Day 5 (Updated) - AT&T Sucks!!

Date: Thursday, 14 July 2016

Time on Bike: 5:17:48

Total Travel Time: 8:46:30

Miles Covered Today: 57.52

Total Trip Miles: 244.8

Average Speed: 10.8 mph, Maximum Speed: 33.2 mph

From: WDOT, Middleton, WI

To: La Valle, WI

(Written from Minnetonka, MN)

Packed up everything as we were leaving Madison. Headed back to that trail that I didn’t get on yesterday afternoon.

Looks a little better this morning!

Very popular bike path for cyclists from Madison.

And it was a spectacular morning! But... the wind was back! When I saw the wind turbines I realized this wind thing was a constant in these parts…

The new cash crop is wind!!

You can barely hear me talk because of the wind...

At a certain stage you become resigned to the fact you are going to get the crap knocked out of you. So you put your head down, put your hands on the drops, drop down a gear, or two, or three and grit it out. And no, it is not one of the most fun days you will have on your bike. But at the end of the day you look back at it you are pretty proud of yourself for having hung in there. And hope tomorrow for no wind, or better yet it is at your back!

Bunny surprised me with a very needed and welcome surprise at a great resting spot outside McDonald’s in Sauk City. Our first cool day, so we sat outside at a picnic table under a big tree. But no Wi-Fi!!!!! Worse yet, NO CELL PHONE COVERAGE!! We didn’t realize this was going to be such a problem for us.

The sky was blue, the clouds were white & puffy, and it almost made me forget the wind today!!

Next rest stop was Denzer, WI when Bunny found another picnic table right outside a (closed) pub. Again, idyllic but we were still off the grid which made Bunny nervous about how we would keep in touch. A woman who lived next to the pub (Heather) came out to meet Bunny soon after she arrived. She offered the use of her restroom. That made this a perfect rest stop!!! Thank you Heather!

Here is a pic of Bunny heading out of Denzer just ahead of me. Little did I know that the day would soon be all “downhill”…

Within 2 miles north of Denzer, I hit my first real climb. Yup, I am not embarrassed to say I had to use my granny gear for the first time of the trip. That hill was short, but STEEP! Google Maps was spotty as no cell coverage. AT&T sucks!

I was on some plateau of types doing what we call roller. Ups & Downs. Ups & Downs. I wanted to know where my downhill was from all that climbing I had done. My legs were hurting.

I took a break at a cemetery. Thought it was appropriate. On closer observation, I noted this grave stone…

Everyone talks about being off the grid, but today was the first of many of truly being disconnected. We realized we were in trouble at our first stop at the MacDonald's in Sauk City, where both our phones said “no service.” We thought a big company like AT&T would certainly have coverage all over…NOT! AT&T sucks!

Next stop was Reedsburg, WI where Bunny got lost getting there (no GPS so she had to do the old fashioned thing and ASK FOR DIRECTIONS—yikes!) Bunny misjudged when I would get there and I was nervous when I didn’t see her so I called the cops. Long story short, they gave her a personal escort to me.

Something we will laugh about later, but not funny at the time!

This is the trail head of the “400” State Bike Trail. 400 miles to Chicago in 400 minutes. It had taken me 5 days!!

And the final stop today was La Valle, WI, before heading on to our first camping site in Wonewoc, WI.

We bought dinner at a place right on the Trail... The Trail Break Restaurant. Loved the sign in the window!

Setting up our new tent was a breeze and afterwards Woz had a huge case of the zoomies and ran around the tent thirty times. He’s tuckered out and snoring as I type this!

Even with all the adversities of the day, it was a good day. We all arrived safely at Chapparal Campground. Ans as much as I moan & bitch about the wind, when you see some of the other images of the day below, you might understand how it is all worth the pain!