Day 41: 2,000 Smiles

I’ve made it to the spiritual halfway point of the trip: Hayward, WI (the home of Martha Grace and Kyle). The planning of this whole trip was anchored around spending Fourth of July weekend off the road here. I now have four rest days ahead of me. I’ve also cracked 2,000 miles! Not quite half way mile-wise, but getting closer.

Back on the Bike

Dan and Jeanne treated me to an excellent breakfast of yogurt with berries and granola, English muffins with homemade grape jelly, and an espresso. Having a good meal under my belt was good as I was a little nervous getting back on the bike this morning after taking a spill yesterday. Dan and Jeanne saw me off as I took my first peddles and the good news is I still remember how to ride a bike.

The riding today was on gently rolling county roads and highways with a few back roads towards the end. Lots of forest, some lakes, a few rivers, and a couple farms today. As the day went on, both the wind and traffic increased (it is the Friday of Fourth of July weekend after all). Given this, I went much more than I stopped so I could get off the roads mid-afternoon.

The main stop of the day was in Clam Lake, where I was able to get a chocolate milk to supplement my pita/pb/honey/sriracha and handfuls of granola. Clam lake was also the last town of the day, so I stopped briefly for a side of the road snack twenty miles later, but otherwise rode through the afternoon.

I arrived to Kyle and Martha Grace’s house outside of Hayward at about 2:45. They already left for camping yesterday and I’ll join them tomorrow or Sunday, so the house was empty. I gave myself a tour, while trying to ask them for the wifi info as my cell service was spotty. It turns out my cell service was a lie, so I took a drive in Martha’s car up to the end of the road and was able to give her a call and catch up, get the wifi password, and also got their mail while I was there.

Now able to let folks know I made it and all was well, I made myself at home. I took a shower, popped a bag of popcorn (one of my favorite foods), and found a Spotted Cow beer (only sold in WI) and settled in on the couch. I had a lazy afternoon and evening and will start tackling laundry and other logistical todo’s tomorrow.