TODAY'S TALES: 

Yawn...another perfect day on the road.  We entered our 6th state today (Wisconsin) and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  Our terrain today was a bit more rolling than we've had in the past few days and we had 1 real good climb at the 65 mile point...I'm in trouble again as I told everyone that it was probably about a 7% grade for a mile, but it was more like 9% or 10% in places...but it WAS only a mile. 

If you like corn and soybeans, you'd love our ride today.  Everywhere we would look we'd see rotation planting and rolling hills dotted with barns and silos behind every farm house.  It's much different here than where I grew up on a farm.  Here the fields are much bigger and they seem to be able to plant corn or beans on just about any slope that a tractor can negotiate.  The slopes are so steep that they have to plant in strips with areas between left to grass.  I imagine it helps with erosion...if they'd till all the slope, it would wash away with the first rain I figure.

We're also starting to see more and more small towns along our route.  After Wyoming and South Dakota, anything would seem like over population, but it's nice to see civilization more often.  It takes a little stress off the SAG vehicles when the riders can stop ever so often and buy a fat pill or two.  Today had two favorite stops...Rushford and Houston.  In Houston, we have our SAG by a pastry shop and the owner stayed open just for us...we ate him completely out of pastries and were they good...yum!  I'm thinking a lot of the riders had a hard time leaving the cream and fruit filled croissants...I know I hated to leave.  

Aside from the challenges of the terrain, we rode on a great bike path that stretched between Rushford and Houston.  It winds around fields along the Root River and at one point there's a sign that said we were crossing the "Root Canal."  The riders said the path was a home run and it was a great route to the second SAG that kept them off the highway for 11 miles.  After the second SAG, we had that steep 1 mile climb I spoke of before to get out of the river valley and up on the bluff.  Once we were up there, you could see almost forever.  I think most of the riders felt it was well worth the climb to ride those great roads...even the ones who walked up the slope.  The terrain was gently rolling on top of the ridge and they had a great 2 mile descent to the bridge across the Mississippi...we are finally in the east!

All in all it was a long hard day.  As I was parked on top of the "significant" climb today, the riders were most jubelent as they crested the top...as I watched them rejoice I was thinking to myself that three weeks ago they probably would have walked up that hill.  But even with being stronger and road hardened, most of the riders got in later than they usually do...the last riders didn't get in until after 4:30.  So no matter what went on during the day, it was a success if all the ducklings are safe at the motel.

Well, enough about the happenings of the day, remember the other day when I was talking about the cold war threat being thwarted by the mid west farmers?  Well, I thought I'd explore that topic a little.  Today I found lots of examples of our deterrent forces while I was in the van today.  The picture top right just looks like an innocent farm doesn't it...Notice how this "farmer" is cleverly using the surrounding terrain and natural cover from the trees to hide his missile silos.  The high terrain behind his "farm" provides shelter and protection from a low flying tactical attack from the south.  Also, the control tower and early warning system is cleverly disguised as a barn (see the funny antenna on the roof).  These two silos house lethal Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles standing ready to defend this 50 acre farm plot from enemy attack or UFO landing.  And you thought they only put silage in those things!  They do so well disguising these that many people ride by everyday and never notice anything out of the ordinary...nor do they suspect anything but farming activity to be going on.  Some may say I've been out in the sun too long, but I'm telling you some of these farms are not what they seem!  More to come after further substantiation. 

Tomorrow we ride to the Dells...a tourist trap.  We'll ride on the Sparta to Elroy trail too...nice variation.  It should be a nice leisurely ride that they will really enjoy...hope the weather cooperates.  Wisconsin is another beautiful state and I'm sure we'll see more examples of strategic military covert activity somewhere along our route...stay tuned. 

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