Aug 2022 – Page 2 – Gav's Cycling Adventures

Rochester to Perrysburg

Aug 12, 2022gavscyclingadventures

Thursday 4th to Saturday 6th August – Stages 74 to 76.

Thursday 4th August – Rochester to Huntington (Stage 74).

Yesterday was a rest day & I did 3 things of note – got some of my blog posts drafted for use over the weekend, planned the next few days of riding & had a haircut. I’m sure wearing a cycling helmet for over 3 months has expanded my bald patch!! Thanks Syd, I love it. You did a great job with very limited natural materials!

We had another 70+ mile day in the saddle planned, so were on our way by 9am, passing the city’s water tower on the way to picking up the Nickel Plate Trail. This is another Rails to Trail initiative & the 40 mile paved cycle path connects Rochester to Kokomo via the old Norfolk Southern Railroad route.

I was interested in how the name came about & after a bit of digging around on the internet, I can now share a little of its history – it’s nothing like I was expecting. The railroad passed through New York, Chicago & St Louis (NYCL) & generated vast sums of money for each of those cities. In the 1920’s, the editor of the Norwalk Ohio Chronicle described the NYCL railroad as being nickel plated (meaning it was guaranteed to make money, as well as being a pun on the American 5 cent piece) & the name stuck.

We only rode the first 15 miles of the trail as far as Denver, but that was enough to see how much care & attention had be spent on making it just right. There were trail maps at every trailhead, so you always knew where you were. The path took us along the edge of farming land, small residential outposts & through small pockets of woodland.

I was looking forward to reaching Denver, as it would put us back on the Adventure Cycling Association maps that I bought before we started our adventure. However, Denver Main Street was no more, as construction was underway to relay 3 miles of tarmac. Luckily, one of the workmen told us how to detour round town & get back onto the road further along.

The skies had been closing in since we set off from Rochester & about 20 miles into the ride we felt the first spots of drizzle begin to fall. The temperature had remained in the mid-70’s, so we were happy enough carrying on riding in just our shorts & short sleeved jerseys as we continued on our way between the soya bean plants.

There were a couple of unexpected surprises, firstly we passed a Christmas Tree farm that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere & about 30 minutes later we spotted a house with a statue that looked like it was Birdman from Flash Gordon – needless to say we then did awful impressions of Brian Blessed’s character Prince Vultan shouting “Gordon’s Alive”, as well as singing the Queen theme tune. 15 weeks on the road has turned our brains to putty!!!

The ACA route recommended taking a side trip to visit the Dam on the way through Salamonie State Park. Fresh tarmac had been laid in the last couple of weeks & we fairly whizzed down the descents as we followed the river. The Salamonie Dam was constructed in 1966 by the US Army Corps of Engineers (you may remember that they also constructed the complex Locks & supports for St Anthony Falls in Minneapolis). The dam is 6,100 feet long & 133 feet high.

In 2012, Indiana was experiencing a severe drought & the Salamonie Lake receded, uncovering Monument City, one of 3 small towns sacrificed in 1965 to create the lake.

However, this wasn’t what held our attention today, interesting as it was – you may see some small black blobs in the railings in the photo above. There was a wake of 8 turkey vultures perched on the dam railing & they seemed totally unimpressed by 2 skinny Brits in cycling kit stopping to gawk at them.

Just a hundred yards or so along the dam, there were a few committees of turkey vultures with between 3 & 6 birds all congregating on the stones. We were just missing a kettle of them flying, but seeing so many birds in such a small area was a rare treat. A little known fact is that turkey vultures have feet that resemble chickens rather than other birds of prey. As a result they normally feed off carrion that has been dead for between 12 & 24 hours. In desperate times they will hunt small reptiles & rats, but this is quite uncommon.

We stopped briefly in the State Park Visitor Centre, where we learned that this is one of 3 interconnected dams & reservoirs that provide flood protection to the Upper Wabash River valley.

As we left the State Park behind, we returned to farmland, with the familiar corn fields laid out in front of us like a patchwork quilt. Although the rain of earlier in the day was long gone, the humidity remained in the air & whenever we stopped to take a photo our arms seemed to leak sweat, as if an internal tap had been opened!

As we neared Huntington, we spotted a few more signs of civilisation & a number of the properties had lakes with fountains that appeared as if they may also double up as somewhere for the children to either swim or mess around in small boats. There also appeared to be a bit of competition between households, as each lake & fountain was slightly larger than the previous one!

We were still on the grid system of roads, so we could see there was a body of water getting ever closer. We were heading towards JE Roush Lake, another of the 3 flood protection lakes we read about at the Visitor Centre earlier.

We continued on quiet lanes all the way to Huntington, where we made our way across town to our motel for the evening. I stopped to add a new type of water tower to my photo collection.

We’re in a Super 8 motel this evening & the photo below gives an idea of the set up of some of the nicer places we’ve stayed. This one had a swimming pool & of more interest to us, guest laundry! There was a glorious sunset this evening, so hopefully that’s a good sign for tomorrow.

Stage Stats – 72 miles, 1,365 feet of climbing. Long straight roads for the majority of the day, with flocks of turkey vultures in Salamonie State Park.

Friday 5th August – Huntington to Defiance (Stage 75).

Huntington is where J Danforth (Dan) Quayle, the 44th Vice President of the USA, went to school & the Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center (US spelling) is located here. He was Vice President to George H W Bush from 1989 to 1993. As we left Huntington this morning, we both saw a sign for the Dan Quayle Museum (the old name for the Learning Center), so I wanted to find out what his connection was, as he was born in Indianapolis & spent most of his childhood in Arizona.

Setting off at 8.30am, we retraced out tyre tracks for 5 miles to Bowerstown, then picked up new tarmac. We were joined by Chris, a local, who was out for a 40 mile ride. He was interested in where we’d been & where we were going, as he’s previously done some touring. Chris rode with us for about 15 minutes or so & then continued on his way & in next to no time he was disappearing up the road! He’s on the crest of the hill in the first photo below.

As you can see, we had the long, straight roads to ourselves again. Although the fields have had the same crops in them for the last week or so, the scenery is always slightly different & there’s always the possibility of seeing wildlife, so it hasn’t felt like a continuation of the same ride.

One of my favourite vegetables is corn on the cob & I’ve been watching as the crops have developed as we’ve crossed the USA from Montana to Ohio. We’re seeing some fields where the corn looks to be almost ready for harvesting. It’s common for plants to produce between 2 & 4 ears of corn in a season, depending on how well the crop is tended.

I’ve even cooked sweetcorn on a couple of occasions on my adventure – you can buy an ear in its husk for $1 in supermarkets & if you microwave it for 5 minutes, wrapped in a damp paper towel parcel, it’s ready to eat. You can have this cooking tip for free, although you may have to buy my upcoming book to find out how to brew coffee from a packet & make your own trail mix from peanuts, raisins and M&M’s!!!

I’m a fan of the colours purple, yellow & orange – now I’ve admitted this, you’ll no doubt notice (if you haven’t already) that most of my action photos have at least one of these colours in. Nearing the small town of Poe, I’d dropped back to take a photo of Sean against a yellow background, although from this distance I couldn’t tell what the plant was.

As I got closer, I realised it was a small field of sunflowers – I don’t know why, but they always make me feel happy & bring a smile to my face. When I ride in the UK, there’s a field near Lacock that is turned over to sunflowers every summer & I always look forward to riding past it – I may also enjoy the coffee & cake stop just across the road!

We reached the small town of Hoagland, where I was hoping to find a coffee shop. However, the shop no longer exists so we had a very disappointing stewed coffee & processed lemon pie (it was so rank I didn’t even finish it) from a gas station. I didn’t take a photo, as I didn’t want to break the lens on my phone!!!! To be fair to the gas station, they did let us fill up our bottles with ice & fresh water from the soda dispensing machine.

We continued on our way & as we reached Monroeville we saw our 2nd jet plane of the day (there was an identical one in Hoagland, but it had electricity cables in front of it, so I couldn’t get a decent photo). This F-84F was built in 1951 by General Motors & Republic Aviation & was eventually assigned to the 122nd Tactical Fighter Wing just outside Fort Wayne, Indiana. It’s now based outside the Monroeville Community Park & has pride of place.

As we left Monroeville, we joined State Line Road, which took us to the Lincoln Highway at the border to Indiana & Ohio. The Indiana photo is the one I used the other day when we entered the State & today we’re saying goodbye as we head into Ohio on our way ever East.

Crossing into Ohio, we immediately saw a windfarm – there are 152 turbines & when running at full power can provide enough electricity to service the equivalent of 76,000 homes. This is the largest windfarm in Ohio & farmers receive between $3,000 & $7,000 annually for hosting each turbine.

New tarmac had been laid recently & as we cycled along we could feel the road becoming more sticky, as the tar was still warm! As we neared the end of the new road, the road workers had finished for the day & were heading towards us. Baldwin is one of six ghost towns situated in Ohio, near to the Indiana border, but from later research there doesn’t appear to be much to see, so I’m glad we didn’t detour to try & find it!

As we turned onto OH500 heading East, we crossed into Ohio for real. The only obvious difference between Indiana & Ohio was the wind farm, as the crops continued to be corn & soya beans.

Heading towards Payne, farmland gave way to large residential properties, with equally large gardens – a recurring theme is how tidy the lawns are. We’ve seen many a person on their ride-on lawn mowers as we cycle in the mornings.

I also caught a fleeting glimpse of a white-tailed deer way off in a field. Just as I was getting ready to take a photo the deer was spooked by something & I ended up with an unexpected but very welcome action shot of the deer, mid-bound!

Some 10 miles on from the Indiana / Ohio border the wind turbines were still visible & some farmers must be doing quite well with their “good neighbour” payments.

As we reached Paulding we were both hoping there would be somewhere to stop for coffee & maybe cake. We spent 5 minutes looking round the Business District & eventually spotted Past Time Cafe.

The owner, Mike Iler, came over & asked us whether we were riding up / down the country or across it – he sees quite a few long distance cyclists & he welcomed us with open arms! In spite of him busy & needing to get to the bank, he stopped & chatted with us for about 20 minutes or so & was genuinely interested in our adventure – Mike, I know you’ll be reading this, as is Susan, so please pass our thanks on to your Team at the Cafe who looked after us.

We had a piece of cherry pie each & mine came with ice cream too – I need to keep up my calorie intake as I know people back home have been saying I look thin!!! The pie was delicious & I devoured the lot 🙂

Without exception, our interactions with people we’ve met as we’ve crossed the country have been positive & enjoyable occasions & they have really added to the experiences & memories that I’ll take home with me.

Leaving Paulding behind, we joined more deserted backroads that took us across more farmland. We were once more on the grid system of roads, where every corner was a right angle & the roads were at 1 mile intervals. It made navigation very simple & straightforward.

As we reached Junction, the road followed the course of the Auglaize River into Defiance, our stop for the evening. Defiance sounds like the name of a town that Jack Reacher would turn up in – we passed through Beyond Hope way back in Idaho & I had the same thought then!

The river is a tributary of the Maumee River, which it joins in Defiance. Hopefully we’ll see some of the Maumee on tomorrow’s ride. As far as today is concerned, we made our way across town & found our motel for the evening.

As it’s a Friday night, we found a grill/bar just across the road where we could relax & toast fellow Friday Beer Club members around the world! Apologies for the awful photo, we had red lights shining on us.

Stage Stats – 85 miles, 587 feet of climbing. Making friends over cherry pie!

Saturday 6th August – Defiance to Perrysburg (Stage 76).

We woke to blue skies & high humidity, with a slight cross-wind. As we had a slightly shorter ride, we were on the road for about 9.45am. Leaving town, we joined State Route 424 where it becomes the Maumee Valley Scenic Byway. Throughout our ride today we would be shadowing the Maumee River as we head North-East towards the next Great Lake on our adventure.

The Jack Reacher theme continued this morning, as Defiance led to Independence – I can almost picture Jack riding into town on the Greyhound bus with just his wallet & toothbrush for company! Independence Dam State Park is on the Maumee Water Trail which runs from Lake Erie in the North East to the Ohio / Indiana border in the South West – at the State Park we stopped briefly & chatted to a Dad who was relaxing with his young lads as they all watched the local fishermen doing their thing.

We’ve noticed that our Genesis Tour de Fer bikes are real talking points, not because of the bikes themselves, but because they identify us as a rare breed of person – people who measure our journey by the experiences we have & people we meet along the way, not how quickly we reach our destination! We’ve been on the road so long that we now have stories to tell about places we’ve been, whereas 3 months ago all we had were dreams & aspirations of what we hoped to experience & places we hoped to visit.

The original wooden dam was built in the 19th century to provide water for the canal system. This was replaced in 1924 with the concrete dam you see below which creates a weir. The canals that connected the Ohio river with Lake Erie were created in the 1800’s, but were eventually usurped by the railroad & they fell into ruin. In 1913 a flood destroyed most of what remained, however, 7 miles of the canal are preserved between the State Park & County Road 424.

Although it was a Saturday morning, there was hardly any traffic on the road. As we continued along the side of the Maumee, the scenery around us continually switched between woodland & farmland. I’d asked Sean if he’s take an action shot for me & we managed to time it so we also captured 3 local cyclists out for their Saturday ride – they disappeared into the distance! We’ve learned to be humble & accept that with our steel bikes & touring kit we’re easy pickings for everyone else on a bike & trying to catch up or keep up only ends in tired legs & bruised egos!!!

Jimbo, don’t get ideas – I’ll be trying to chase you down at every opportunity when I get home!!! 🙂

Ohio has also re-introduced us to Historical Markers – in this instance we learned about Judge Alexander Latty & the Camp that was named after him. These are a great source of information & also help to understand some of the history associated with the local area.

Entering Napoleon (yes, it was named for the French Emperor of the same name in 1832), we were on the lookout for coffee & hopefully cake. After a brief hunt around the Business District we found Country Gourmet & they came up trumps – I asked the barista what she would recommend & went with her suggestion of a pumpkin & chocolate chip cookie, as well as a blueberry muffin & a black forest latte. It was absolutely delicious!!

As we left town we passed the Town Hall, so I grabbed a photo to remind me of our visit.

The river had been hidden from view since Independence, but it was worth waiting for it to reveal itself again. There were tens of pleasure craft ploughing their way up & down the river. We were cycling along the left bank, so we were overlooking the river & had great views in both directions.

I was aware that at some point today we’d be picking up a gravel trail, but I was still surprised (in a very good way), when we arrived in Providence & stumbled on the Miami & Erie Canal. Canal boats once carried goods & people the 249 miles between Toledo & Cincinnati. We got a sense of what canal travel might have been like along a renovated section of canal, complete with lock.

The horse in the first picture is pulling a replica of an authentic canal boat, while the historic Isaac Ludwig Mill preserve features of a mid-1800’s Ohio.

This was also our gateway to the Towpath Trail, which follows the remains of the Miami & Erie Canal towpath for 8 miles to Farnsworth Metropark in Waterville. Initially we were on a paved surface, but it soon became crushed limestone & gravel. We were both happy riding on the gravel today, me because I genuinely enjoy it & Sean because it gave protection from the fierce sun overhead!

Along the trail we passed through Bend View State Park with vast vistas of the river in both directions. As we reached Waterville & crossed the river, we could see egrets & blue heron fishing in the shallows below.

All that remained was for us to make our way across to Perrysburg, where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. To celebrate another 3 adventure filled days we tucked into chicken alfredo, washed down with a Nordic IPA from Schell’s Brewery. As Saturday Beer Club was in session, we stayed for a 2nd pint too!

Stage Stats – 57 miles, 384 feet of climbing. Following the Maumee River, then the Miami & Erie Canal.

South Haven to Rochester

Aug 9, 2022gavscyclingadventures

Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd August – Stages 72 & 73

Monday 1st August – South Haven to La Porte (Stage 72).

It was another 70+ mile day today, so we stuck with our tried & tested routine of getting on the road for 9am. However, one hurdle to overcome was a rather meagre breakfast offering, which when we’re riding for 5 or more hours a day, on multiple days, isn’t ideal preparation for the day ahead! 2 bits of toast & a bagel was all that was on offer, so we agreed to stop at the first opportunity.

It was a challenge getting onto the Van Buren Trail State Park this morning as the trail was being resurfaced & the workers didn’t offer any advice of how long it went on for or where we could re-join it! We were only on this Rail to Trail for about 5 miles, but it was still a beautiful place to ride, once we found our way onto the trail!

As we picked up the Blue Star Highway we briefly passed through the Van Buren State Park & we were hemmed in by woodland.

As you can see from the photos it was an overcast day, but that just meant that when we saw Lake Michigan for the first time today the green-blue water stood our even more than the last couple of days. I had a 2 minute walk from the deserted road to get to this beach, while Sean waited patiently for me to do my thing with my camera.

I try to take as many photos as possible while we’re on the move, but there are times when I need to stop to get the shot I want & Sean’s been patience personified whenever I’ve stopped. Hopefully seeing the photos on these posts make some of the waiting worthwhile!

The Blue Star Highway (Highway M63) is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour – a route that takes in the complete coastline of the lake, as well as the designated Highway 10 crossing of Lake Michigan by the SS Badger. We hardly saw any traffic in the first 25 miles of our ride today, so had plenty of time to look out for unusual follies in gardens.

You may be thinking that I said in the first paragraph we would be on the lookout for a stop & here we are 25 miles in, with no mention of coffee & cake. That’s because we were still looking & were feeling very hungry, but up ahead was the town of St Joseph & over the river there was a chance of at least a gas station.

St Joseph had more than a gas station – it had Chocolate Cafe, which specialised in…..delicious chocolate cakes & acceptable coffee. In spite of being starving, this was the only occasion on the adventure where I was unable to eat everything! It was just to rich for me finish, but it was a fine piece of cake.

As we left town via Lakeshore Drive, we saw a huge fountain down by the lake with loads of children playing under what was now a blue sky. We also passed a poignant monument remembering all the people of St Joseph who served in the armed forces & never returned from active duty.

At Lookout Point we had a last view of Lake Michigan for a while as we headed slightly inland.

Heading towards Stevensville we crossed under the Interstate & passed through Shoreham (a reminder of my summer holidays as a schoolboy, as I used to visit a place by the same name in West Sussex when I stayed with my Aunt in Littlehampton). We then skirted the edge of Grand Mere State Park, where we saw 2 other long distance cyclists heading West as we headed East.

At various random points I’ve had “eureka moments” of what a huge adventure we’re on & seeing a sign for Chicago was one of those moments. Others include the first time we crossed a State Line (Washington to Idaho) for the first time after 21 days of cycling, when I had a 5 minute crisis of confidence on our 4 hour climb of Powder River Pass & when we visited Mount Rushmore & I realised we were now more than halfway through out adventure.

We continued to shadow the Interstate, with corn fields on our right, while trees separated us from the cars & lorries to our left. We headed towards Lake Michigan as we approach New Buffalo, heading through woodland that protected us from the sun overhead.

Our final view of Lake Michigan reminded me of the French Riviera with its stunning turquoise water, sandy beaches & distant coastline – it’s hard to believe this is an inland lake! I’ve really enjoyed my two & a half days tracking the USA’s largest body of water that lies entirely within its borders, but I’m also looking forward to seeing more large lakes before the adventure ends!

The eagle-eyed of you will notice that I’m wearing a different jersey in the selfie above & the one below. Well done if you noticed! There’s a simple explanation, the photo below was taken when we left Indiana a few days later! We crossed from Michigan to Indiana on a deserted lane between me taking the first & third photo below, so there wasn’t a “Welcome to Indiana” sign. We did visit Indiana though, honest!!!

Our long, straight road intersected with a long straight railroad track & it wasn’t obvious from the bridge whether the rail or the road would deviate first! La Porte has about 10 to 15 lakes in the near vicinity & we passed a couple of them as we headed to our motel. The day had started under grey cloud, but ended in glorious sunshine – another brilliant day exploring in the saddle!

Stage Stats – 75 miles, 2,057 feet of climbing. Saying goodbye to the Lake & State of Michigan, as we say hello to Indiana.

Tuesday 2nd August – La Porte to Rochester (Stage 73).

A recurring theme as we’ve headed East is the ubiquitous presence of water towers that indicate the name of each town before you reach it. The La Porte example here is one of the better ones that we’ve seen. We made our way across town & within 10 minutes we had found the first of the day’s long, straight, farm roads – we would be on this one for about 11 miles without ever deviating off due South!

For most of the first couple of hours we were between fields of corn & soya beans, so when I saw a single, lonely sunflower I had to stop & capture the moment.

The straight roads, with right angle corners continued for more than 2 hours – this is something you never experience in the the UK & it took until mile 34 for our first non-ninety degree corner! That was just shy of half distance on today’s ride & only 2 miles short of our coffee stop…..

North Judson is home to the Fingerhut Bakery – I looked up a coffee stop in advance to make sure there was one, as we’re on remote roads all day. The bakery has been open for 75 years & on my limited taste test of their apricot & pineapple cakes, they’ll be here for another 75 years! The selection of cakes was out of this world & the people working in the shop had a real passion for what they did.

After I’d eaten 2 cakes Sean literally pushed me out the door before I settled in for the day!

As we joined the North Judson Erie Trail & it was clear that bikes would be welcome! The trail follows the old JK Line Railroad for 9 miles between North Judson & Bass Lake. The good news for us was that we would be cycling the entire 9 miles! Whereas once upon a time the railroad would have demanded right of way, the cycle trail gives way to traffic, so there are gates to slow cyclists down as they approach each of the roads.

As we were cycling along chatting to each other, we startled a huge contingent of birds of prey that were sat quietly on the ground. To this day I don’t know for sure what they were, as they were up in the air before we had a chance to have a good look at them. I shot some video footage of them, but I still can’t work out what they are, although I don know there are a lot of them!

We struck a rich vein of wildlife as no sooner had we left the trail than we spotted 3 deer, as they spotted us. They kindly stayed in place long enough for me to get a photo, then they turned around & pranced off into the distance. This is a sight I’m going to miss as we continue east.

We were still on deserted, straight roads & we couldn’t remember when we last saw a car. All through Wisconsin, Michigan & now Indiana we’ve passed cemeteries on the outskirts of small towns. Some had as few of 5 or 10 headstones, while others like St Anne’s Cemetery outside Monterey had hundreds of memorials & headstones.

We stopped in Monterey to top up our water bottles & enjoy a cooling coke in the air conditioned bar. As we returned to farmland we gave way to an Amish horse-drawn carriage. We were hot on our bikes, but that was nothing compared to how hot it must have been for the people we saw working the fields dressed in traditional clothing.

As we continued towards Rochester on the final long, straight road of the day we passed a couple of examples of the type of houses we’ve been seeing for the last couple of days. The gardens are always pristine & the buildings are also kept in perfect condition.

Stage Stats – 78 miles, 689 feet of climbing. Our fourth day on the trot of cycling over 70 miles. An indication of how our fitness has built over the last 14 weeks.

USA Coast to Coast – July Update

Aug 8, 2022gavscyclingadventures

July 2022

You may remember that the original plan when we set off on 30th April was to ride an average of 5 days in every 7 & to average 50 miles a ride. In short, we’re quite close on the number of days we ride each month, but are cycling 20% further per ride than planned (60 miles instead of 50).

There were 31 possible riding days in July, so we were expecting to have ridden just over 22 days in the month.

July totals were;

13.1 – average speed in mph.

23 – number of days ridden.

45.0 – highest speed achieved in mph.

62.6– average mileage per ride.

78.32 – longest single ride.

109 – number of hours ridden.

1,440 – total miles ridden.

40,525 – feet climbed.

The totals since 30th April are;

12.7 – average speed in mph (up from 12.5 at the end of June).

71 – number of days ridden (up from 48 at the end of June).

53.3 – highest speed achieved in mph.

60.0 – average mileage per ride (up from 58.8 at the end of June).

104.08 – longest single ride.

334 – number of hours ridden (up from 225 at the end of June).

4,262 – total miles ridden (up from 2,834 at the end of June).

160,396 – feet climbed (up from 119,871 at the end of June).

While I had a detailed plan of the route we would try to follow, I hadn’t spent too much time planning where we might be 3 months in. However there have been some significant changes to the original route

April & May’s unseasonably cold weather, which has resulted in road closures due to snow in the mountains.

Late snow in Washington required us to navigate The Cascades via Stevens Pass, rather than Rainy & Washington Passes.

More snow in The Rockies meant we couldn’t explore as much of Glacier National Park as planned & the Going To The Sun Road was closed. As a result of increased Covid outbreaks, paperwork requirements & late snows, we didn’t visit the Canadian Rockies at all.

Our extended tour of Montana delayed our arrival in West Yellowstone – by then there had been flooding which caused Yellowstone National Park to be closed. We detoured via Jackson & Grand Teton National Park, so we could enter via the South Entrance on the day the National Park re-opened.

I’ve been amazed by the kindness & generosity of people in the mid-West. Without fail someone has stepped up & helped us when we needed help or assistance, none more so than Doug, Tom & Dan at Black Hills Bicycles when I was stuck with bike troubles in Philip, South Dakota.

We made a late decision to explore Wisconsin when we left Minneapolis, rather than Ohio & Illinois as previously planned. Thank you to everyone we met on the way who encouraged us to cycle in Wisconsin, we’ve had a great experience riding deserted roads, meeting some wonderful people & watching a world class Water Ski exhibition. We also got to take a ferry across Lake Michigan!

The changes to itinerary have all added to our experience & have taken us to some amazing places – Grand Teton is one of my favourite places on the adventure to date.

We will be back to our original route by 6th August, but I fully expect the plan to remain fluid & will embrace changes as they occur.

Ludington to South Haven

Aug 7, 2022gavscyclingadventures

Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st July – Stages 70 & 71

Saturday 30th July – Ludington to Muskegon (Stage 70).

We were packed & on our way by 8.45am, so after a final goodbye to the SS Badger, we set off on the first of three days exploring the West Coast shoreline of Lake Michigan. Almost as soon as we crossed the small inlet for Pere Marquette Lake, we had a short, sharp climb on to the sandy cliffs above Ludington. We saw what looked like grouse in the nearby Phillips Cemetery as we were making our way to the scenic overview for our first view of Lake Michigan, near the Ludington Pumped Storage Power Plant.

The hydroelectric power plant & reservoir were built in the late 1960’s & early 1970’s & the licence to operate the plant has just been extended to 2069. The reservoir above the plant is 2.5 miles long, by 1 mile wide, by 110 feet deep & it can hold 27 billion gallons of water – if you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know this reduces the height of Lake Michigan by less than 1/2 inch!

At peak performance, the facility can produce sufficient electricity to support a community of 1.65 million people.

After cresting Summit Park, we enjoyed the short, twisting descent to Bass Lake (it’s connected to Lake Michigan via a small outlet), where we saw water skiers for the 2nd time in 4 days – these ones were slightly less skilled than those we saw on Wednesday night. While some parts of the shoreline are covered in sandy beaches, other sections were set up as picnic or barbecue areas, with spaces for boats to dock.

Just on the outskirts of Pentwater, we passed the Veterans Memorial where an Abrams M60 tank was on display. Pentwater is a cosmopolitan town that caters to the many tourists who flock to Lake Michigan in the summer months. We were on a tight schedule, so after stopping to take some photos we continued to make our way around Lake Pentwater (which also has an outlet onto Lake Michigan).

Leaving Pentwater behind, we took a quiet side road through the woods. We were on Cycle Route 35, 500 miles of which run through Michigan from Sault Ste Marie in Canada to New Buffalo in Indiana. We reached the small town of Hart at the 26 mile point & found The Bakery On The Corner, where we stopped for coffee & a cranberry muffin – tasty!

I was really looking forward to the next section as we would be following the routes of old railroad lines on purpose built bike paths. First up was the Hart-Montague Bike Trail State Park, Michigan’s first linear State Park. As the name suggests, the 22 mile trail starts in Hart & ends in Montague & it was one of the first Rails to Trails projects in Michigan.

Even though we were riding it on a Saturday morning, we hardly saw anyone on it until we reached Montague. The White Lake Pub Pedal is an annual event to raise awareness of the many bars & restaurants in the White Lake area & also raise funds for local causes. This year they were raising money for the White Lake Youth Theatre – as you can see from the photo below, the event was very well supported. We saw hundreds of people in Pub Pedal jerseys!

After crossing the White Lake & passing the Caboose Museum (the last car of a freight train, for the use of the train crew) we joined the White Lake Pathway for 3.2 miles as we crossed the town of Whitehall.

As the White Lake Pathway ended, so the Fred Meijer Berry Junction Trail began. The 11.5 mile trail follows an old Chesapeake & Ohio railroad route from Whitehall to North Muskegon & along the way we passed Michigan’s Adventure Park which has a wooden roller, the Shivering Timbers. Enjoy the footage below!

There was one small section of gravel which delivered us back to the road network about 5 miles from our motel in Muskegon. This final 5 miles was possibly the roughest tarmac we’ve experienced on our adventure to date. There were more potholes than road surface! It had been another epic day in the saddle & we’re hoping to see more of Lake Michigan tomorrow.

Stage Stats – 72 miles, 1,539 feet of climbing. The majority of the day was spent on cycling specific trails & paths.

Sunday 31st July – Muskegon to South Haven (Stage 71).

We had another long day in the saddle planned, so we were up & on our way just aver 9am again. Within 10 minutes we had our first views of water – Mona Lake is another of the many inlets around Lake Michigan & exclusive local communities have sprung up on them all. Lake Michigan is known as the USA’s Third Coastline & on what is only our 2nd morning of exploring, it’s easy to see why.

If you look carefully at the 4th photo, you may be able to think of your own witty caption, along the lines of “Man with….”

In between Lake Harbor Park & PJ Hofmeister State Park we were clearly in an area of town inhabited by “The Haves”. The properties were immaculate with perfectly manicured lawns & with highly prized & much sought after access to the Lake Michigan shoreline.

We took a right turn that took us through the Ferrysburg Nature Reserve & just after we left it we encountered some roadworks, so had to slow down. At that same moment, 5 wild turkeys walked out of a nearby garden & proceeded to cross the road in front of us – I’m so glad I got some photos, as it was a surreal moment!

Continuing on our way, we reached Grand Haven, which is renowned for its soft-sand beaches, picturesque lighthouse & musical fountain with a synchronised light show. Every year Grand Haven hosts “Coast Guard City, USA”, which honours the men & women of the US Coast Guard who serve & protect the citizens of West Michigan. Most of the residents appear to get involved, based on the number of houses that were displaying posters, banners & flags.

As we headed out of town, we caught up with & overtook a lone cyclist. As we passed him, he picked up his pace & slotted in on the back of us – our first chain-gang of our adventure! He asked us about our trip & said he was out for a short ride that would finish when he got to Holland – this was on our route too, so he stayed on our back wheel for about 15 minutes or so as we chatted.

It felt as if we had headed inland, as we hadn’t seen the shoreline of the lake for the best part of 10 miles, but as we reached Beechwood & Holland, Lake Macatawa (another small inlet of Lake Michigan) came into view.

I had been looking forward to Holland, as I’d seen a possible coffee stop that I wanted to check out. Bowerman’s on 8th specialises in blueberries (the Bowerman family own a blueberry farm & they produce a wide range of blueberry based drinks

I engaged fully in the blueberry experience – blueberry & lemon meringue pie (best sweet cake / pie / pastry of the trip), a triple blueberry cheesecake (2nd best cake / pie / pastry of the trip) & an iced raspberry mocha (which was also delicious!). Sean had a blueberry latte & he was equally delighted with his choice too.

Reverend Dr Alberius C Van Raalie founded the city of Holland when he brought a group of fellow immigrants from the Netherlands in 1847. The plaque which gave me this information was unveiled on the 150th anniversary of the city being incorporated, by Her Royal Highness, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands.

It was clear that Lake Macatawa was an exclusive area to live in. We caught a few glimpses of the properties & one of the estates was accessible, so I poked my nose in for a look around. Each house had a dock allocated in the private marina – I was tempted to ask for a trip on a boat, but didn’t think they would be as approachable of my friends at The Wagon Wheel who took me out on Oakwood Lake!!!

Sand Castle View estate had one of the best follies I’ve seen, so I’ve included that here too – there isn’t a story, I just liked the photo.

If we were in any doubt about the money that lives here, in the space of 5 minutes only 3 cars passed us – 1 Ferrari & 2 Porsches. Next up was the small beachfront resort of Saugatuck, with its bars & restaurants that overlooked Kalamazoo Lake. Boats of all shapes & sizes were in evidence, from the eye-wateringly expensive boats staffed by a crew, to the one & two seaters. All budgets & tastes were there.

In order to reach our next piece of paradise, we needed to ride on a slightly busier road, but as you can see, it’s not exactly rush-hour! It’s a sign of how fortunate we’ve been to ride on deserted roads that I even mention this. We had one final view of Lake Michigan & families enjoying their Sunday afternoons, before heading inland slightly for the remainder of the ride.

As we approached the town of Glenn we took the decision to ignore the Detour signs & the price of that particular decision was to ride on a surface that was similar to when the ironworks have been exposed in the UK. My fault, I chose to take the direct route at the end of a tiring day!

As you can see though, it didn’t dampen our spirits, as we were only a few miles from our Motel. Once we’d checked-in & completed our laundry, we headed out to toast our time in Michigan, as tomorrow we head to our next State. We also tucked in to a Rib Dinner special each to replenish our energy, although I’m confident that once again we had a day where we expended more than we ate!

Stage Stats – 74 miles, 1,450 feet of climbing. A day of exceptional pies & cakes at Bowerman’s on 8th!

Tour of the USA – Week 13

Aug 6, 2022gavscyclingadventures

Well, How Did We Get Here? Miles, Feet Climbed, Maps & Profiles.

Previous updates described how we travelled from Seattle in Washington to Red Wing in Minnesota in the first 12 weeks of our adventure. Now find out where we went & what we did in Week 13! Hopefully picking a single photo to represent each day will refresh my mind when it comes to looking back on my adventure! I cheated this week & allocated Lazy Monday’s photo to Friday.

Saturday was all about crossing the Mississippi river twice & getting caught it an electrical storm. On Sunday we finally moved into Wisconsin for a few days, having done day trips there on Friday & Saturday! Monday was a lazy rest day, so I’ve allocated the photo to Friday. Tuesday we cycled quiet backroads & saw a tank, as well as having our first navigational challenge of the trip. Wednesday delivered us to Fremont, where we met Lin, Pat & Mike, as well as seeing a brilliant water skiing exhibition. Thursday we picked up a glorious tailwind into Manitowoc & on Friday we took the ferry across Lake Michigan & met Anders, John, Glady & Ed.

Another great week with some sightseeing, getting off the beaten track & making more friends on our Coast to Coast adventure.

Week Thirteen – Red Wing (MN) to Ludington (MI) via Wisconsin

Date	Start Location	End Location	Miles	Feet Climbed
23/07/22	Red Wing	Winona	74	1,958
24/07/22	Winona	Tomah	75	948
25/07/22	REST DAY	REST DAY	0	0
26/07/22	Tomah	Plainfield	78	486
27/07/22	Plainfield	Fremont	38	869
28/07/22	Fremont	Manitowoc	69	1,158
29/07/22	Manitowoc (by ferry)	Ludington	0	0
Totals			335	5,419

The Crossing – A Ferry Across Lake Michigan

Aug 5, 2022gavscyclingadventures

A Rest Day with a Boat Trip – Friday 29th July.

We made a decision about a week or so ago to take the ferry across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc (Wisconsin) to Ludington (Michigan). This was another detour from our original route, which would have taken us through Iowa & Illinois.

We changed our plans because we’ve been told on 3 or 4 occasions that Wisconsin is a beautiful State, with lots of cycling friendly tarmac. I don’t have a single regret about our decision, we’ve had a great time cycling from Minneapolis to Manitowoc!

The SS Badger makes one crossing of Lake Michigan per day in each direction – the 60 mile trip East takes 4 hours (plus an extra hour as the clocks go forward onto Eastern Daylight Time). The ferry departs Manitowoc at 2pm each day & reaches Ludington at 7pm.

The Ferry Crossing route shows on maps as part of Highway 10 – so technically I should be adding these miles to my totals, even if I didn’t have to pedal. For some reason the trip across the lake didn’t show any change in elevation!!!

The submarine USS Cobia is on permanent display at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. It was launched on 28th November 1943 & it saw active service in World War 2 from June 1944. While I was strolling round the docks & marina learning all this information for this post, I was photo bombed by a rather large badger!

The SS Badger is the last coal fired passenger steamship in operation in the USA. It’s 410 feet 6 inches long, 59 feet 6 inches wide, 106 feet 9 inches tall & it weighs in at 6,650 tons of displacement. Built & launched in 1952, it began daily services in 1953. It also has a sister ship called the SS Spartan which is now only used for spare parts * is permanently docked in Ludington.

Lake Michigan is one of the 5 “Great Lakes” on the Canada / USA border – the others are Lakes Erie, Huron, Ontario & Superior. It’s name is derived from the Ojibwa Indian word, meaning “large lake”.

It’s the only one of the Great Lakes to be contained entirely within the USA, making it the largest body of water within the US & the 6th largest in the world. You may be thinking “yes, but how large is large?” If you are, read on below!

Lake Michigan is 576 feet above sea level -this level is set based on the lowest level the lake has been. However, because the lake levels fluctuate the elevation level is reset every 25 years. In 2013 Lake Michigan was at a record low of 576. 02 feet above sea level, but by 2020 it was at a record high of 582.2 feet.

A BIG stat for you – 60 billion gallons of water need to evaporate for the lake to drop 1 inch in depth. To give that number some context, the USA sells 14 billion gallons of bottled water a year. During the average year the lake’s high point & low point vary by 36 inches – that’s 2,160 billion gallons of water!!!

At it’s longest & widest points, the lake measures 307 miles by 118 miles. The lake has a maximum depth of 925 feet, with an average of 279 feet. It has a total shoreline of 1,638 miles & a surface area of 22,300 square miles – that’s the same size as the States of Delaware, Massachusetts & Maryland combined.

It takes an average of 99 years for water that enters the lake to exit into Lake Huron at the Straits of Mackinac. The water volume of 1,180 cubic miles is so large that lunar tidal effects have been documented.

While we were waiting for the ferry to leave port, we got chatting to Ed (in the first photo with me & Sean), Anders & his parents Glady & John (all in the 2nd photo with me). John, thanks very much for lending me your spare coat, it was breezier than I expected!!!

Ed & Anders are supporting a Cycle America guided tour across the USA as volunteers. Anders did the same trip 4 years ago as a paying customer & he said that they were staying in the same places almost to the day!

We all enjoyed a couple of beers & spent most of the 4 hour crossing talking together. John & Glady are keen outdoors people & it was great to listen to their stories – the time absolutely flew by! I also managed to catch up with Lin & (very briefly) with Pat, wishing them every success on their adventure.

Sean & myself were both expecting the crossing to drag when we first boarded, yet before we knew it we could see the sandy shores of Michigan in the distance & not long after that a Coastguard Cutter was escorting us towards Ludington Harbour.

As we entered the Harbour lots of local residents waved to us – the boat does 450 crossings of the lake every season & they must do this on every one of them! We said “bon voyage” to our new & nearly new friends & were off the ship about 15 minutes early.

We stopped at the Welcome to Michigan sign & made sure our phones had caught up with the time zone change – for the next couple of days we’re only 5 hours behind the UK.

We checked in to our hotel & then headed into Ludington for dinner & a pint to celebrate a successful day where we progressed 60 miles & exerted no effort!!! Tomorrow we ride again.

In case you were wondering, you correct pronunciation of Manitowoc is “ma-ni-tuh-waak” – I hope that’s cleared it up!!

Tomah to Manitowoc

Aug 3, 2022gavscyclingadventures

Tuesday 26th July to Thursday 28th July – Stages 67 to 69.

Tuesday 26th July – Tomah to Plainfield (Stage 67)

Yesterday’s Rest & Relaxation Day involved just that! The furthest I walked was over the road to get breakfast & it was well worth the 2 minutes it took to get there.

I’d mapped Tomah to Plainfield as a very flat 61 mile ride, so we had a slightly later than usual start & we were on the road for 9.45am. Highway 21 was busier than the roads we’d been riding the last few days, but still much quieter than most roads we ride in the UK. Leaving Tomah took us past a lake on our right hand side & the town’s Memorial Park soon afterwards. Almost every town has a memorial of some sort to remember those who gave their lives to protect the USA – it’s also very common to hear people thanking soldiers in uniform for their service.

After 9 miles, I chose to ride a quiet gravel road, while Sean preferred to remain on the tarmac – we would meet up for coffee about 12 miles later. In the meantime I continued on the gravel for a mile, before it unexpectedly turned into a paved road.

I didn’t see a single car on the 5 miles I was on the road! Along the way I spotted lots of bee hive boxes by the side of the road & could make out the bees flying to & from their hives. There were also some random examples of silhouette art – this is a bit of a theme in Wisconsin, as we’ve seen a few others in the last week.

I re-joined Highway 21 just before entering Necedah & almost immediately, I passed a decommissioned tank on the site of the town’s Memorial Park. I also met up with Sean for a disappointing coffee & pastry – today our two choices were a Kwik Trip gas station or to go without! We needed to top up our water & knew there wasn’t anywhere else on our planned route. Life isn’t always glamourous on this adventure!

Setting off again, we passed the edge of the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, which is a wetland area around the Wisconsin River as it meanders between Petenwell & Castle Rock Lakes, the 5th & 6th largest lakes in Wisconsin.

Shortly after we passed the dam, we took a left turn onto a small side road, then took another left onto the even smaller County Road Z. Wisconsin roads, like much of the mid-west is set out on a grid pattern & this is by design. When the original Homesteaders were settling in the 1800’s, they were allocated their 40 acres of land, but no thought had been given to the creation of roads. This happened later & it was agreed that they should follow property boundaries.

Townships were created as 6 mile by 6 mile squares & surveyors split the township into 36 sectors, each a mile square. The roads were built along these boundaries. You may be wondering why I’m sharing this information – it will become clear soon! We carried on tracking the edge of Petenwell Lake until we reached our right hand turn at Bighorn Avenue.

All was good at this point, as the road was tarmac, however, at the 1 mile crossroads it changed to gravel – not ideal, but still rideable. 2 miles on the gravel became sand that came over our cycling shoes. We lack the skill to ride on this surface, in fact it would be a big challenge for anyone to ride a steel bike on 35 millimetre tyres, loaded with 40 pounds of kit!

We had to retrace our steps back to County Road Z, but it also raised another question – how many other roads would turn to sand? More than 50% of Wisconsin’s roads are either gravel or sand, so the chances are quite a few! This was the first time my navigation planning had let us down in almost 4,000 miles, but it was still hugely frustrating, as there wasn’t any cell phone coverage, so Google Maps was of limited help!

In the end we took a big detour, but it was the safest way of getting to Plainfield. We followed County Z all the way up to the town of Nekoosa (14 miles).

I was so angry with myself, even though deep down I couldn’t have known the original road would turn to sand! I’d also failed to find the alternate road that would have been a smaller detour. As a result, I punished myself by riding as hard as I could for the final 15 miles – we averaged about 17mph (without any wind assistance) & Sean said afterwards that he’d struggled to stay in my wheel at points, let alone consider coming past to do a turn on the front! My legs were stinging by the end.

At least the “Full Gas” effort got rid of all my frustrations during the ride! It was also a real indicator of how much my cycling fitness has improved over the last 3 months. I couldn’t have considered doing a sustained effort like that back in May.

The motel we’re staying at in Plainfield is remote, but close to the Interstate, so this evening’s dinner consisted of a Subway foot long sandwich (from the gas station at the services), with a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate & a few of our stash of M&M’s.

Since we left Seattle I don’t think either of us has been without a supply of chocolate M&M’s for more than a day – they are a combination of a good luck charm & an energy booster at the end of a day’s ride. Checking the fridge before we leave a motel is now a ritual as we don’t want to leave our M&M’s behind!

Stage Stats – 78 miles, 486 feet of climbing. Our first serious navigational challenge of the adventure, but we arrived safe & sound.

Wednesday 27th July – Plainfield to Fremont (Stage 68)

After yesterday’s prolonged stage, today was a shorter transition to Fremont. We had a lie-in, had a leisurely breakfast of cereal & left the hotel by 10.45am.

We started the ride by criss-crossing fields of maize, wheat & potatoes as the huge irrigation systems provided water to keep the crops growing.

All the early miles were on ruler straight roads & when we turned, it was always at a right angle! We left the agriculture behind briefly, as we became hemmed in by woodland. The 2nd photo shows a red sign in the lower left side – every property in Wisconsin has one of these & it includes the property number, the road (if there is more than one road) & the town. In this case it’s 6612 Town of Almond (this is a one road town!).

As you can probably make out already from the photos, we were on really remote backroads. It made for truly relaxing riding, as we hardly saw any traffic in the first 20 miles. When we finally saw a house (most of them were hidden behind the screen of trees) I stopped & took a photo – this was after more than 15 miles of riding.

Passing a small lake, we were chatting about how enjoyable the ride was, but that we were disappointed not to have seen any wildlife. That was the cue for 3 herons (I now know them to be sandhill cranes!) to show themselves in the far distance. Like the birds we’d seen previously, they were on the ground & appeared to be feeding.

We remained on deserted roads for the remainder of today’s short stage to Fremont. Our 2nd (& final) animal surprise came when we passed a field a pygmy ponies!

Heading into the small town of Fremont, we stopped briefly at the beach on Partridge Lake – there were a few families relaxing & enjoying the perfect conditions.

Tonight we’re staying at the Fremont Hotel. It’s a small hotel, with shared bathrooms & no tv’s. But don’t let that put you off, as the staff are brilliant – they’re friendly & professional & instantly made us feel welcome. After locking up our bikes & moving our kit to our room, we popped to the bar for a quick pint, as it was only just after 2pm.

There was a better view of the river outside, so we found a table on the balcony & watched the motorboats going up & down the channel, sometimes pulling kids along in rubber rings & sometimes pulling water skiers. Watching all this activity was thirsty work, so we had another pint to rehydrate!!!

We also met Lin & Pat, 2 retired brothers who are riding from Oregon to Delaware. They started in late May & hope to finish in late August, raising money for 4 charities along the way. Their friend Mike had joined them for a couple of days to provide moral support & company. We chatted a bit about our experiences so far & made vague arrangements to maybe meet up later.

Our waitress Grace then told us that there is a water ski show on the river at 6pm every Sunday & Wednesday! We realised we’d best stop drinking if we wanted to watch the show, so we headed to our room & had a revitalising 40 winks.

We headed back downstairs at about 5.45pm, with the intention of grabbing a table on the balcony & watching the water skiing – every table was taken & there was a queue of people waiting for a table to become free. We bought ourselves a drink & went to stand in a quiet corner with a limited view when Lin called out to us – they’d saved us seats at their table, which had the best view in the house!

The show started slowly with skiers being towed one at a time, sometimes stood up, sometimes kneeling down on the skis. The boats then started pulling pairs of skiers & then long lines of skiers.

The next set of skiers had two people on each set of skis. Then the excitement ramped up further as the small groups of skiers began travelling faster & faster, finally using the ski jump.

Things were building to a crescendo – next up girls were sat on the shoulders of the boy skiers. Finally the party trick – a pyramid of 4 skiers, with 3 people stood on their shoulders, 2 on their shoulders & 1 person on the top!

Members of the Webfooters Water Ski Show Team were involved in 2 successful Guinness World Record attempts in 2018 – one attempt was an 80 person pyramid & the other was 59 ladies skiing in a synchronised ballet line behind one boat. The Show Team has been running since 1976 & is still going strong. If you’re interested in finding out more, a link to their website is below.

https://www.webfooters.org/breaking-records

All the way through the show Sean & myself had been chatting to Lin, Pat & Mike. It was inspirational hearing Lin & Pat’s story of their journey across the country. They were both teachers before retiring & the biggest complement I can pay them, is to say I wish all my school teachers were like them. We all had a really enjoyable few hours & I plan to follow their adventure via Lin’s blog site.

Lin & Pat – if you’re reading this, I hope you’re enjoying your week of R&R with the family & good luck when you get under way again next week.

Sean & I stayed up a bit later & met a few locals at the bar – a really nice couple who got married last year chatted to us for a bit & introduced us to a local concoction – I remember it had brandy, bitters & mushrooms, but not much more!!

I also met Meghan who was in town for the EAA Airshow which takes place in nearby Oshkosh. She’s been volunteering with a team of people who restored an Air North Yukon Sourdough DC-3. Because of Dad’s work in the aviation industry (he was involved in the Special Projects Group who worked on plans to develop a supersonic passenger plane that eventually became known as Concorde), I have an interest in historic jet aircraft.

From left to right – Pat, me, Lin, Sean & Mike

Stage Stats – 38 miles, 869 feet of climbing. Lots of new friends made & a water ski exhibition.

Thursday 28th July – Fremont to Manitowoc (Stage 69)

We woke up at 7am with a hangover each!! We headed downstairs & had a breakfast of omelette, toast, coffee & juice, then loaded our steel steeds & set off for Manitowoc. As we crossed the Wolf River (home of the Webfooters), we couldn’t believe our luck – we would be picking up a West to East tailwind for a large part of today’s ride!!! You can almost see the joy on my face, although it may still be hidden by the last vestiges of a headache!

Picking up County Road II (think of a small B road if you’re from the UK), it was over 10 minutes before we saw our first vehicle. The scenery switched between fields of maize & potatoes (wheat has disappeared for now) & small Unincorporated towns.

An unincorporated town isn’t governed by a local municipality & typically doesn’t have any elected officials (so exists “by tradition”). It also won’t require residents to pay city taxes (similar to council tax in the UK), however, the town won’t maintain its own emergency services & it won’t maintain or provide water or sewage services.

Oshlosh was off to our right & we occasionally saw some historic bombers heading to the EAA air show. It was fitting that as one plane flew overhead we passed a historical marker for Larson Brothers Airport (the grass runway & the hanger are visible in the 3rd photo), the oldest existing airport in Wisconsin.

County Road II stretched out ahead of us, as we headed towards Menasha, where we briefly picked up the Friendship Trail that took us over a couple of lakes with pelicans on the lookout for a snack. We were on the lookout for a coffee & cake stop ourselves!

As we crossed a lock at the end of the Friendship Trail we took a small detour into town & found The Sweet Lair, where we enjoyed a cake (2 in my case as I couldn’t decide between banana bread & pineapple upside down cake!) & coffee. Opposite there was a statue depicting an American Indian Chief of the 1870’s, which the sculptor said “was an effort to capture the pride & dignity of the Native American People” – it was a beautiful piece of art.

Leaving town, our route took us around a small part of Lake Winnebago on a bike trail. Along the way we saw the local duck population out for its lunchtime stroll, as well as stunning views across the bay to the lake itself.

As we crossed the Heckrodt Wetland Reserve we saw what I’ve been describing recently as herons – it appears they may actually be sandhill cranes, which do frequent grasslands as well as shallow lakes. The bright red patch on the crest of their head is much more clear in these photos.

From here on in, we picked up a tremendous tailwind that propelled us along the arrow straight backroads – for fun I picked up the pace to 30mph on the flat. I know that’s only possible when you’re being pushed along by the wind!!

Approaching Brillion we found a couple of small cycle trails to take us off the roads into town. We also found a gas station where we could have a sugar hit of coke & top off our bottles with iced water from the soda machine. We still had another 20 miles to go & were aware that last night’s hydration training at the bar may, in fact, have dehydrated us!!!

After Brillion, we were back in farmland & our friends the pepper pots returned for one last time in Wisconsin. With just over 17 miles to go to Manitiwoc, I jumped on the front & less than an hour later we’d passed the city limits & water tower on quiet roads. Our trek across Wisconsin was almost over.

As is obvious from the video clip, very little of the effort was being put in by either of us as we sped our way Eastwards!

We passed the regional airport & crossed the Manitowoc river on our way to our motel in the centre of town. Somehow today was laundry day again, so while our kit was washing & drying, we found Jenn’s Java where we had another portion of cake as we admired the city park just across the road. Another great day in the saddle was over, but another adventure awaits tomorrow.

Stage Stats – 69 miles, 1,158 feet of climbing. A glorious tailwind for most of the day.

USA, Coast to Coast – The First Three Months

Aug 2, 2022gavscyclingadventures

The Journey So Far, State by State.

A few people have been in touch asking where we are, where we’ve been & how the whole adventure fits together.

We started in Seattle, Washington on 30th April & the map at the bottom covers our journey up to & including our ferry trip across Lake Michigan on 29th July. We’ve already moved again since then!!

We’ve made a few changes to our original plan along the way – we originally planned to cross the Cascade Mountains via Washington Pass on US20. Concrete to Washington Pass is 80 miles on US20. However, because Washington Pass was still closed due to snow, we detoured via Stevens Pass on US2 – Concrete to Washington Pass was 325 miles!

We’d planned to visit Canada, but a combination of Covid Rules at the time & being unable to get the necessary paperwork meant it didn’t happen. We went on a Tour of Montana instead & visited Glacier National Park, Lincoln & Helena.

We arrived in West Yellowstone at least 2 weeks earlier than originally planned. This coincided with Yellowstone National Park being closed due to flooding. I took a rare photo of West Yellowstone Entrance with no-one in shot! Our revised plan took us back into Idaho, where we visited the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway & then into Wyoming where we experienced the jewel in the crown that is Grand Teton National Park.

Our detour via Grand Teton National Park resulted in us arriving at Yellowstone National Park on the day it re-opened. There was a 4 mile queue of cars waiting to get in as we cycled past everyone on the hard should, until I got our first p*nct*re of the adventure! We crossed the continental divide in Yellowstone & visited the amazing thermals at West Thumb on our longest ride of the trip – just over 104 miles from Grant Village into Cody.

The remainder of the route from Cody to Minneapolis was as planned. However, a number of people we met as we headed East said we should ride in Wisconsin if at all possible. We’ve taken their advice & detoured across Wisconsin (instead of heading though Iowa & Illinois), but as I haven’t yet blogged about it, I’ll not give too much away!

We took the ferry across Lake Michigan & have spent the last 3 days following the shoreline South towards Indiana. Blogs on the ferry crossing & our journey South are also pending. I have a rest day on Wednesday, so hopefully I’ll catch up a bit then!

To date we’ve ridden on 69 days out of a possible 90 days & in that time we’ve travelled 4,116 miles & climbed 157,403 feet. The table below shows a bit more information about where we’ve been & for how long.

The numbers in the table are based on the actual routes we rode each day & include all the small detours we took for photo opportunities &/or coffee stops, slight mistakes in routing & general faffing about! The climbing figures in the table are based on what my Wahoo recorded on each ride (it slightly understates those numbers).

State	Time Spent (In Days)	Days Ridden	Miles Ridden	Feet Climbed
Washington	19	16	912	44,318
Idaho	5	4	157	6,775
Montana	28	20	1,238	46,512
Wyoming	11	9	581	25,397
South Dakota	15	11	653	23,654
Minnesota	6	4	240	5,328
Wisconsin	7	5	335	5,419
Totals	91	69	4,116	157,403

If there’s anything else you’d like me to include, just drop me a message – I’ve already been asked to do something about my favourite beers & cakes!!