the golden arches

Again, we packed up our camping gear in the rain today, and the rain stuck with us throughout most of the day. After a brief respite from the rain, the winds picked up, lightning flashed around us, and the air took on an eerie feel. The winds were blowing so hard that it was difficult to ride -- they were pushing us around like we were little toys. I was riding with Kim and Charlie, and we made a plan to stop at the next house or barn (though these were few and far between) and ask for shelter. Before we could find somewhere, the bottom fell out of the sky and the rain started coming down in sheets. It was difficult to see the road ahead of us and it felt like the wind was going to pick us up and carry us away. We knew we had to get off the road, but couldn't see anywhere to go. Just as we crested the next hill, we could see gleaming gold in the distance. It was the arches of McDonald's that rose out of nowhere as a shining beacon of hope in the distance. Never have I been so excited to see those Golden Arches! We quickly covered the ground between us and McDonald's, nearly slipping on a bridge expansion joint on a rain-covered bridge, but making it safely to shelter in one piece.

It seems we were not the only ones who had that idea. About ten other riders were already in McDonald's, and the other riders trickled in after us over the next minutes. In a team effort, we managed to transform the tidy restaurant into a swampland as drops of water trickled off of our soaked clothing. The rain didn't let up, so we made ourselves right at home, much to the chagrin of the McDonald's staff, and settled in to a second breakfast and kept the lattes coming over the next hours. Someone produced a set of cards, and once we got into a good game of gin rummy, we were more or less glued to our seats. I think we were at McDonald's for at least two hours.

At last the rain did slow (though didn't stop), and we managed to pry ourselves away from our leisurely breakfast and card game. Sarah and I rode together until lunch. Most days we have sandwich-y stuff for lunch -- my recent favorite has been nutella and almond butter on a graham cracker. However, sometimes we have dinner left overs that are put out as well, and any variety is a treat, so doing things like eating a potato out of your hand like an apple starts to become not only a reasonable, but an excellent idea. Today my lunch consisted of a potato, corn on the cob, and string cheese. Now I know that may not sound like much to be excited about to you, but after your body has been working so hard, all food seems glorious. Throughout the trip, I was really pleased with all the food -- it's hard to tell if that's because I was so tired and ravenous that roasted frog liver would seem amazing, or if the food was actually amazing. Either way, I was always quite happy with it.

I know we were staying at the dorms of Valparaiso University that evening and was excited about the time indoors, so I sped through the afternoon alone to get there and maximize the luxury time indoors. Somewhere along the way today, we crossed into our 9^th state -- Indiana. Our time in Illinois was short, and we had rain every day, so I ended up with very few pictures from the Land of Lincoln. We travelled only through the Northeast corner of the state and saw mostly flat farmland with corn and soy beans.

And speaking of, the vast amount of soy beans we've seen growing across America makes me think they must be in everything! I expected to see lots of corn, but I wasn't expecting all the soy beans. It got me curious as to what they could all be used for, so I looked it up (thanks wikipedia), and it turns out they are used in most everything -- well, in most processed (animal and) people food products. In addition to tofu and soy milk, soy beans used as a cheap source of protein in animal food and pre-packaged meals. The U.S. is the world's largest producer of soy beans, and judging by the amount we've seen this summer, I believe it!

A bit more information on soy beans taken from Daria's blog:
We rode through more beautiful farm country and saw more corn and more soybeans. I expected to see a lot of corn fields on the BIG RIDE, but was not expecting to see so many soybean fields. Surprisingly, there are over 350,000 farms in the US producing soybeans, accounting for over half of the world’s soybean production. Soybeans are grown on almost 73 million acres of cropland. Roughly the same acreage is dedicated to corn.

I arrived at Valparaiso University to find that there was some sort of youth conference going on there as well, so I had to wade through this massive sea of boisterous teenagers to get anywhere. I guess I don't come into contact with too many teenagers these days, and I spent a little time just observing the hustle and bustle. It was an interesting reminder of the bizarre time in life known as the teenage years where you wear the most ridiculous things just because everyone else does, you wear braces, your body grows in odd, bursting spasms, you feel like an adult but generally behave and are treated like a kid, you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, you have to go to dances and pretend like you know how to dance, and cliques reign. I'm so glad those years are over. :o) In the evening, I got to do laundry, spend a bit of time cleaning my bicycle, and even catch the last bit of the Tour on the television.

fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.

When I "woke up" (though how can one wake up if they have never slept?) the next morning, it was still raining. And I had 106 miles between me and our destination for the day, Coal City, Illinois. I wanted nothing more than to be in a warm bed surrounded with blankets, eating soup, and napping all day long. It was at this point that I started scheming. How could I make this happen? The only way I saw was to get a hotel room for the day (though acquiring blankets and soup would take some additional work, this would at least provide a warm bed), but that meant I'd have to catch a cab 106 miles to meet up with the group for the next day's ride. This would cost a small fortune. Not seeing any other options, I managed to drag myself out of the puddle (yes, the one inside my tent) that I'd been lying in and shoved all of my wet belongings into my wet bags. I didn't even know what to do with my broken glasses.

Sometimes I'm a little bit fussy, but this morning I was really fussy. We were all huddled under this little overhang like sardines in a can to keep out of the rain while eating breakfast when Noel started to sing. Now I will probably look back on this trip and remember Noel's early morning serenades with fondness. However, I don't have the ability to look on it with anything but contempt in the moment, so I decided that sitting in the rain was preferable to being in a can with a singing sardine, so I went and sat out in the rain. I didn't talk to anyone all morning, because I know that if you can't say anything nice, you shouldn't say anything at all. And my talking would probably have been more like growling, so sitting by myself in the grass in the rain was probably a good place for me to be.

As we got our cue sheets and rode out into the wet world, I knocked on Rich's window and told him to go ahead and start preparing a pep talk -- it was going to be a pep-talk-required kind of day. I sulked through the first ten miles, but by the check point at mile 20, I seem to have snapped out of it. I rode with Geena and Caitlin for a bit, who always make me laugh, and talking with them and just telling someone about my ridiculous night made it better. When we got to the checkpoint in a gas station parking lot, Lynn told us that a bridge ahead was out, so we were going to have to take a detour around it. Rich was out working out the detour, so all the riders were hanging out in the gas station in the meantime. The time in the gas station was a glorious break from the wet, rainy morning (well at least for us -- I can't speak on behalf of the workers there who had twenty-some-odd soaking bikers descend upon their nice, (formerly) clean little store). It also proved to be an excellent time for a second (and OK, third) cup of coffee. I read a newspaper, caught up on world news (it was depressing as usual), joked with the other riders, and generally got into better spirits. Hooray, I was winning the battle against the tent already by not letting it ruin my day!

It did continue to rain for the rest of the day, but I rode with Kate Montana, and we turned the day into a game. We pretended like we were in the Tour de France (except that ours was the Tour de Squish since that was the noise our soaking shoes made with each turn of the pedals), and we got a certain amount of points for each rider that we passed. Points were awarded based on how far away the rider was (we'd set our sights on someone in the distance and race to catch them) and on how speed of a rider they were. We made our way through the day quite speedily in this manner.

We arrived at camp and headed straight for the lake in the campground, as the gear truck hadn't arrived yet, and promptly jumped in wearing all of our clothes. We had sandwiches in the campground for dinner along with locally grown corn on the cob (so sweet and delicious!) and boiled potatoes.

The rain had let up in the afternoon, so when we got to camp, I laid out all of my belongings, still soaked from the night before, to dry in the sun or I hung them up on a tree to hang dry. I spent an inordinate amount of time setting up my tent. I may roast alive going to bed (it was SO hot out and even more so with the rain fly on), but I'd be ready for anything Mother Nature could hurl at me that night!

And it's a good thing too because it did storm throughout the night yet again. Thankfully my rain fly was on (properly :o)), and I fared much better than the previous night. I didn't even crush or destroy any of my belongings -- things are looking up for me! :o)

camping failure

We woke up to rain. The pouring kind. Throughout breakfast at the university cafeteria, I kept eyeing the windows to see if it had stopped (one can hope, no?). It didn't stop. And it didn't look like it was going to anytime soon. So, off we went in the rainy mess of Madison morning rush hour.

It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see road signs, and we started out the day by making a wrong turn, but got back on track before going too far astray. I rode with different people throughout the day – mainly Kim, Kate, Daria, Brian, and Jim -- and it turns out that riding with people makes the day so much nicer. Silly books on tape... what was I thinking?

Late in the morning, the rain let up and we spent most of the day on county roads winding through the Wisconsin countryside. Surprisingly (I don't know why this is surprising really... I suppose I'd just never heard much about Wisconsin), it turns out that Wisconsin is an absolutely beautiful state, and I really enjoyed riding through it.


To give credit where credit is due... I took the above from Charlie's photos.


We did have to ride on a gravel road for a few miles today, but we took it slowly and made it through without any trouble. It seems that Jim was not so lucky. When we approached the end of the gravel bit, he was on the side of the road changing a flat tire. Unfortunately, it was not just the one -- both of his tires had managed to go flat at the same time! Several of us stopped to lend a hand and wait for him. A few minutes after we'd been sitting around there, a loud sound, not unlike a gunshot, rang through the air. Around the same, I felt a bit of a jolt, and looked down to see that the side of my rear tire had blown completely out. Thankfully, Charlton, the crew leader, was nearby with the gear truck and had a spare wheel that we put on to keep me going.

Lunch was later in the day today, which I prefer. That way, at lunch you can be assured that most of the day is behind you and you're on the home stretch. Unfortunately, a bit after lunch, I had my second flat of the day. Thankfully, I've had so many now that I've become a lot better at changing them quickly. A Big Ride alumni, Jim Andresen, who lives nearby set up the afternoon checkpoint for us and brought all sorts of amazing goodies, including watermelon and Dairy Queen blizzards! These were truly appreciated on a day as hot as today.

I had a nice ride throughout the afternoon with Kate and Daria, and we put the Beatles on my speakers -- riding through the amazing Wisconsin countryside with the Beatles songs blowing in the breeze is not a half bad way to spend an afternoon!

We're staying at a campground again tonight, and on the way into camp, we saw a little girl skid on some gravel while biking and fly over the handlebars. We helped clean her off and waited for her parents to arrive, and she'll be fine, but it was a good reminder to be careful when cycling.

We ate dinner as a group at a nearby pizza joint, Rock Bottom , and I had a nice post-dinner walk and talk with Kathleen.

Throughout this trip, you've seen how much difficulty I've had learning how to properly assemble my tent. However, I do think we've now moved past that stage and are actually getting on quite well these days. Unfortunately, there's now someone else I'm having some trouble with -- the rain fly. I know it's a sensible thing, but it just makes it so hot inside the tent -- like a little sauna. And who can sleep in a sauna? Not I, so I went to bed with the rain fly off (I did not see a single cloud in the sky and figured this would be fine) so that the breeze could blow through the screen of my tent.

It turns out, this was a mistake. I woke up sometime between midnight and 1 AM, approximately 5 seconds before it started to pour. I was disoriented, half blind (I couldn't find my glasses), and could not recall how to work my rain fly. It started to rain. I had a choice to make -- I could either work out how to put the rain fly on properly (and let everything inside my tent get drenched in the meantime), or I could just throw the rain fly on and hope for the best. I chose the latter. It did not work out well for me. I managed to put the rain fly on both upside down and backwards -- a truly special thing indeed. I also managed to get completely drenched in the process, and by the time I crawled inside the rain fly and squirmed around the tiny gap between the tent and rain fly to get to the tent door, I realized that everything inside the tent was wet as well. It seems that rain flies do not work as well upside down, and throughout the night, the rain dripped steadily into my tent. Unfortunately, it was too late to rectify the error as it was raining so hard that taking the rain fly off, even for a moment, to flip it around the right way, was not an option.

One might think I'd been ridiculous enough for one night, but, in fact, I was just beginning. I noted that the rain was coming in more around the edges of the tent, so I tried to push together and pile up everything in the middle of the tent. In the process, I managed to crush my (prescription) eye glasses (which I had still never managed to find throughout this whole mess). I then realized I'd left my bicycle shoes and (non-water-resistant) speakers outside hanging on my bicycle. If the night were a contest to see how many things one could destroy in a single night, I feel certain I would have won. If you'd let a tasmanian devil loose in my tent, I'm convinced he could not have done more damage than I did that night.

I lied there soaking in a puddle throughout the rest of the night staring at the ceiling of my tent and seething. My tent may have won the battle, but I would win the war. And yes, it is now a war.

madison

We were in the gloriously air conditioned dorms at the University of Wisconsin Madison for today's rest day. And it was just one of those days where everything went right.

I walked outside in the morning with a list of things to buy -- spare tire tubes, chamois butter, hair conditioner, snacks for dinner (I somehow always manage to end up at the end of rest days with no food in the dorm but too tired to go back out for dinner), and coffee -- and managed to find shops for all of them within a two block radius of the dorm. While running errands, I ran into Kathleen who said she had an extra bottle of conditioner I could have. I then ran into James who said that he had an extra bottle of chamois butter I could have. The bicycle tubes were on sale, and the coffee was good. It was an excellent start to the day. :o)

While I gave my bicycle a little bath, I decided that I should spent most of the day helping the day to earn its title as a rest day. Lizzie, one of my roommates in England, used to live in Madison and gave me the inside scoop on all sorts of things to do there. I explored the town and ate an amazing salad at The Old Fashioned restaurant followed by coffee on the porch at Barrique's coffee and wine bar. I then wandered over to the University Union patio and spent some time looking out at Lake Mendota and soaking up sun.



I found Madison to be a fun city with a great vibe, bustling with activity and filled with all sorts of quirky shops and interesting people. In thinking through career options, I'm leaning away from an academic career, but the thought of living in a cool college town like Madison is making me reconsider. Additionally, there are many bicycle lanes and the town is nearly over run with bicyclers (in a good way :o)). However, I did encounter this lovely city in the summer time, and I imagine it might be a slightly different place in the winter (in January, the average low is 5°F -- I would certainly die).

cheese curds

Today’s 100 mile ride into Madison was supposed to be a difficult one, so we headed out of camp a bit earlier than usual, eating breakfast at camp at 5:30 AM, so that we could get in some miles before the sun awoke to scorch us. It was again a very hot today, but not quite as humid yesterday. Despite the steep and rolling hills that kept us quite busy, it was a really nice ride today. It turns out that Wisconsin is an amazingly beautiful state. The green grass, corn fields, and abundance of dairy farms make for lovely scenery. Also, the fact that we were riding into a rest day did not hurt. :o)



The lunch stop was by an interesting little farmer’s market, and I decided that it was the time in my life to try cheese curds. As far as I can tell, cheese curds are like a squeaky, delicious cousin of cheese. The Wikipedia article provided a bit more background:

Cheese curds are little known in locations without cheese factories, because they should ideally be eaten within hours of manufacture. Their flavor is mild, with about the same firmness as cheese, but with a springy or rubbery texture. Fresh curds squeak against the teeth when bitten into, a defining characteristic, due to air trapped inside their porous bodies. They are sometimes referred to as "squeaky cheese".They are sometimes somewhat salty.

They were really tasty, and I’m glad that I tried them in Wisconsin. I rode with Kenny and Kate Montana throughout the afternoon and had the pleasure of having my 11millionth flat rear tire. We passed by some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s works today. He was an architect who made these boxy looking little houses and was the most prominent and influential American architect (well according to another rider, Kenny, anyhow – and Kenny is an architect, so I’m going to go with that :o))

We stopped at a fun coffee / bike shop outside of Madison called Uphill Grind, had some iced coffee and got out of the sun for a bit. As we headed into Madison, we hit a bit of a snafu. One of the roads on our route was closed for construction. Thankfully I had my clever little phone with a map and GPS that helped us out and guided us into town. It added a few miles to the day, but overall we were lucky – some others ended up getting lost and going well out of their way. Madison is a really bike friendly town, and bicycle lanes can be found all over the place. We worked out way through town to the university dorms where we'll be spending the night.

Unfortunately, two people took spills today that required a hospital visit. Between transporting people to the hospital and helping the other riders work out how to get into town despite the closed road, it made for a busy day for the crew!

puttin' on the dog

Today was only 66 miles, but it was a really tough 66 miles. We woke up from our lives of luxury in the dorms and had breakfast at school cafeteria. It was a really humid, foggy day, and by the time we cycled to the cafeteria, two miles away, we were already drenched – though with what it’s hard to say, seeing how it’s well established that women do not, in fact, sweat... we glow :o) We set off after breakfast and it was so foggy that it was hard to see. Condensation collected on our arm hairs and eyelashes, dripping into our eyes occasionally.

At mile 11, we encountered the hill that we’d been warned about. It wasn’t supposed to be on the route, but because a bridge ahead had gone out, we had to go up the hill from Hades. The grade was 11% (11 feet up for each 100 feet forward), and it kept going and going. It was so steep that we had to zig zag up it because it was too difficult to go straight up it. :o/

However, it was worth the climbs as a very kind family, the Myers, set up a special checkpoint for us at their home today. Daria did such a good job describing this that I took this excerpt from her blog.

The rest stop hosted by the Myers family was delightful. It has been a BIG RIDE tradition for over 10 years. Like many great things, it started out small. One of their family members happened to talk to a few riders in 1998. At the time, their grandfather was battling lung cancer, so the cause resonated with them. The family realized that the riders would be back the following year and decided that they should do something for them.

It started with lemonade, but it has grown into a wonderful garden party, complete with all sorts of homemade treats, fresh fruit, iced tea and fruit punch. The setting is ideal, a beautiful garden in full bloom. The family has a guest book complete with photos and bios of riders from previous years, an amazing record of BIG RIDE history.

They interviewed us and took pictures of us. Anyone who was willing to be interviewed was given a handmade bracelet. I was interviewed by Megan. She is 27 years old and works as a personal caregiver. One of the questions that she asked me was which day has been my favorite on the BIG RIDE. I told her that all of the days have been amazing and that I really couldn’t pick one day as my favorite. But there have been moments which have been more special than others.

Without question, the stop at the Myers home will be one of my most special memories of the ride. The Myers family is truly exceptional. I am certain that their kindness and generosity has meant a lot to the riders who have stopped there over the years. The family has documented their story at www.bigridefans.blogspot.com.





Though we’d been warned about the big hill in the morning, I received no such warning about all the hills in the afternoon. It was hilly all afternoon, but there was one particularly long, steep, and brutal hill that again required zig-zagging again as it was too steep to ride directly up. I rode with Kasey for most of the afternoon and she told me a lot about South Korea. She spent the last year teaching English there with her boyfriend, Brandon, who’s also on the ride.

Today’s ride included several big landmarks, including crossing into the state of Wisconsin and crossing the Mississippi River... not to mention the world's largest six pack (bizarre!).






The afternoon's ride took us through the Wisconsin countryside and several Amish and Mennonite communities. I was uncertain of the difference between the two groups, and was able to find some good information about it on this website (excerpt below). In short, it seems that the Amish are more strictly separated from the rest of the world and more conservative.

Mennonites and Amish come from a Protestant tradition known as Anabaptism (meaning to be baptized again) begun in the 16th century. The first Anabaptists separated from the state church because of their belief that a relationship with Christ is an adult choice and baptism must come out of an adult decision to follow Christ in every aspect of life. At that time, infant baptism was the accepted practice. (See "How did the Mennonite church begin?")

Besides their common historical roots, Mennonite and Amish groups all stress that they should live out their beliefs in daily life. While the groups agree on basic Christian doctrine, their differences come in interpreting how those practices should be lived out.

The original difference in opinion came in 1693, when Jacob Ammann, a Swiss Anabaptist leader, felt that the church leaders were not holding to strict separation from the world and that spiritual renewal was needed. Ammann did not believe that the ban, or shunning, was being practiced as it should be. He separated from the Anabaptists over this issue and his followers were nicknamed "Amish."

Ammann enforced more separatist ways upon his followers, and today some practices among the Amish include: untrimmed beards and hooks and eyes in place of buttons on outer garments of the men; horse and buggy transportation; horse-drawn implements for farming; plain and distinctive dress patterns; no electricity in homes.

However, most Mennonites today are not outwardly that different from any person you meet on the street, and in fact live in countries around the world with a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Mennonites believe in simple living, but express that simplicity in a spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others rather than completely separating from society as the Amish continue to do.

The Amish homes, barns, and siloes were quaint and charming. The Amish children especially were really cute all dressed up in their little outfits and hats. The Wisconsin countryside was really gorgeous.



Oh, and this is my most favorite mailbox I've seen on the trip thusfar. :o)


My parents said that when I was very young and just learning to dress myself, they’d find that I always had a bathing suit on under just clothes. Just in case we happened to encounter a swimming pool, I needed to be prepared! My mom said that it would be in the middle of January and at church and she’d notice a bathing suit strap poking out of my dress. I grew out of it, but in retrospect, I’m really not sure why I ever repealed the policy. There have been so many occasions on this trip where I’ve needed (some say this is debatable, but I’m still classifying it as a need) to jump in water on short notice. Passing by a water park about 20 miles from camp was one such occasion!

At long last, we arrived in Viroqua, Wisconsin and were chatting with some of the locals who told us that today was the “hottest day we’ve had in several years”. The heat index today was 115, and it was absolutely sweltering. We were in a campground, so again, we began to brainstorm about how we could weasel our way into air conditioning. So I put on my sweetest face and went begging. There was a church just across from the camp ground and I asked the fellow inside if we could stay there. He made some calls and the answer came back as a “no” – for liability and insurance reasons, they weren’t comfortable having a group stay at the church. I really am bad at begging and getting free things. When others on the trip tell people what they’re up to, others will buy them meals, make donations, offer to let the rider stay in their homes, etc. When I tell people what I’m up to, people stare at me and tell me I’m crazy. :o/ However, the guy who had to deliver the message that we couldn’t sleep there, a staff member a bit lower down the totem pole, felt badly about it and gave me this little cowboy boot he’d been whittling as a consolation prize. I think it’s my favourite souvenir from the trip thusfar.



Thankfully, one of the more skilled beggars of the group had worked her magic and convinced a different church to open its doors. It felt glorious in there and I even got to play the piano a bit when there weren’t too many people around.

Viroqua was actually a really cute little town and I wished I’d had the chance to explore it more, but it was literally just too hot to move. If you took a single step, you’d already be sweating (again – not an acknowledgment that women sweat ;o)). I did get to stop by a really nice little café in town where they had live music and I was able to get an (obviously iced!) coffee.

happier knees

As those of us who had spent the night in a cool, quiet home got back into camp the next morning, we got the report from the others on how the night had been. Jim said that if he were a rack of ribs, he would be well done because he had been slowly cooking all night. I think that everyone who didn’t join us at the house regretted it.

We had a breakfast of donuts, eggs, hash browns, bacon, and coffee at the Hyvee before setting off to cover the 88 miles between Owatonna, Minnesota and Winona, Minnesota. It was another hot and humid day, but it was actually a great day. We crossed the 2,000 mile mark today, which is really hard to believe – it seems like we just started a few days ago!



I rode with Jim, who is generally the fastest rider, today, and while I know that he had to slow down, I also had to speed up. It was the first day I really pushed myself since we’d made the changes to my cleats, and I found that adding the shims to my cleats to help even things out for my legs has made a huge difference for me knees. Now they don’t ache all the time, and I’m able to dig in and put more power behind each pedal, whereas before I was only able to stay in a low gear and spin my legs quickly. HOORAY!!!!! I felt so much better all day. Also, I removed a lot of the stuff I had on my bike – like my rear rack, the bag I was carrying on the rear rack, and my mud guards -- because, it turns out, the extra weight really does make a difference.

As afternoon approached, Jim and I were ahead of the rest of the group and on track to be the first into camp. This was typical for Jim, but as a former lanterne rouge, I was absolutely ecstatic about this. We were rolling along, making good time, and then Kenny, another speedy fellow, came up behind us. I was fairly disappointed about this as I really had my hopes on being the first into camp. In the film we recently watched, Breaking Away, some sneaky riders used the technique of throwing their bicycle pump into the spokes of another bicycle to trip them up and make them fall. I would be lying if I said the idea didn’t cross my mind when Kenny caught up to us. :o) However, I did resist and the company was really nice. Kat also caught up to us, and I decided I’d have to be content with being among the first to camp rather than the first.

However, when I saw Lake Goodview coming up on the left, any care I had about arriving to camp quickly fell to the wayside. We bee-lined left and went running into the lake, shedding clothes as we went. I set my camera on the bench beside the lake and turned it on to take a photo in 10 seconds. I tried to count to 10 and make everyone be posed for the photo then, but obviously, we were a little off. :o)


On the way in to camp, Kenny had a mini freak-out because he saw a Culver’s, a place that makes frozen custard that he’s a bit in love with. So we stopped there and had snacks and ice cream for a bit. And after all of that playing, I was still the 8th into camp. HOORAY for happy knees after making the right shoe / bicycle adjustments! :o) It’s funny how surprised everyone is for me to speed up – I passed Charlie today, and he said he was wondering to himself throughout the day how that could have happened. His conclusion was that, being from Georgia, I was used to the heat and humidity, so while everyone else struggled with it, it was when I began to thrive. :o)

Today we had a special treat as we stayed in the dorms of Winona State University. It’s funny the things that you get really excited about without going without them for a while, but I was absolutely over the moon about our setup at the university. We each had our own room (a first on the trip), there were ten (count them -- ten!!) outlets in my room, our beds had sheets, we had a real towel, there was wireless internet, air conditioning, and laundry. I was beside myself.

Dinner was catered at the university for us that night, and after dinner we all sat around and played games and had a great time. I can tell that I’m really going to miss everyone when this is over!

While I had my own room, it turns out it was my own hot room. We only thought the rooms were air conditioned when we arrived because it was so much cooler inside than out. Once our temperature had normalized a bit, we realized the rooms weren't actually air conditioned. So, once again, many of us piled into the lobby together. Unfortunately, I'd left my bag with all of my camping gear in the gear truck (which is locked at night) since I didn't think I'd need it. I'd decided to give sleeping in my room a go, but realized after 5 minutes, I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I stumbled back, carrying my bed sheets with me, into the lobby where the lights were already turned off and tried to feel around for an empty couch. After grabbing one too many poor sleeping person's feet, I concluded that all of the couches were taken. A loveseat it must be. I curled up on the loveseat for a while. And then I stretched out with my feet hanging off the end. And then I pulled a table up so that my feet could rest on it and I was kind of in a "L" shape. And then I pushed two loveseats together, so that I had a kind of square cushiony play pen. Try as I may, I just could not get comfortable. After much thought, it struck me that the cushions were removable, so I lined up the four cushions from the two loveseats on the floor against the wall and had a make shift sleeping mat. It worked splendidly, and I went to bed feeling quite clever and pleased with myself. :o)

summer heat

OK, it is hot – and I do mean hot. The kind of hot where you are drenched in sweat and perpetually soaked throughout the whole day. And I don’t mean to return to unpleasant topics, but you can imagine that clothes rubbing against your body all day is irritating enough – I’ll just say that it’s even worse when the clothes are completely wet. Also heat rash has started popping up on appendages all over camp in the form of little red bumps. In this respect, I think I do actually have an advantage – growing up in Georgia certainly prepared me well for dealing with heat. While it’s not the loveliest of conditions, I don’t find it all that bad.

Today we cycled 72 miles, and encountered a lot more neighborhoods than I’ve been used to seeing in the vast and open wild west. As we move into the more populated areas, we’ve met more bicyclers and have also cycled near enough to Big Ride alumni that several of them have come out to say hello and ride with us. Today, a 2010 alumni, Deidre Lindstrom, drove 20 miles from her home to meet up with us along the route and she brought all sorts of fun snacks with her. Also, a 2007 alumni, Vern Katzung, who lives nearby, rode along with us for 40 miles today. (I know that my commas in the previous sentences have been out of control – I couldn’t sort out what else to do with them!) Anyhow, Vern is now 70 and did the Big Ride when he was 66. However, he said that the year he did the ride, a 78 year old also did the trip. I’m going to have to think about this whenever I feel like throwing a fit and giving up. Surely if a 78-year-old can do this, I can get my act together enough to! Also, an 80 year old who some of the riders met in New Ulm, rode along with us for part of the day. He said that, at 80, he and his wife still start the day with cycle rides. I hope I do that when I’m 80 too. :o)

As today’s ride wasn’t too long, we arrived at the campgrounds quite early in the afternoon, and had some spare time on our hands and not too many places to escape the heat. So I looked up water parks and found that there was one only 3 miles away. I rounded up a group and convinced Rich to drive us over there. They had a couple of water slides, a lazy river, a rock climbing wall over the pool, and a volleyball court. It was the perfect way to spend a hot afternoon. :o) Interestingly though, I did manage to scrape the top of my foot on the bottom of the pool – all of my injuries on the trip so far seem to be non-cycling related. :o)

For dinner, we went to an all you can eat buffet at Hyvee, and I think poor Hyvee didn’t know what had hit them when a swarm of hungry bicyclers descended upon their buffet like flies on a carcus. The amount of food we eat to keep fuelling our bodies is truly amazing. Geena and Caitlin are particularly uninhibited in seeking out fuel. They have made it routine to wander around restaurants and kindly keep food from other people’s plates from being wasted. :o)

As night time fell, the temperature unfortunately did not follow suit. It was really just too hot to sleep outside, so we all sat around brainstorming about what to do. We have more or less turned into the reverse of heat-seeking missiles. Geena and Caitlin decided to go sleep at the Hyvee as it was open 24 hours a day. Several people went to a hotel. There was a sports facility with an ice skating rink nearby, and we thought that would be the perfect place to escape the heat, so we went there and begged to sleep indoors. While letting strangers sleep inside was against their policy (I can’t imagine why!), one of the employees had sympathy for us, and invited us to sleep at his home. His wife kindly drove over to pick a load of us up and took us to their house where we slept in the basement. It was really nice to be in a real (air conditioned nonetheless) home and we got to chat with their children and play with their dogs. The generosity and hospitality that people have showed us throughout the trip has been amazing.

bavarian blast

Today’s rest day is in New Ulm, Minnesota, a German community of 13,000, named after the city of Ulm in southern Germany. Today we attended the Bavarian Blast festival, and I can emphatically state that the festival is appropriately named – we seriously had a blast. It was the most fun I’ve had on the trip so far. It was held on the fairgrounds and huge tents were set up for shelter. Highlights were the traditional German singers, clad to a tee in leiderhosen, who sang traditional songs (even featuring yodelling) throughout the evening.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm sure you can only imagine how many a video is worth. So to save you all from my many words, here are a few videos below that I think do a better job demonstrating the festival atmosphere.

In this first video, we’re doing something comparable to a German version of the 12 days of Christmas (or so we gathered… in truth, we did not especially have a clue what we were doing – but we sure had a fun time doing it! :o))




The second video is of the traditional German singers singing Edelweiss. One of my favourite parts was the little boy from the crowd who stepped up from the crowd and proceeded to appoint himself as choir director. It was beyond precious.




However, it was not the lone precious moment from the festival. Many of the attendees were dressed up in festive costumes from German folklore. After a great debate, we decided that the little fellow below was a morel mushroom (other front runners were a peanut or a pumpkin). This website says that…

German folklore attributes the origin of morels to the Devil. Offended by a very wrinkled old woman, he transformed her into this mushroom. Ever since, calling a woman a morel in Germany has been a major insult.

Anyhow, I thought it was adorable that, despite being attired as a mushroom, he was not going to let this inhibit his activities at all. Here he is breaking it down on the down floor and holding hands with his little buddy.








We met a lot of really nice folks that evening, and I believe that Minnesotans are my favorites so far. I’ve met so many people that have really gone out of the way to be helpful, and everyone at the festival was so generous tonight when we told them about our trip. While we did pay the entrance fee, we didn’t spend very much money otherwise as so many people gave us things. Also, Minnesotans have very distinct accents. Thus far on the trip, I hadn’t seen the distinct regional accents and behaviors I’d been expecting – most of the people I met very much seemed to have spent a good deal of time in the melting pot of America, and had come out as a homogenous American lacking distinct regional peculiarities. I suppose I can’t criticize too much as I’ve been a bit melted myself – I often find myself shrugging my shoulders when people question “Where’s your southern accent?” after I tell them I’m from Georgia.

A few last shots from the festival are Jim and I participating in the polka-while-holding-an-orange-between-your-foreheads contest and Jim and Charlie dancing with some local ladies.







In addition to a great deal of playing on this rest day, there were the standard chores to take care of. In order to add additional shims to the outside of my shoes to better account for my leg length discrepancy, I needed a longer screw to hold it all together. So today, I went shopping at the hardware stores of New Ulm – emphasis on stores -- it wasn’t until the seventh store that I was able to find the screw that I needed! Rich spent some time working on my shoes adding additional shims on the outside and an additional insole on the inside. Hopefully this combination will even things out and help my knees to feel better.

Also, Rich helped me replace my rear tire today as it’s a bit worn out and I’m having a lot of rear flat tires. And what I mean by "Rich helped me replace my tire" is that I helped Rich replace it. And what I mean by "I helped Rich replace my tire" is that Rich replaced my tire while I chattered. :o) Oh well, while I may be generally be bike-mechanically-incompetent, I am learning. :o)

In the evening, we watched the 80’s bicycle movie Breaking Away and ate brownies – it was the perfect end for a rest day. Our rooms were not air conditioned, but the central lobby area was, so most of us just brought our sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and pillows to watch the movie with us and all slept together in the lobby to get some relief from the heat.