Diary

Mileage:  57 miles (93 kms)

Elevation Change: 1515 feet (462 meters)

Weather:  sunny and pleasant

Morale:  GREAT!

Incidents:  Wore out the rear tire after 2000 miles so replaced it this evening.

Daily Summary:

Today was about as perfect a day for cycling as you’re ever going to have:  sunny skies, low ‘80s, very light winds, excellent roads, no traffic, beautiful scenery.  Wisconsin is the prettiest state we’ve been through since we left Oregon.  We got to sleep in today—baggage load wasn’t until 0645.  After a nice breakfast we were on the road by 7:30—very late for this trip.  But we only had 57 easy miles to do, between Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan.   We took it very easy and used it as a recovery day, turning the cranks but not pedaling hard.  We made one of our stops at a berry farm, and stuffed ourselves with great fresh blueberries and raspberries.  At one point, the air got suddenly cooler, and a few minutes later we came over a rise and got our first glimpse of Lake Michigan.  Wow!  What a fun sight!   The coast area here reminds us of Paul and Steph’s farm on the Pacific—agricultural and littoral at the same time.  We were in to the hotel by noon, but couldn’t get into our room until 3, so we had lunch, hung out at the pool, and took a nap in the sun.  This evening we built the bike back to three places.  Teresa is going to meet us in Michigan tomorrow and ride with us for two days.  We are very excited to have a guest rider.  Christopher rode the last 30 miles of the ride today with some of the staff.

 

In the pictures below, we were surprised and happy to see a sign to our home town, since our house is about 4000 miles away from here.   Then, our first glimpse of Lake Michigan.  Finally, some of the great berries we feasted on this afternoon.