Day 34--Wisconsin Dells WI to Fond Du Lac WI--July 24th

Miles Ridden 82.3
Avg. Speed 18.3 MPH
Climbing 1736 Ft.
Total Miles Ridden 2508
Miles To Go 1121

Another stormy early morning turned clear and dry by the time we got on the road out of Wisconsin Dells.  Once we left the town, the roads were excellent, the traffic was very light and the scenery of farms, woods, and hills was good for riding.  It should have been a great day and was for most of us but I had a series of bicycle issues that made it a long trip.

First I had a flat, after that my bike started making a loud grinding noise when I pedalled. One of the great features of this ride is that expert mechanics are cruising in the support vans with tools to help when you need it.  I stopped the tour leader, Mike Munk, and he diagnosed it as a loose part inside the rear wheel, took it apart and rebuilt it on the side of the road. After that delay I got five miles down the road and the bike started making a different grinding noise and was hard to pedal. I stopped him again and this time he said that bearings needed replacement and he didn't have the parts with him. He replaced my wheel with one from his own custom bike and let me finish the ride but by that time the ride had become a chore and I wasn't enjoying the scenery

We arrived in Fond Du Lac where we checked into a very nice, restored downtown hotel.  The Scotts, friends of my parents who live near Milwaukee, were on there way up to Fond Du Lac to wish me well so I had to scramble to get the wheel fixed at the local bike shop. Everything worked out when the bike shop had the right bearings, fixed it quickly  and Marilyn and Joe drove me to pick it up. They took me out for a great steak dinner which was a needed change from the Old Country Buffets, plates of pasta and overcooked chicken which has been our recent fare.  I hadn't seen the Scotts since Florida the winter before last and it was fantastic to witness the remarkable/miraculous improvement that Marilyn's eyesight had made since then.

After they left I had an interesting adventure trying to get my clothes clean. The wet weather had left me with dirty, soggy clothes that were creating a threatening smell in my bags. One of the riders told me that there was a laundromat a few blocks away and it was next to a bar. I lugged my clothes up Main Street in the heat at least half a mile and didn't find it. I asked people on the street and no one knew anything about it. I went back to the hotel and the desk clerk told it was not next to the bar, but rather, inside it. I walked back down Main Street and entered Shooter's Bar. It was a huge place with a band setting up and hundreds of people inside with black tee shirts, tatoos, dangerous looking piercings and either lots of hair or no hair. As I opened the door and walked in, the band started playing the loudest, most disturbed music I have ever heard.

I could see in the back of the room an open door leading to the "laundromat".  It had eight washing machines (two worked) and ten dryers (four worked). Circuit boards and parts from the broken machines were all over.  The soap vending machine didn't work so I had to go back out through the bar and walk several blocks to a Walgreen's to find some soap. At this point I was committed to getting my clothes clean so, barring finding a dead cat in the washer, I was getting it done.

It was possibly the longest hour of my life as the laundromat appeared to be the designated smoking area for the bar. There was no place clean enough to sit on and I didn't want to leave my clothes. The "music" and earthshaking bass was inescapable.  Some of the patrons informed me I was listening to Rictus Grin, one of the best "death metal" bands in the midwest and that the lead vocalist had a great death growl but the new drummer wasn't very good.

Tomorrow is a relatively short day as we prepare for the ferry ride across Lake Michigan on Monday

Rocks and waterfalls in downtown Montello. We couldn't tell if this was natural or man-made

Creek in the farmland outside Wisconsin Dells

 

 

Nothing beats a couple of brats at 10 in the morning. They started early just for us.

I always thought the Republican Party started in Jackson Michigan

 

 

 

 

 

Our hotel in Fond Du Lac