Thursday, August 30, 2012

8-30-2012 (Thursday) Mauston to Reedsburg to Sauk City

Miles biked today – 57.2 miles
Ride time 5 hours 52 minutes
Average MPH – 9.7MPH
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Kathi is just relaxing on the lawn after we climbed one of those hillacious hills!  John’s beat but still look like a cool dude!

Our alarm went off this morning at 5:00AM.  It is going to be in the mid 90’s with 20 to 30 mph headwinds so we decided we’d better get on the road early.  We packed up the B.O.B. and ate a continental breakfast and was on the road by 6:00AM.  How lucky we were that there was hardly any traffic at all in downtown Mauston so bicycling through all the road construction wasn’t a problem at all.

Let me tell you the route we took from Mauston to Reedsburg (Hwy K) and then from Reedsburg to Sauk City was absolutely beautiful scenery with rolling hills, fertile farm land, beautiful farms and amazing views every where you looked.  Oh I forgot to include that it was in the 90’s before we got done and those beautiful rolling hills were hill-aciously (that’s my new word) steep and one after another.  Also with the temperature rising and winds picking up to 25 to 35 mph made for a long 57.2 miles and we were definitely exhausted once we arrived at our hotel in Sauk City.  When we arrived at our hotel we found out that it was 91 degrees and it was just 1:15PM.  Thank goodness it didn't hit the predicted 98 degrees.

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Leaving Mauston at 6:00AM this morning and making it through the road construction in Mauston before the traffic got bad.  Life is good!
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First steep hill of the day!  Cool barn that had been recently painted!
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Beautiful scenery all day!
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Break time with beautiful views in every direction!
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The road goes on and on and on!  What an amazing state Wisconsin is!
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We went for a swim in the pool at the hotel and then walked down to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone.  Yum yum yum!

My sister and her husband leave today to fly to Budapest and then will be taking a cruise – I was so happy to get to talk with her before she boarded her flight.  Sharon have a fantastic trip and I can’t wait to hear all about it once you get home.  Love ya!

We are looking forward to seeing all our biking friends tomorrow at MTR – this is going to be a fun weekend!

Take care and enjoy life!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

8-29-2012 (Wednesday) Marshfield to Mauston

Bicycled 66 miles today Ride Time - 5 hrs. 42 minutes Average speed 11.5 IMG_2030IMG_2037IMG_2040 Bill was out on Hwy 58 waiting to escort us into Mauston – he knew the back way so we didn’t have to go through all the construction – Thank you Bill! We slept in this morning knowing that we would have a very easy 65 miles to go today on flat roads. So we rolled out about 6:30 and took in the continental breakfast and was on the road by 7:15. The first 18 miles were very easy going, beautiful morning. We stopped for breakfast in Pittsville - the local patrons were very interested in our bike. After answering all the standard questions, where we are from, where we are going, etc. slowly the conversation got around to the subject of distilling moonshine. One of the older gentleman gave us the impression that he was brought up by his uncle who was known for his high quality moonshine. He said the better stuff is very similar to Everclear - if my memory serves me correctly Everclear is 190 proof. You've got to love these conversations with the old timers in the morning. Lot of good humor and a lot of BS. After breakfast we headed out again - for the next 30 miles to Necedah we had probably 5 mph headwind and started warming up considerably. We stopped at a Kwik trip for a break in Necedah and got some yogurt, banana's, and drinks and walked across the road to a little park and enjoyed our lunch. The plan for the afternoon is to meet up with Bill Peters and he would meet us on the road between Necedah and Mauston so he could lead us into Mauston on the back roads in order to avoid all the construction that is going on in Mauston.  We connected up with Bill about 1:30 and by that time the wind had picked up to about 15MPH headwind.  The last 10 miles into Mauston got to be a bit of a struggle with the temperature getting close to 85/90 degrees with the 15MPH headwind.  We checked into a Super 8 and showered and headed for the pool to cool off.  Half an hour dip in cool cool water sure feels good on a hot summer day! Marsha picked us up a little after 5:30 this afternoon and took us to their house where we enjoyed good conversation and a delicious meal.  Afterwards they took us for a walk and showed us the area that they live in.  After briefly sitting on their beautiful front porch we went inside and had dessert and then Bill drove us back to our hotel.  Tomorrow it is suppose to be 95+ degrees with strong southern head winds – if that isn’t enough it is going to be a hilly 65 miles to Sauk City.  Life is good!









Tuesday, August 28, 2012

8-28-2012 (Tuesday) Dorchester to Marshfield, WI

Miles today - 39 miles
Average Speed - 11.3
Ride Time - 3 hrs 28 minutes

On the road again!

We are excited to be continuing on our journey today to bicycle from International Falls to Baton Rouge, LA.  We also are looking so forward to spending Labor Day weekend at MTR in Middleton with our biking friends and then also doing the post ride in Wisconsin Dells before we continue on to Baton Rouge.

Over the last week we have been putting items that we wanted to take along on our bike trip all over the living room.  As we put the items out there we would check the item off our checklist.  Well this morning John brought the B.O.B. bag in and we packed it full of our items and then we weighed it.  It weighed 46 lbs so we unpacked everything and evaluated exactly what we needed and what we could live without.  After doing this we got the weight of the B.O.B. bag down to 40 lbs.  One of the changes that we have on this trip is that we are bringing a full size laptop along which weighs a few more lbs that the mini laptop did.

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On the right is John trying to weigh the B.O.B. trailer after it is loaded!
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To alot of people it is strange to be leaving two perfectly good vehicles in the garage and heading out on bicycle - to us it just seems like the only way to travel cross country is by bicycle.
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After loading the B.O.B., some last minute spit shining on the bike, pumping the tires, and after double checking our list we were set to head out at 9:20AM this morning.  What a beautiful day for a bike ride – we arrived in Marshfield and went to McDonald’s for salad and drinks because we couldn’t check into our hotel until 1:00AM.  We spent time visiting with a couple from Loyal before we headed to our hotel. 

We are planning on meeting my Aunt Margie and Uncle Wayne, Aunt Helen and Uncle Roy, and Uncle Bob and Aunt Nancy for dinner at 5:00PM this evening.  Tomorrow we will be bicycling to Mauston and our plans are to meet up with Marsha and Bill Peters.

It is so good to be back on the road!  Enjoy your day!