Written by Chris

Day 54 – July 21 – 52 Miles, 1,608 feet climbing (Hayward KOA to Glidden)

A quick comment on last night’s KOA experience. After the birthday party and the spirited volleyball match ended, both around 9 PM, the KOA dance party started. From the volume of the music and the participants, it sounded like a good time for those in the park that weren’t trying to sleep. It would have been interesting to stay this morning and watch the chaos as 200+ RVs headed out on their way home but we made the decision to leave at 7 to avoid the traffic.

My day started with some amazing coffee that my buddy Jim McClellan had sent to the KOA, Dave and Nancy were happy with their Starbucks grounds (burnt!). Thanks Jim!

Today’s ride included pleasant weather and decent roads. The highlight of the day came 14 miles into our ride when we stopped at a coffee shop called the “Velo Cafe” in Cable, WI. As expected, it had a cycling theme, decent coffee and the healthiest breakfast burrito that I’ve had on this trip.

The rest of the ride took us down a road that was lined with trees, wild flowers, etc. Unfortunately that meant we couldn’t see any of the many lakes that are in this part of Wisconsin. We even took a “lake loop” so that Dave could get pictures, same result, lots of greenery and trees but no views of the lake(s). When I have a semi-long distance ride with consistent scenery I tend to have random thoughts. Given that I wasn’t able to download today’s map I was off of my navigator apprenticeship duties so I had extra time to think. Some of today’s thoughts included:

– Jasper (our dog) and some of my fonder memories

– How does Dave, who weighs about what I did at 13, carry as much, possibly more than me on his bike and still out ride me on hills and the flats?

– Will I ever be able to keep up with Nancy going up hills and how does she maintain 12 mph when I want to go 9 or 10?

– Have I felt that muscle before and when will I stop discovering new parts of my body that need to get stronger?

– Are my arms getting as skinny as Dave’s?

– How do the bugs keep up with us at 16+ mph?

– Is that a new noise and is it from my bike or Nancy’s?

We arrived in Glidden shortly after noon, stopped by Mac’s Place for a quick bite to eat. Mac’s is described as “two doors down.” You might ask, two doors down from what? It turns out it is two doors down from the Glidden bear, a 665 lb word-record stuffed bear that was shot in 1963. The preserved bear is now housed in a glass case in front of the community center, with all the details of his demise noted on plaque in the window.

Glidden looks very interesting online in Google. In person, almost all of the restaurants are closed (perhaps because it’s Sunday) and there are far fewer people about than we saw in Hayward yesterday. We are staying at the only hotel in town, The Chippewa Inn. It is not fancy but it is very clean and the price is more than fair. In fact, had the three of us shared a room (we didn’t) tonight would cost less than the Hayward KOA did last night. And tonight, there’s a fair chance that there won’t be a dance party that goes until 10:30 at night. I don’t think we’ll be staying in a KOA anytime soon, at least I hope not.

We were able to get into our motel early and Dave and Nancy are already reviewing tomorrow’s route to see if we need to make changes. There is some rain in the forecast and our planned day of 83 miles may be more than we want to tackle in the wet.