day 24--food is good: plans to get out and see the sights today gave way to more eating, conversation (with aj, my nephew, as well as p&nd), and more eating. we did finally get downtown and palmer and nancy dawn took me into the new guthrie theater. the views were way cooler than what you see in the picture of my brother and me looking out an observation deck on the 'endless bridge', but it gives you a sense. check out the latimes article if you want more insight. (i remember my grandmother and i went to the old guthrie to see waiting for godot in the 70's.)
palmer snapped a picture just inside looking through the blue glass to give you an idea of the three week biker look--before shaving. we went out for indian food right after this and i actually got full on a delicious coconut curry with tofu and veggies. they took me shopping at the seward coop right after and i stocked up with some quality food for the road. it will weigh me down but the food will be fresh and nourishing--and not loaded with sugar or food coloring. of course by the time i got home i had to have a bowl granola, bananas, chocolate chips, and yogurt...it sounds legit if you call it carbo loading.
i have pretty much decided my bald-ish head will be pointed east on monday. i have started a route going across wisconsin toward the ss badger ferry on lake michigan, from manitowoc wi to ludington mi. i will head mostly straight, into canada, and then back into upstate ny around niagra. it is only a matter of time and pedaling between there and home.
time for bed...
day 25--the true lightness of being: oh how responsive the nishiki is without a load! nancy dawn led palmer and i around some local trails this am--it was fast! after a nap, i made a big batch of pesto and palmer built some flat bread pizzas--yummy, more carbo loading. as we finished dinner out on the porch, the super blood moon eclipse was starting. we spent a good bit of time observing that and palmer and i three handed a picture using phone and binoculars...
this was a good rest, but i had to get to bed, pack up early in the morning, and start the trip home. i didn't know how much computer access i would have, but a few short notes now and then over should appear over the next two weeks.
stay tuned--ciao...
if you have been reading this blog right along, you knew that the last section of riding--from chicago heights il to st paul mn--was an individual effort. jalil flew out to la to battle with tom--his rental agent--and set himself up for school. (as a bonus, celeste was also flying in for a visit!) there are both advantages and disadvantages to riding without a partner. while it would seem that a solo rider can go a bit farther each day, i miss the give and take of working out daily logistics as a team.
one yummy thing i learned riding with jalil is that we both love peanut butter more than should be healthy (that and his butt looks fantastic in lycra). watching him spread an enournous glob of 'extra crunchy' on a tiny piece of bread has the same effect on me that pavlov's bell did on his dogs. he, meaning jalil again, not the dogs, also salavates over really good fruit and would have had a couple of high moments on this leg that almost equaled the one we had back in ny state at feinan's fruitstand.
more day 18 (105 mi.)--riding through heavy traffic: as you can see, i left my mom with plumbing problems...(after my brother matt also failed to 'fix' things, she actually called a plumber who reconfigured piping below the sink and installed a new faucet above. which, since we told her to send us the bill, should make her happy!)
i pulled out of her driveway about 9-ish in the am and headed west and north, as mentioned earlier, to bypass chicago traffic. while i would not complain too much, i can report fairly accurately, that there are a lot of people driving cars--at fairly high rates of speed--in the chicago area, even way west of town on a sunday. it was on this leg of the trip and probably this day, that i solidified my theory that 'if you just keep pedaling, you can get anywhere.'
after passing elgin, traffic seemed to lighten up so i figured it was a good time for lunch. as i was packing up after two or three pb&j sandwhiches, i thought to myself, now would be a perfect time for some fruit. lo-and-behold, before i hit pingree grove, klein's farm and garden market appeared--on my side of the road to boot! just like marcia feinen back in ny, chris klein (exhuberant smiling woman on the left) hooked me up with some "quality produce" after i querried about a more ripe nectarine and bought a couple of gala apples.
it was such a good stop and i was so full i must have been dreaming when i zoomed right past the turn off near starks for route 20 going up to merengo. i saw the sign that said marengo 17, but when i noticed another that said marengo 12--after riding at least 10 miles west--i figured oops. oh well, 72 to 23, the roads i took got me there and was definitely well paved, scenic, and peaceful.
at marengo i stopped for the other standard meal, subway. fueled for the evening, i took off north on 23. there seemed to be a lot of truck traffic but i made it about 10 miles north toward route 14 before it started getting dark and i saw a good camping spot. as i wheeled my bike into a protected area, a very large buck, or at least the head and neck of one, with at least 10 points on his rack, stood very still and eyed me in passing. when i stopped to stare back he bounded off into the swampy section of woods behind him. tyler warner sprang as quickly to mind...he would have loved to seen that.
i settled into some really comfy high grass and only woke up about four times, as trains, trucks, and assorted traffic rumbled and or roared by.
day 19 (105 mi.)--into the dairy state: the next morning, i rolled past a truck load of construction workers coming my way, setting out about two miles of cones. thankfully, that only lasted up to where 23 ran into 14 at the town of harvard il. in a few more miles i was welcomed into the dairy state where recreation, industry, and agriculture were all "open for business"! not that i have anything against any of those opportunities, but i was immediately frustrated by the condition of route 14--it was as bad as that road back in indiana.
things improved north of walworth and breakfast, again, the standard subway--egg and cheese is my favorite so far, don't hold back on the veggies. soon enough it was janesville and lunch o'clock. just before i stopped, this late model car stopped a few hundred yards ahead of me and flagged me down as i approached. the driver wanted directions to the rock county correctional facility...he had quite a laugh when i told him i was from new hampshire. but i told him i had seen a sign for a 24hr truck stop 2 miles down the road. turns out the rccf was only a mile further.
as i made my way around the town oregon, headed for madison, i stopped at another 'correctional center', this one complete with a working farm and a huge pen of pheasents. i started to wonder how many bad people are there in wisconsin to have so many places of correction...? the officer who helped me with directions was really nice despite his having to get to a work detail asap.
despite his help and my sketchy directions, i managed to get onto a restricted access highway and a bit befuddled...i got off at the first exit "before" a woman assured me, "the law grabbed me." with her help and an equally lost driver named luke, i found the days high (or "rose" as jay davis likes to put it), the forty mile, military ridge bike trail, from verona to dodgeville. when i asked luke if he had a map, he responded, "even better, i have a phone." given how adept jalil was at working google maps on his phone--when he had a connection--i figured great. imagine my suprise when he futzed about for a while until he finally handed it to me "here, do you know more about phones than i do?"
the bike trail, once i got to it, took me off in the right direction as its terminus was on route 23 a road i was headed for. the surface was a quite smooth, fine-crushed limestone and pretty fast. i zipped along until dusk and found a place to camp just west of barneveld. trailside, with my bike leaning against a disc harrow, i tucked into a patch of tall grass, just as soft as the previous night's.
day 20 (90 mi.)--on and off trail: i awoke early and rode about 15 miles in the cool, most of it before the sun hit my back. i got into dodgeville and broke stride. skipping the subway in front of me i got directions to a country kitchen. pancakes, eggs, hashbrown's, and two postcards later i peddled out of town. i may not have mentioned the search for postcards earlier, but this was the first business i walked into with honest to goodness, real postcards. i had bought a couple of generic blanks from a post office--they are to send from each state to the canaan elementary fourth graders--but these picture beauties would be way more appreciated.
off trail and back on road, i headed north to reedsburg where i had planned on looking for a series of four trails, stretching 101 miles--bike 4 trails. lunch o'clock, i pulled into town and first things first, i visited the grocery and had my second fruit experience. wandering the isles looking for more peanut butter, yogurt, and fruit, i spied a half of yellow watermelon. it was definitely to big to carry but i bought it and hung it off the handlebars as i made my way to the chamber of commerce to purchase a trail pass. pass in wallet, i made use of the picnic tables and then restroom to slurp down the several pounds of juicy, sweet melon, wash up, and then start in on an actual lunch.
the 400 trail, first of the four, took me to elroy in quick fashion. at the modernized train station--complete with showers--i stopped and had an evening snack of a couple of pb&j sandwiches as i wondered about. i saw the play structure made of connected triangles and thought of leah wheelan's geometry class. it was pretty cool set in a bed of soft, crumb rubber. i don't know if you can make it out but there is a seat suspended right in the middle of all that web like rigging.
at that point i got onto the second of the trails, elroy-sparta. this promised to be really cool, as it had not one, not two, but three fairly long tunnels to go through. i rode toward them excited by my find of a giant puffball just outside of town. as it got darker and darker, i kept thinking about stopping but hoped to go through at least one of the tunnels before stopping. soon enough the dark increased a significant amount and massive overhanging stone walls on both sides of the trail funneled me into a black hole. it was by far the coolest 'scenic' type thing to happen to me on this trip--only it was so dark i couldn't see it, or get a good picture. winding my way through, with a measly front light to see into the gloom, i made it out the western end and could just make out the overhanging sides again. given that the grade sloped down, i pedaled an easy mile to a picnic table, or place to stop and set up camp.
the road was not too far off but traffic was pretty light that night. there were some cows mooing off in the distance. at one point much later when i woke i heard the distinct clip-clop of a horse, drawing an amish buggy. it may be a stereotype, but what the heck was a good religous soul doing out at that hour? i fell back to sleep wondering did the buggy have lanterns or battery powered lights?
day 21 (80 mi.)--lots more trail: another early rise and off into the foggy mist. by the time the sun found my back again, i spied the 2nd tunnel and stopped to get a picture. it was not nearly as impressive as the longer one in the dark, but it looked good. the two i went through this am were shorter and you could see the proverbial "light of day at the other end..." i am not sure if the 1st tunnel had the same huge doors or not, but they were quite something. i couldn't imagine why they were there, but built like they were, there had to be a reason.
by the time i got to sparta--"bike capital of the united states"--it was breakfast o'clock. i parked and ate trackside at the picnic tables across the former tracks from another refurbished train station. the entire trail system runs along old railway lines and hence comes with a great base of crushed limestone, running as straight as can be, and with an even grade, up or down.
after the requisite pb&js, i took off on the 3rd leg, the la crosse river trail. well fueled, i covered this flat section quickly and rolled into la crosse and onalaska along the mississippi, flowing by just to the west. you could see the mighty river, but i was dissapointed that there was no clear outlook of the impressive water and with its many islands at that point. once through town a huge amount of flooded forest started cropping up, with plenty of bridges to carry a biker over the wet. besides the wet, a working set of train tracks was pretty much constant traffic of some really long trains strung along it.
i met two sets of long distance bikers, mike going north, and kristen and will going south. mike and i chatted about bikes as we pedaled until he turned toward perrot state park and a local brew in trempealeau. kristen and will were going the other way, clear to louisiana, following the great river trail. they had started up at the canadian border and had passed through bemidji where i went to college. we share a few interesting stories and exchanged electronic addresses to follow each others' progress.
at the great river trail's end, the 4th and final section, i got back onto 35, the great river road. way different than the trails, but sometimes just as interesting. the trains were often just a few yards the other side of the road, and i figured out their whistle pattern--2 long, 1 short, 1 log--blown as they approach crossings. there were some random long blows i figured were hi to the neighbors or some not so secret lover, living trackside. i am constantly amazed, and have been the whole trip, at how close houses and such are to trains and traffic.
dark overtook me somewhat north of alma and as i set up camp, i put the rainfly on--just in case. the first time i woke it was raining, as it was the next three times (remember trains and traffic were always close at hand). but when the human sounds quieted, one could hear all sorts of animal noises out in the "lake" on the non-river/track/road side. jalil would have freaked, but something even whacked against the tent a couple of times in the wee hours.
day 22 (100 mi.)--along the mississippi: speaking of very early, as i got back on 35, i had my lights flashing. they stayed on until breakfast o'clock when i pulled into pepin--birthplace of laura ingalls. i took the photo of the historical marker to show skip p. that i actually do stop sometimes, basically to eat, but i can read. even though it was still really early, the park bathrooms were open and the picnic tables had a roof above. for some unexplained reason there were also five regular refrigerators under the same shelter. don't ask...
north of maiden rock and the smiling pelican bake shop--which was big time dissapointingly closed on thursdays, i was so looking forward to some baked goods and maybe tea after seeing their name on the section of 35 they adopted--i came upon some hills the likes of which i had not dropped down to the granny gear since ny state. two monster climbs of about two miles each got my heart rate up and a good sweat going. my luck that the resultant down hill runs were even longer than the ups. the stretch from diamond bluff up to prescott was especially roller coaster like, including a down hill run in town with traffic approaching the crossing of the mississippi. my brakes had not been used that hard this trip.
just before that little drop, i ate lunch atop the hill overlooking the mississippi at the great river road visitor center and then skipped between raindrops over to the town library, biding time while the showers passed. if you look at their website the double roofed pagoda was were i sat. soon enough i was over the river and climbing out of the valley, headed toward minnesota 95, which would take me up the east side of the city away from most of the traffic. i made it up to lake elmo library and checked my email for my brother's hidden key combo. the library kept me a bit longer than i should have stayed as they tempted patron's with tea and cookies.
with the final pathway marked out, i set off on the last 17 miles of this journey. i suppose the late hour payed off as i got onto a lakeside bike path just as the sun was setting. i had taught jalil the "red in the morning, sailors take warning, red at night, sailors delight" saying when we were together and wished he was there for all the "delight" supposedly promised by the color i was getting to see. it was beautiful and i only had 10 more minutes or so until i made it to palmer's and nancy dawn's. with impecable timing, i finally got the key free and had just opened the house door when my brother pulled into the drive.
day 23--at rest: this morning nancy dawn and i were chatting before she left for work about all the things i could do today...i ended up drinking tea and eating, drying gear out, and blogging. up to this point it has been very satisfying. but now...
later!
in chicago hghts resting and working on my mom's house... when you get old, you tend to let little things that go wrong with a house, stay wrong. you might complain some (especially to transient sons who know how to fix things but are never around) but basically you live with problems--as they grow ever bigger.
when we got to my mom's she pointed out that one of the 'box beams' in her back room had partially fallen and needed to be put back up. jalil and i took it completely down and my sister and i took it apart, somewhat. after a trip to the local home depot (or whatever it is called in the midwest...) we had the hardware and tools to put it back up. the problem now was maneuvering about under the beam as needed.
(here is the part of the story that portends what my kids have to look forward to--only with building materials.) my mom has a lot of plant stuff--collections of plants, mostly dead, plant pots, potting soil, knick-knacks of all sorts to decorate plantings, wooden crates of this and that needed to plant or help plant things...essentially all kinds of things for planting. my sister and i moved things again and again with every change in position of the ladder until i started ranting about throwing 'junk' out. to her credit my mom let us! at least she consented to getting rid of at least half of the stuff we convinced her she would never use.
long story short, we got the beam back in place and i am pretty sure it will stay put--the other one in the room might fall, but i will be back in new england by then.
that was the big job i was able to accomplish. i begged off the plumbing fix as being not nearly likely to go as well, for either of us. the resting we did was actually pretty nice as it mainly involved eating. i even cooked a meal that my mom said she liked. we also boxed up jalil's bike and my sister and i delivered unboxed biker to the bus station and the boxed bike to fedex. it was a sad day to lose jalil but we had some long talks into the night before he went west to school.
it was a fine couple of days puttering about and i got to see, a brother, sister, and my mother...
fortwayne to chicago hghts...
we have had some really good luck in road conditions for the most part, but every once in a while things go way south--which is an expression that basically means, the roads were really shitty, the salient word being really!
day 14 (80 miles)--a grand day out: setting out from fort wayne we got out into the country side fairly quickly only to be greeted by a steady head-wind. as long as we were headed west we were going to have to just keep our heads down and pedal. i don't know about jalil, but i was constantly experimenting with body position and aerodynamics. we started longing for the times we would turn north in our zig-zag trail toward chicago.
a section coming into mentone had the winds at our backs and we practically flew, drafting each other in our highest gears--a rarity on this trip so far. we celebrated with a foot-long sandwich at a subway (getting to be a regular stopping place--and this particular one played a part the next day). after a desert cookie, we pedaled off into the sun as it started its evening descent but soon stopped to watch a farmer combining his beans. when he was switching from the tractor pulling a wagon load of beans to the actual combine--with a monstrous 40 foot picking head!--he came over to talk with us. turned out he and his dad worked over 2000 acres and now that harvest has started would be very busy until after halloween. no wonder his dad wandered out into the field and wondered aloud "taking a break?"
we put in about twenty good miles west before getting to another turn north. a golf course right at the corner looked too good to pass up as a camping spot. we pulled into the club house and asked about a place to crash. the owner got all excited about us sleeping on his acre knoll he had tucked between two holes and the sprinklers he was just about to turn on. it was indeed a fantastic spot, complete with an apple and a pear tree, even though the pears were just on the edge of being ripe. (do i remember sadie telling me otavio loved pears like that...?) as we set up our tents in this perfect spot jalil announced "uh-oh, i think i left my phone and wallet back at subway..." we decided to sleep on any action given it was 20 miles back and that big signs had said "now open at 6am!" that seemed like strong advice to take care of it in the morning.
day 15 (70 miles)--a funky start and a fine finish: up at my usual 5-ish o'clock, i scared the women opening the clubhouse when i knocked on the window to see if we could call the subway. i ended up hitchhiking--and walking a fair bit--back and was jubilant when the morning crew turned the items over, even though i didn't "look like the owner of the wallet!" we have both been getting darker with all the sun, but jalil had a bit of a head start.
i ate when i got back, we packed up, and finally took off just before noon. given our late start, we were skeptical of whether we would get to chicago heights or not. heads down into the wind or backs upright to help sail when it got behind us, we put in 70 plus hot miles. this was the day that inspired this post's title--the part about roads can suck for biking...
from lacross to kouts we had the worst broken pavement and lack of shoulder combination we have had yet. it was seven miles of wondering if we would just bounce off into the ditch or if the next truck whizzing by would blow us into the corn or beans. jalil had mentioned that he just reposted this blog address on facebook "because it was full of exaggerations and lies." at least for this section death seemed relatively close to the truth.
the next ten miles from kouts to hebron seemed tame even though the entire road was line-less. save for a periodic 4-6 inch smooth-ish strip at the very edge, the surface was comparable to a gravel road, oiled and solid, but definitely rough. i never asked, but i bet jalil might even rather go through astabula oh again--maybe even at rush hour--than repeat this section.
angling north west out of hebron just before 5pm, we got onto 231 with a smooth and wide shoulder and suspected we could actually make it to saint john to stay with matt, my brother. with the wind not directly in our faces, we might even beat him there. at crown point we started winding our way through the back roads and about 7 miles later, passed matt and kathy's to get a treat from ice cream truck blasting its "summer song" just down the street. after trying to break into the wrong house one block from matt's we finally figured things out and unloaded in their garage and braved the 'vicious' dog molly when she greeted us--ten minutes before matt pulled in. it was a good reunion, complete with hot showers, plenty of great food, and a comfortable place to sleep. we could go to mum's in chicago hghts tomorrow.
day 16 (20 miles)--short is not always sweet: it was only a few miles...but i would skip the eastern end of joe orr road if i was to do it again. we left just before noon and an hour later pulled into my mum's drive--scaring a couple of the outside cats she feeds as we parked our bikes. in the last two weeks and one day, we had put in about 1000 miles, with the heat, wind, and hills, it seemed like enough. back in fort wayne we debated where jalil would pack his bike and fly out to la, and this seemed to be the appropriate place.
turns out my nephew mason manages the goodspeed bike shops close by and we visited one to get a box to start the packing process...
ciao
...to get run over! headed south and west, from twinsburg ohio to fort wayne indiana.
jalil wondered aloud, "do raccoons have some sort of problem with crossing roads?"
from a bike, one sees a tremendous amount of 'road kill'...mammals: from a tiny shrew to a rather large deer; reptiles: turtles, frogs, and snakes; birds: colorful songbirds to large hawks; invertabrates: ubiquitous grasshoppers to hundreds of butterflys--including the monarchs who just settle down near the road when their trip is finished; and one of my favorites, tools and assorted equipment: cresent wrenches, screwdrivers, bungie cords, and rolls of duct tape.
not so amazing, and just as sad, is the amount of trash...i was attempting to keep track of the little flossing sticks after noticing easily a dozen or more one day in ny state. the next day maybe half, a dozen, tapering to only one yesterday in western ohio.
day 10 (70 miles)--into our first hard rain: setting out from twinsburg quieted jalil right down. not that he is a ever a noisy person, but it was obvious, even to me, leaving his family had a strong emotional impact.
what started out a fine day riding away from cleveland and into the countryside. jalil's mom had warned us about a hill "we might have to walk up!" we assured her that our hill practice in vt and ny would make anything ohio had to offer 'cake!' she was right about it being steep--the steepest we encountered yet, thankfully it was short--and although we did not walk we were definitely out of the saddle and heavy breathing by the time we topped out.
later, with a couple of crazy detours and a torrential down pour, we got pushed way off our intended path and very wet. it may have been for the best though as we met alex who took us to his house, back close to our path, and let us sleep in a dry shed. i helped him bleed the brakes on his girlfriend's van and only got a little bit wetter. it rained even harder once i crawled into my sleeping bag. the metal roof was drumming all night with the sounds the down pour and an occasional sharp crack of an acorn. we didn't make as many miles as we wished, but we were dry for the night.
day 11 (80 miles)--flat and windy: if we remember yesterday for the rain, we might remember today for the wind. while jalil prefers the wind to the hills, i am quite the opposite. i look down the road and mark where a line of trees will give us a bit of a break and wish that there could be more.
while the wind was at us all day, the 'road' was really pleasent. on one of our detours yesterday we ran into about ten miles of the north coast inland trail as it ran past oberlin. we hit it today in norwalk after breakfast at berry's and a visit to the local bike shop--established back around 1912! it lasted on an off for many miles, some paved, some gravel, until we got to fremont. going through clyde, we stopped for lunch and i saw this historical marker (skip p., i am actually reading some of the ones we pass!) and thought of the english department at mascoma.
later, as we approached custer, i could see a huge group of grain elevators from miles off. i told jalil that from my experience that promised at least one gathering spot. sure enough, just before dark, we pulled up to the custer tavern and were able to get some supper. we had to use lights to find a place to sleep after, but it seemed worth it...
day 12 (75 miles)--a cold morning with a fine evening: ...it seemed great the night before, gave me a bit of apprehension the next morning. i got past the several trains that rumbled through town during the night, and didn't even mind the temperature down in the 40's--jalil ate breakfast with his full gloves on. what bothered me was the little tendrils of poison ivy i noticed next to our tents and how during my nightly visit to the bushes i may have tread on some...i am waiting for the itch. (speaking of itch, my arm still feels funny from getting stung by a wasp way back in gowanda ny.)
we got on the sunny road and peddled off into the ever increasing wind hoping for fort wayne indiana by the evening. at a second or third lunch in antwerp ohio, we figured the last 20-30 miles would be windy, but very doable, especially since we were turning somewhat south. around 10 miles away from jalil's brother's amir's place (three ' in a row!), i noticed my rear tire was really out of round and rubbing on the brakes. another spoke had popped and of course it was on the freewheel side. i disconnected the rear brake and we wobbled into fort wayne arriving to a cheering party. amir's neighbors were all out shouting encouragement and congratulations. it was a good feeling. equally cheery was the warmth amye, whom amir is living with, welcomed us with. to top off an amazing evening, amir's red beans and rice, plus the corn bread was super delicious!
day 13--resting and bike repair: bike shop day...the back wheel has been replaced and we are ready to start rolling toward chicago heights tomorrow! amye's hospitality has surpassed generosity--she is one of the warmest persons i have ever met. amye works with all sorts of people who need support, especially young adults. she has a passion for using horses to help connect people to their abilities. check out the model she just heard about and you will know the people she loves to help. amir and jalil got in a good amount of quality time. a hot sun dried the tents from the custer dew in no time.
later
