do on Friday nights.  They were still nice though and now I've seen the great falls that everyone talks about. wicked sweet!