Today's Report: 

Today we slept in due to the short day and loaded the luggage after a late breakfast.  Even though it was only a 57-mile day, which most of the group could kick out in less than 3 hours, they were all standing around the lobby like buzzards lurking over a dying cow waiting for us to open the luggage van.  By the time we got all situated and ready for the bags, Jim, Jeff, and Mark were covered as they were throwing them on faster than they could stack them.  So much for the Type A personalities mellowing out.

Our route was across beautiful Wisconsin countryside toward Lake Michigan.  I know I've said this about every state, but I think Wisconsin is one of the most scenic states we ride in.  Each state has it's moments, but Wisconsin's dairy and crop farms dot the undulating countryside and remind me of Norman Rockwell paintings.  I rode off route a mile or so a couple of times and couldn't believe the beauty of the landscape and was glad we didn't have to detour since the published route was probably the mildest terrain around.  If you got off route almost in any direction the terrain would be much more challenging with short and steep hills everywhere you looked...I remained in sensory overload most of the morning. 

One thing I really like about this area is the fact people take so much pride in their yards.  Everywhere you look you'll find beautiful landscaping and colorful flower arrangements.  I wish we could do that where I live in Alabama, but it's so hot, it kills everything that tries to grow in the summer.  The lawn art is a bit higher on the "quality" scale than we saw in Idaho through Minnesota too.  In those states, any rusty, unusable farm equipment was a candidate for a lawn art display...especially if the equipment happened to be a manure spreader.  For some reason, manure spreaders were the "lawn art of choice" for many yards as we crossed the US.  It didn't do much for me, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

The last few miles before town we got our first glimpse of the "Pond."  County road XX took us as far west as we could go without getting wet so we turned north to parallel the Lake all the way to town.  You could tell we were close to the water because of the the cool air that met us within a mile or two of the lake and because of the large flocks of gulls parked in the farm fields.  Tomorrow's ride across on the boat may be a bit chilly...need to tell the troops to take a jacket.

Everyone got in pretty early today so we had our rap and dinner early enough to get folks to the laundry and time to rest for the boat ride.  Tomorrow we have a day off...not really as we will be boarding a ferry and crossing Lake Michigan.  We'll load at 9:00, then be at the ship at 12:00.  It's a 3 mile bike ride to the boat and by now everyone is in good enough shape to be able to cover that distance well within the time limit.  We'll get into Ludington Michigan about 6:00 since we lose an hour into the eastern time zone when we get off the boat.  It's hard to believe we only have two more weeks in this trip...I don't think the riders realize that yet, but they will become aware when we get on the other side of the lake.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day, not a rest day at all since we still have to pack up and move out, but we'll get through it like we usually do.  Our next riding day is 115 miles...I hope I and the riders get some rest on the boat.  Be back again when we ride to Mt Pleasant.  Have a good day.  M 

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