TODAY'S TALES: 

I think most everyone was a bit tired today...yesterday was a tiring day with all the piddling along the bike path and the rain of the afternoon.  By this time in the ride everyone starts to drag a bit.  We've been on the road for 4½ weeks so you can imagine how tiring that may be.  But now they can see the end and after we get across Lake Michigan the rest of the ride will fly. 

We started the day with a quick breakfast at Perkins next to the motel and after a 6:45 load, we were off.  Today we rode to Fond du Lac...Fond du Lac means "foot of the lake."  It's located at the south end of Lake Winnebago one of the largest fresh water lakes in the country measuring 28 miles long and over 10 miles wide.  Our route today rotated between beautiful country roads along the Wisconsin countryside in the morning to state road 23 for the final few miles to town.  Last time I was on this ride I rerouted about 37 miles to get off a state highway.  I think everyone really enjoyed the back roads of Wisconsin especially with the tailwind that pushed them along effortlessly through the farmland.  We also offered a bike path option the last 8 miles into town.  It allowed us to get off the highway for a bit...I loved it.

Lake Winnebago is interesting...it's not very deep (only about 21 feet), but it holds the largest Sturgeon population in the world.  The Sturgeon is a finicky fish that's hard to catch according to the locals.  Regular fish bait doesn't work most of the time, but they've found green peas to be the bait of choice for the discriminating Sturgeon palate.  Seems the fishermen sprinkle the peas along the shoreline and when the Sturgeon come up to take a pee, they hit them in the head with a mallet...sounds like a pretty good tactic if you ask me, hey it works for the locals in the know.  Oh, I get it.

I found another interesting fact about Lake Winnebago.  When it freezes over in the winter, they plow the snow and make roads that crisscross the lake...they even put up street signs!  Neat idea...if you don't like where the roads go this year, wait till they melt and build new ones next year that go someplace else.  They probably build the roads to the good fishing spots but it becomes the mother of all potholes during melt I'll bet. 

Speaking of the Winnebago Indians, they were friendly to the white man after coming to grips with the realization that it was inevitable that the invaders would settle in the area.  I got to thinking about that and I think the Winnebagos were really pretty smart cookies and they got the last laugh and figured out how to best cope with the situation.  They invented and mass produced the vacation motor home to sell to the white man so they would leave during the winter months...pretty clever if you ask me.  Saved all the Sturgeon fishing to the natives.

Let me digress a moment from a previous subject I brought up a few days ago.  I know I've been harping on Wisconsin's contribution to the defense of our country with all their secret missile silos, but as you can see left, they also cleverly disguise their early warning radar as a TV satellite dish.  I'm sure these "satellite dishes" supply target information to the "farms" in the background.  I just have to point this out since the "untrained eye" may miss the subtle little nuances that distinguish a small family farm plot from a highly secret government early warning system.  It's hard to comprehend how many of these farm lots are really just clever disguises for weapon launch pads that are still active since the Cold War.  But beyond being involved with strategic systems, Wisconsin is also way ahead of the rest of the country in air/ground tactical systems too.  As seen in the photo below right, Wisconsin has the never before seen, first ever prototype Sherman Helo-tank.  I just happened to see this one as I rode by a National Guard Armory and was surprised they were just flaunting it out in the open...I thought these systems were Top Secret!  When I told Chuck about this (he's prior army), he couldn't believe how far the army had come even since he'd left the service.  He said, "When I was in the military, the army had to either drive these things to the battle or drop them from a cargo plane!  Now they just fly 'em in and land where ever they want to."  Yes they have come a long way with new technology, but I wonder what its glide path is if the rotor stops spinning?  It probably then becomes an inadvertent tactical bomb.  After seeing all this, I'm of the opinion Wisconsin is one of the best defended states in the union.  Seems like a lot of money invested just to guard a lot of cheese.

Another successful day on the road and this weather is really getting boring...sunny, cool, and warming in the afternoon.  After yesterday's weather challenge, today was a sweet payback.

We are staying at a really nice high rise in old downtown Fond du Lac where we held our famous T-shirt swap after dinner.  This one turned out to be the "Mother of all T-shirt swaps" just because of the sheer numbers that participated and the stealing that went on.  Just so many activities...how do we have time to ride?

Tomorrow we leave for Manitowoc...a short 57 miles.  I scheduled load at 8:30 to not get in too early in town.  The next day isn't really a day off with the ship ride to Ludington.  We're ready for a change of pace though...tune in tomorrow and see what's up.

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