West. Day 9.

June 17, 2016

Cumberland to Interstate Park, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin

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Cheek stuck against my tent floor, I opened my eyes to this.

Fringe ant view.

Had I transformed into an ant overnight? Fringe ant. One of my earliest memories was my older brother Rick calling me a fringe ant as we watched a mass of sugar ants swarming on the basement floor. Fringe ants go exploring and pull the masses with them.

Moods swing like how the road rises and falls. A low mood is often a direct result of not eating before you need to, exasperated, perhaps, by dashed expectations. This day, I had hoped to treat myself to lunch in a charming cafe before a bike path finish into Interstate State Park on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.

Alas, it was not to be. Ah, well. All adventurists need a bit of flexibility.

POSTCARD FROM THE ROAD 6/17/16

When your campsite at the Interstate State Park outside St. Croix Falls, WI is three miles DOWNHILL within the park, and you are hot and tired from a challenging “short rest-day” of 48 miles, you aren’t inclined to cycle back UP and another three miles into town to the nearest grocery store.

Dinner from my on-bike larder tonight: loaded mashed potatoes, penne pasta with Parmesan cheese, a Kind bar, dried banana chips, a handful of dried cherries, and for dessert, a bag of Skittles a gas station clerk conned me into buying three days ago.

Second entry from my B’76 journal:

5/29/76

Rode about 40 miles altogether [the first day]. Our group consists of 15 – one leader, Steve, and an assistant leader, Mike. Shirley and Colleen (mother and daughter), Len and Loree (on a tandem), Glen and Jan (from Detroit), Brad, Big Dave, Dave, Tom, Bob, and Yuigi (from Japan). Oh. And me.

Tomodachi rest break. 1976.

Morning of second day I got a broken spoke – Mike and Len got it fixed so fast I was dumbfounded. They seem to think I’ll be breaking more (damn).

Brad assists Master Bob fixing someone else's spoke. 1976.

Anyway, we rode 70 miles on the 28th of HARD MOUNTAINS. I never imagined them to be so hard! Did some walking and hopefully today I’ll be able to change my gearing.

A lifesaver yesterday was lemonade at the Waggoners – great people who had a guest sign-in book for riders – from all over the world – even Zambia!

We never made it to the camp so we invaded the Bike Inn at the High School about 9:30. Think we’ll be staying over in Eugene today – looks bad ahead – it’s 95 miles to Sisters, OR and someone said that’s our next stop – over Santiam Pass. UGH!

This free lemonade stand was in Hamilton, Montana. 1976.