Wisconsin!

We just got to Madison and are hanging out at our cousin Nick's! Hard to believe we are only a day's ride from home. Wrote this one yesterday at the cottage:

We arrived in Wisconsin five days ago. Perhaps it was angry we had left it, for it felt that we were welcomed home with a vengeance. Immediately after crossing the border, we were panting up a steep hill on a very busy highway with no shoulder. We paused to take some pictures with the Wisconsin sign (the best of all the states we've been through) and continued back up the hill. The original plan had been to continue south to Somerset for the night, but a stop at a visitor center informed us of a brand new bike path that would take us just as far east as we were planning to go south, so we made Amery our first home state stop. 

I have always loved the landscape of rural Wisconsin. Its rolling green hills, bright red barns, and black and white spotted cows are just a few of the sights I looked forward to seeing upon our return. But that beauty comes with a price. The scenery is lush because of the humid climate and hills are hills no matter how pretty. Our first two full days in Wisconsin were difficult, and during our first morning I was reminded of some of our days in supposedly flat central and eastern Montana, where we would crest one hill only to see the next hill we had to climb. 

The first day was made even longer by the fact that I made a slight map error, but I would like to point out that I have been in charge of the maps the entire trip and this was the first time I made any mistakes. We are using a state highway map now, and when laying a string along our route to figure out our next day's distance, I failed to notice that the scale had 20 miles on either side with a zero in the middle, meaning the line was 40 miles in length, not the 20 I thought. We began to doubt my calculation tat Eau Claire was less than 40 miles from Amery when we arrived in Menominee at mile 50 with quite some distance between us and Eau Claire on the map. 

We decided to make Eau Claire our second stop in the state (it was actually nearly 80 miles from Amery). Exhausted and starving from the heat and hills, we intended to go out to eat and get ourselves a hotel since we knew there was no camping nearby. We ran into a bit of luck, though, and were offered a yard to camp in by Nate, a guy that worked at the cafe where we ate whose roommate had just left on a solo tour to San Diego a few days earlier. 

After a wonderful breakfast the next morning at the Harmony Corner Cafe (highly recommended if you're ever in the area - the entire staff came to talk to us about our trip and we got free cookies!), we hopped on our bikes and headed off into the oppressive humidity. We didn't have as many hills, but the thickness of the air made us rather miserable. We made the day a shorter one and camped at a county park where we were able to swim and escape the heat. It stormed heavily that night, which took away a lot of the humidity but left Claire's feet in a puddle.

The next day went much more smoothly and the 70 mile ride to Steven's Point seemed like a breeze compared to the last few. We saw a Miller guy unloading a truck in one of the small towns we passed through and got our picture with him : ) We also stopped at a cheese shop to pick up my favorite Swiss almond spread! We arrived in Steven's Point in the early evening and met Jim at a bike shop who offered us his couch to sleep on, which we gladly accepted. The next day we toured the Point Brewery before leaving for the cottage.

The ride from Steven's Point to Marl Lake is about 40 miles. Claire and I both hadn't really felt like we were in our home state yet, most likely because we had been traveling in unfamiliar territory. She probably felt more at home in Steven's Point, as it is where she'll be attending school in about a month. As the miles ticked away on my odometer yesterday, I knew we were getting closer to a place I consider home, but it wasn't until about a half mile after turning onto County C from County B that I finally began to recognize things. My lips began to involuntarily curl upwards and my feet started pedaling faster. I could smell a familiar sweetness in the thick air. Finally we bent around a curve and we could see the driveway up ahead. I was a little nervous about going down the steep hill, so I unclipped my feet and kept my hands on the brakes. As planned, Claire and I immediately stripped down to our bras and underwear and ran straight down the hill and off the pier into the water. I let out a big "woo hoo" and we were greeted by shouts from our excited neighbors, asking if it was us. They treated us to some delicious food and beer, after we were properly clothed, of course. 

We took the day off, but unfortunately it rained all day. It's such a strange feeling to be home; I feel so far from where we've been, both in a physical and mental sense. Tomorrow we head to Madison, and then it's home to Milwaukee after that. Perhaps it was the persistant rain, or maybe it was Neil Young's mournful crooning on the stereo, but I couldn't help but feel sad as I realized how quickly our journey was concluding. I will have to do my best to enjoy the next few days of cycling, because it will all be over before I know it.