Day 2 – Saturday, August 31, 2013

Milwaukee – Green Bay

Picking Airbnb for a hotel was an excellent choice and it paid dividends because I slept like a baby. The next morning I got up early and drove the car up to revisit the “Worst Perkins on Earth” which I had cleverly named last year after getting literally the worst breakfast ever.  The Perkins succeeded in living up to its namesake with what can only be described as an oily, soggy, yet burned waffle and limp, greasy, bacon.  I listened to two old guys in the next booth discuss their favorite episodes of MASH and how plastic bumpers on cars are so much worse than the old metal ones.  It was entertaining and I smiled as I listened to them finishing my waffle. 

Getting ready to leave Milwaukee

Back at the house, I packed the bag which took only minutes, filled the water bottles, and headed out the door.  Amazingly when I went into the garage to get the bike I looked down and saw a hammer sitting literally right next to the bike.  Going back to the night before I had torn the garage apart looking for something to hammer the metal piece back flat and finding nothing had to use the end of an axe.  My mind was just going in a million different directions…

It was a cool morning and a little overcast but looked like it was going to be a nice day.  I headed out into the Milwaukee suburbs via a bike path to avoid traffic and then continued out into the country.  The clouds parted and the sun came out and made for a beautiful morning.  Within a couple hours I reached the Kettle Moraine State Forest and the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive which cuts straight through it.  It is a very beautiful ride but full of hard climbs and with a strong headwind it made for a tough go for the latter part of the morning. 

Entering Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive

I rode by the little general store that I stopped at last year but didn’t take full advantage of the stop.  The hills and headwind were slowing me down and I had set a time to meet Heather for lunch and was running behind.  I stopped anyway to take a quick energy gel and talked a little with a couple who were sitting at a picnic table.  I was able to tell them a little about my trip and about World Bicycle Relief.  They reacted in the familiar way with shock and amazement of the distance and wished me luck on the rest of the journey.  I headed back out into the late morning sun as the day heated up.

 

Free Range turkey farm I rode by

Gotta be Wisconsin when there is a Cow Crossing Sign 

Heather was driving up from Milwaukee and we had set up a place to meet off the highway.  It was hard communicating on the bike so it worked better to set up meeting times before hand.  Last year we had tried this but it just never seemed to work.  After leaving the general store I rode for another 30 minutes or so before we met up just outside the town of Glenbeulah, WI.  I was so surprised that she made it to the meeting point ahead of me I claimed it was like Mary appearing on a tortilla… a Miracle!  She was not pleased with the comment.

Lavender field for the afternoon ride

It was really nice to take a few minutes off the bike and have a bite to eat even if it was cold leftovers from our dinner the night before.  We both sat on the trunk of the car and talked and ate and enjoyed the afternoon sun.  I had about 50 more miles to go and was anxious to keep moving, so after about 10 minutes we said our goodbyes and I headed off to finish the day.  As I left I was singing a song I made up to the tune of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”  only I changed the name to “Bobo’s Oat Bars” because that was one of my main food staples of the trip.  I got it stick in my head for hours…  It doesn’t seem as funny now but at the time it was I thought it was the funniest thing in the world.  Again, I think the heat was doing things to my brain.

Cool old building on the way to Green Bay

The afternoon heated up a bit but the wind started to die down and I enjoyed a nice afternoon ride over the hilly country roads.  I knew what was coming up and sure enough just at the 100 mile mark I turned off onto a gravel trail that led straight into Green Bay.  The trail was a safe alternative to the highway but after 5 ½ hours on the bike my body was already sore.  The bumps seemed to shake me right to the core and I knew it was still another 20 miles to Green Bay.  I rode along the trail and enjoyed the shade from the wind and sun that the woods offered.  The miles ticked away and after 45 minutes the path transitioned into pavement for the last 5 miles or so.  I knew I was close…  The last few miles flew by and when I approached the river bridge into Green Bay I knew I’d made it.  A few turns later and I was less than a mile but just as I was about to turn down the final street I hit a set of train tracks with a freight train going by and had to stop and wait for almost 10 minutes for it to pass.  Finally it did and I rode the last few miles into the hotel.

Almost there.  On the gravel road into Green Bay

Crossing bridge into Green Bay

On the bridge looking South

Heather was already there and she met me for an arrival picture before I retreated to bed to rest.  I was exhausted but happy to make it through the first big test of the trip.  I quickly did my laundry in the sink and took a shower which felt amazing after 120 gritty miles.  Washing off the film of sunscreen, sweat and caked on bugs became a daily tradition on this trip.  When I finally laid down in bed I knew I wasn’t moving for the rest of the night even though it was only 7pm.  I broke out the leftover spaghetti Heather brought from home and chowed down as I started to download the pictures from the day’s GoPro.

Finally made it to Green Bay and end of day 2.  118 Miles

Bug splatter at the end of the day

Immediately I had problems with the computer and regretted not bringing a backup.  I managed to get the pictures downloaded and backed up on the portable hard drive I brought.  Just after finishing with the pictures as I was checking my email and updating the blog and the entire computer crashed and would not turn on.  I ended up spending the rest of the night trying to get the computer working and struggling to link the GoPro with Heathers computer.  Her computer would not recognize the camera or my portable drive and finally after hours and many failed attempts I gave up on both computers and tried to figure out a plan B to make my stop motion movie.

Daily ritual of cleaning and lubing the bike at the end of the day

If I could make it to Escanaba I could meet up with dad and download the pictures to his laptop.  But that meant storing 2 days’ worth of pictures on the memory card.  I didn’t know if there would be enough room and what was going to happen but I was going to give it a shot.  The night was almost a total blur, dealing with the computer, camera, and gps issues I was tired, frustrated, and unprepared for the next two days.