Ray's Travels

We’ve biked about 470 miles in the last 5 days. While
the weather has been good, I think we are feeling a
bit of the wear and tear.

Yesterday we traveled about 92 miles from La Crosse,
WI to the Wisconsin Dells. It was one of the more
unusual riding days. I mentioned earlier that we would
be travelling on a rail trail. Over 30 of our miles
were on the Elroy-Sparta Trail. It is one of the
better known rail trails, if only for the fact that it
goes through 3 old rail tunnels.

http://www.elroy-sparta-trail.com/

The tunnels were completed in 1872. The first one we
went through was the longest at about 3/4 mile. You
have to walk the bikes through the tunnels. There are
no lights so many of us brought a flashlight. When
they built the tunnel they hit an underground stream
so there is alway water dripping though the rock. The
irony is that there was more rain in the tunnel than
we have had on the rest of the trip.

The rail trail was not paved but was in very good
condition. It was smooth riding on packed limestone,
mostly through forests. It was a nice change from the
roads.

We arrived at the Wisconsin Dells which remains a
tourist trap. While they have tried to spruce the
place up a bit it is still somewhat tacky, just as I
remember it from over 40 years ago.

Today we rode about 84 miles to Fond Du Lac,
Wisconsin. The weather was perfect for biking, cool
and gorgeous. We didn’t even care about the variable
winds that weren’t always in our favor. It was mostly
a journey through rolling farmland. When we got to
Fond Du Lac many of us went to the bike shop to get
some parts and accessory items. What a great shop! One
of the employees gave us a card with his telephone
number and said that if we needed anything after hours
to give him a call and he would open up the shop and
help us out. They were personable, knowledgeable and
well supplied. It made us love Fond Du Lac right
from the start.

Tomorrow should be a fairly easy day of about 57 miles
to Manitowoc, WI. We can sleep in a bit tomorrow. Then
we can look forward to our ferry ride the next day
across Lake Michigan. We need the rest. Then we can
start thinking about our push into the East with the
Promised Land in our sights.

Do you think that some day there will be a “Text Message” museum?

We’ve had some long hauls lately. On Tuesday we biked
102 miles, on Wednesday we biked 101 miles and today,
because of construction detours, our scheduled 89 mile
ride turned out to be 96 miles.

Yesterday’s ride into Rochester, MN was one of the
worst of the trip. You might call it the 5H trip.
Heat, Humidity, Hills, Headwind and Hours (on the
bike). That adds up to Hell. We were beat by the end
of the day. It was one long slog.

Today’s ride into was much better with lower
temperatures and much less humidity. There were some
tough hills but it was very scenic. Although there was
a lot of time on the bike, it wasn’t nearly as painful
as yesterday.

As for milestones, we are now officially in the East
because we crossed the Mississippi River. We entered a
new state, Wisconsin. Also, we are about 2/3 of the
way through the journey.

Things are moving along. Time has become a fluid
concept. In some way Oregon seems like years ago and
in other ways it seems like yesterday. The trip seemed
like it was never to end but now the tour company is
mentioning planning for the arrival in New Hampshire.

Tomorrow’s ride to the Wisconsin Dells should be
interesting. A big chunk of it will be on a rail
trail. If you are not familiar with a rail trail it is
an abandoned railroad that has been converted to a
recreational trail. The Rails to Trails Conservancy is
the advocate for this nationwide project. Their web
address is:

http://www.railtrails.org/index.html

Attached is an amusing photo that the guide took of
me standing in front of a mural painted on the side
of a building in the little town of W. Concord, MN.

We spent last night in Worthington, MN. When we
arrived at the hotel there was a goody bag for each of
us containing a T-shirt and a small flashlight from
the Chamber of Commerce. When we woke up this morning
we saw that the local paper, the Worthington Daily
Globe, had a front page article about us. I guess a
bunch of bedraggled bicyclists arriving in town is a
big event in Worthington.

Honestly, it always feels good to have your efforts noticed.
We do appreciate the hospitality.

Today we biked 102 miles into Mankato, MN. It was a
mix of good an bad. The ride was long but there were
no real climbs. The road was excellent in some places
and terrible in others. The weather was mostly good
but we dodged one thunderstorm and had a mild headwind
most of the way.

Tomorrow is another 100 mile ride to Rochester, MN but
they are predicting winds from the Northwest. It would
be nice to ride a tailwind on a long ride for a
change.

The mood of the group is very good. We’re at a point
where it now seems that this long, arduous journey is
actually going by quite fast. An undertaking like this
is as much mental as physical and that is true from
start to finish, from day to day and from hour to
hour.
I think most everyone feels that they are getting
close to the endgame and that gives a lot of
confidence.

Hopefully, we’ll bypass the Mayo Clinic when we get to
Rochester. If for some reason we don’t we should at
least get some good care.

Today we rode from Sioux Falls, SD to Worthington,
Minnesota. It was suppose to be a 70 mile ride but
road construction and detours turned it into an 83
mile ride. We decided to take the long paved detour
route rather than try to fight our way over 7 miles of
dirt and gravel. Based on what we heard, it was
probably a wise decision. Again, the weather was with
us except for a slight headwind. It got into the 90’s
but that was later in the day so it wasn’t too bad.

It’s amazing that although the state lines carve up a
single body of land there really does seem to be a
change when you enter a new state. We noticed that
upon entering Minnesota the houses seemed much nicer
than in South Dakota. Also the air seemed much more
humid. A lot of it has to be our imagination but it
just seems uncanny.

The area of Minnesota we traveled today had some
incredible corn and soybean fields. We haven’t seen
fields like that since we traveled through southern
Illinois years ago. Even when you are on a slight rise
the fields stretch as far as the eye can see and the
density of the crops is amazing. Farming on that scale
is awe inspiring.

Tomorrow we knock out another “century” (100 miles or
more in a day) to Mankato, MN. And guess what?
Wednesday we do another “century”. Yup, two in a row!
Hopefully, they won’t be too bad since the terrain has
leveled out. A tailwind would be nice but we’ve almost
gotten to the point that we’ve quit hoping.

How many people don’t know that “The Valley of the Jolly Green
Giant” is in Minnesota?

That’s right. We’re 2,000 miles into this journey.

Today and tomorrow we’re in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Tomorrow is a rest day. Maybe we’ll go out and ride 50
or 60 miles just to keep the legs in shape. (Just
kidding.)

We biked about 72 miles today from Mitchell, SD to
Sioux Falls. Once again, the weather was clear and not
too hot. The terrain has mostly leveled out so there
isn’t too much climbing.

It’s getting almost scary. 72 miles is an easy day. We
feel like we didn’t even break a sweat. The trouble is
that we’re packing in so many calories that in a
couple of weeks we’re going to have to concentrate on
backing off the food. If we keep eating like this
without the same amount of biking we’re going to look
like Harley-Davidson riders in no time (except for the
cheap tattoos and bad haircuts).

When we stop it’s not uncommon for people to come up
to us and want to hear about what we are doing. Some
of them are recreational bikers and say they would
really love to do the same thing. There were a couple
of farmer/rancher types the other day who wanted to
hear all about the bikes. I could almost hear the
mechanical wheels in their heads spinning. They
probably could have taken the bikes apart and put them
back together with no parts left over. It was a fun
conversation. They all give us encouragement.

It feels good to put the rubber to the road and really
see this country. We feel fortunate to have the
opportunity.

Today we had a 57 mile ride over rolling prairie to
the world famous town of Wall, South Dakota the home
of the world famous tourist trap, Wall Drug. In case
you’ve never been there, Wall, SD has very little to
it other than Wall Drug. It’s not that bad of a place
but you can understand why it would take 15 million
road signs to get people to stop there.

The riding was easy today. The distance was short, the
weather was good and there was a stiff tailwind. Yes,
I said tailwind! Maybe those candles started to work.

It looks like South Dakota is becoming the motorcycle
capital of the world. In early August each year the
town of Sturgis, SD (near the Black Hills) has a huge
Harley-Davidson rally. Apparently those that can’t get
there for the Sturgis rally run around the state the
rest of the time. There are motorcycles everywhere and
a lot of them are pulling trailers. I don’t quite get
it.

It used to be that Harley-Davidson riders were young,
tough and had a chip on their shoulder. Now the
average Harley rider is old, obese, wears ugly
clothes, has a huge beer gut hanging over their belt,
has cheap tattoos, has a bad haircut and has a
scraggly beard. . . and that’s just the women. The men
are even worse. It’s not a pretty sight.

Anyway, we have a tough 117 miles to ride tomorrow. We
end up in Pierre, SD. If you remember your fourth
grade geography, that’s the state capital.
Unfortunately, the weather report says that the winds
are suppose to shift and turn into a headwind
tomorrow. It could make for a long day. Come on folks,
we need help. If you live in the East, turn on your
fans pointing eastward in order to pull the air in
that direction.

Somehow, we’ll make it. We’ll probably be very
exhausted by this time tomorrow. Not only that but we
lose an hour due to a time zone change. A long day
looms.

Ok, where did we leave off? . . .

The off day in Casper was much needed but it only
served to rest us for some more tough rides. On
Saturday we biked 107 miles into Lusk, WY. We crossed
some really desolate areas. Wyoming has to be the
roadkill capital of the world. Dead jackrabbits, dead
antelope, dead dear, dead birds, Wyoming has it all!

Sunday was a 92 mile ride to Hot Springs, South
Dakota. That means we entered our fourth state and, to
my mind, went from the West to the Midwest. There must
really be hot springs in Hot Springs because you can’t
get cold water out of the tap. The ride was tough.
Although the profile showed it to be mostly downhill,
the winds were against us most of the day. This candle
thing isn’t working. We need a new strategy. Anybody
know any witch doctors?

On one of the highways coming into Hot Springs, the
air was filled with smoke and the smell of fire. There
was a wildfire on the other side of a ridge that
killed one person and destroyed 20-30 homes. The
firefighters were having trouble controlling it but
early this morning a thunderstorm rolled through so
we’re assuming that some progress was made.

Today was a tough but quite spectacular ride. We left
Hot Springs and biked through the Black Hills. We
passed the Crazy Horse monument and made a stop at Mt.
Rushmore. I had forgotten how dramatic the rock
formations are in the Black Hills. It’s beautiful
country. At one point we had to stop for buffalo on
the road. You don’t tell buffalo what to do or get to
close to them. They dictate the pace. The terrain is
rolling and there were some tough climbs. We travelled
72 miles but they were pretty tough miles,
particularly after the mileage we’ve covered lately.

Tomorrow should be a fairly easy day of 57 miles to
Wall, SD. Yes, we plan to visit Wall Drug. We
understand though that there will be a couple of tough
days after that.

The smell of the half way point is in the air. We’ve
already biked about 1600 miles which is more than I
would have thought possible a few years ago.

We’re eating lots of calories, drinking lots of water
and the weather has mostly been favorable. The group
and the tour company are good. We’re holding up quite
well physically and mentally. Things could be a whole
lot worse.

We absolutely, positively, unequivicably, without dispute knew we were no longer
in New York City.

Oh, give me a home . . .

Tough day today!

120 miles through the middle of nowhere from Riverton,
WY to Casper, WY. The profile of the trip showed 65-70
miles of gentle ascent then about 50 miles of gentle
descent into Casper. The problem was that we hit
headwinds and it became a grind to make the distance.

I wasn’t feeling that great when the day started,
worked through it and then had two flats late in the
trip. Marie was doing well until the 100 mile mark and
then kind of hit a wall. We both made it but felt the
wear and tear.

Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off. We’ll rest,
recuperate, do some tire changes and get our legs back
to do 106 miles the following day into Lusk, WY.

It’s a good group of people. Everybody looks out for
one another. We’re not discouraged by the tough day
but we don’t need any more like it.

Now, help us with those tailwinds.