Broken bikes, broken bones

All in a days work

More  of the same.

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, click here:  JON'S MDA DRIVE

If anybody found a lost brown wallet on island Highway  in Eaton Rapids, let me know.

I'm still at the Sparrow Medical Center in East Lansing, my eighth day. It has been a windmill-of-your-mind experience where, after the first days of treating the obvious physical injuries they discovered problems in the way I breath, think and function. I have to be kind, but it is not my strong suit. 

Mark and I in intensive care.

Mark left Monday for the University Michigan Medical Center and I thought we might leave for Milwawukee to day, but maybe not.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement!

Between this and that

The Bel-Air Motel in Land 0' Lakes, Wisconsin.
The price was right -- deer head no extra charge!

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, click here:  JON'S MDA DRIVE


I am champing at the bit. Wanna get rolling on Part 2. We spent a few days at the Vosper island homestead -- a great thing and we are grateful -- and now will be here in Land O' Lakes till this afternoon when uncle's 100th birthday party will be held. I think there will be cake.

I spent a couple days communicating with MDA, who wanted photos of my trip and a little essay for their blog about my descent into MD territory. When these things are posted on their blog, I will divulge a link here. 

I really think I'm getting worse -- my throat is touchy, my hands feeble, my walking crazy.  The normal fluid movement of everyday life -- standing, sitting, crossing a room, buttering toast -- seems like gracious ballet from where I sit, and sit, and sit. I'm thinner and weigh less than I have since college, but when the ride is over I can see myself continuing to eat at my current rabid pace without burning any calories and becoming a round inert ball of suet. 

I hope this is just a passing mood. 

I'll feel better on a bike. 

Here's a little pictorial summary of recent things:

Me, Ms.V., Mimi, Jimmy

The Big Mac

The channel

Leaving town

Jimmy's cocktails

What next?

Love those white feet.

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, click here:  JON'S MDA DRIVE


MULTIPLE CHOICE

The visit to the nail salon today was:

                               1. Jon's idea
                               2. Ms. V's idea

It's hard to say by what you're shown, I know, but if you guessed No. 2, well, you are right. No. 2 is the correct answer. It was, indeed, Ms. V's idea!

Those who answered correctly may read on. The rest of you, I'm sorry, you just don't know me well enough.

I have set my departure for Part 2 of this adventurous summer for Monday, Aug. 19. I bought a ticket for the 6 a.m. ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon. I really hope I can make that ferry, because you have to be there at 5:15, which means getting up before 4 in the morning. Are you serious?

In the meantime I have washed all my stuff, done minor repairs, ordered things from Amazon, and am, in slow motion, packing.

Because the summer isn't full enough already, I have been invited to accompany Ms. V on a trip to the island, in the Mackinac straits, followed by a trip to Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin, for Julie's uncle's 100th birthday party. We leave tomorrow, and get back Sunday. On a previous visit with the relatives, I slept upstairs during the conversation period, and was later chastised for it. So I'm under some pressure to stay engaged.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

*

Here are some random outtakes from Part 1 of the ride.

The Merrimac Ferry, a useful shortcut. 

Wisconsin farmers have the most fun.

Talking to the locals in Napoleon, North Dakota.

A North Dakota crop duster.
He got lowwww to the ground. 

Home at last

Waukesha firefighters discussed "Fill the Boot."
(Elizabeth Nelson photo)

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, click here:  JON'S MDA DRIVE


Well, I'm home, 23 pounds lighter. That's about a pound for every hundred of my 2,500 miles.

My re-entry yesterday started at the Waukesha Fire Station on Pearl Street, where Elizabeth of the MDA had arranged a casual meet-up at which we discussed firefighting, biking, fundraising, etc. One of the firefighters told me that in a recent year the Waukesha fire department responded to an average of 20 calls a day, which struck me as a ton.

If you're a Journal Sentinel subscriber, you can see MJS reporter Lori Nickel's story on this meeting and my ride at https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/2019/08/07/nickel-milwaukee-man-cycling-across-united-states-despite-muscular-dystrophy/1944488001/

Paywalls are a bane of the modern world.

There's heavy construction on Highway 59, also known as Les Paul Parkway, near the station, and when I was leaving, by bike of course, the firefighters commandeered a huge firetruck to ride behind me, lights flashing, so I would make it safely to the trail. Seeing us pass, construction workers started yelling, quite angrily, "MOVE! MOVE! THERE'S A FIRETRUCK RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" and I yelled back, "I KNOW! I KNOW! THEY'RE HELPING ME!!"

I rode toward home on the trails. At Miller Park, Ms. V had organized a greeting with about 20 friends. She'd had a sign made, and it was great to see everybody. I passed out the MDA shirts and we all convened at our back patio for food and libations. Thanks so much to everybody who showed up!

I went to bed as soon as it ended, mid-afternoon, slept for a few hours, and then was up eating all night.

*

I'm going to try to turn this around in a week, week and a half, to start the eastern leg. I have some bike repairs and pack reconfiguring to do, and other sundry tasks. I look forward to a fresh start!

Details, details, details

No picture this time because this is SERIOUS.

Not so much.

Ms.V and I will stay Tuesday night at The Clarke Hotel in Waukesha.

She'll drive back Wednesday morning, and I'll start riding about 9 am. I will not be setting any land-speed records.

It's 16 miles from The Clarke to Miller Park, and another four or so to our house, the Regency, 929 . Astor St., #207.

I'd love to have anybody join me -- but if you actually have a job, and have a schedule, Julie and others will be gathering at the bridge by Miller Park, where I'm guessing I will arrive late morning or noonish, give or take.

My route, as I said, will be the New Berlin Trail, through Greenfield Park, and onto the Parkway, through Tosa, past Jacobus and through Doyne Park, past the Humane Society and down the hill to  Miller Park.

Food and libations at our house when it's all over!

Tunnel vision

Light at the end of the tunnel.
On the Sparta-Elroy trail.

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Associtation, click here:  JON'S MDA DRIVE

I am bone-weary, and will be happy enough to end phase one of this long long ride. I've done about 2,400 miles in 50-plus riding days, and more days beyond that at Jimmy's house in Seattle, and even more counting the days I didn't ride for one reason or another.

I have about 85 miles to do over two days, tomorrow and the next day, Tuesday, and then 20 Wednesday from Waukesha in. Should be easy. Should be.

I'm committed to, and want to do, the eastern section, to make it coast to coast, and to ride with my buddy Mark, but I don't think you'll see me doing this again. Other rides, sure. But not this big one.

I've been heading east pretty steadily since Onalaska, over there by Lacrosse, and I have had a love/hate relationship with the trails, finally giving up on them almost entirely in the last couple days and making much better time.  The last straw was finding the trails washed out and closed completely in the little town of Wilton, about halfway through the Sparta-Elroy. It was late in the day anyway and I pulled into the city park and, coasting, carelessly jammed my foot against my front fender and kinked it so badly the wheel was stuck. 

Things were hopping in Wilton -- it was the annual "Wilton Wood Turtle Days" -- and there were volleyball tournaments on two sand courts set up in the park, and softball tournaments under way on the diamond. A band was playing pop covers, and the Lions club was selling food. I made as quick work as possible of my fender problem -- basically ripping it off -- and bought a brat patty and a hot dog and sat down and watched the softball. When the games were over, there was a full hour of fireworks, and then more volleyball.  

It was the kind of party kids will remember and want to recreate when they're in charge. There were two, just two, African Americans in the crowd --  a dad/husband who stayed to himself, and a teen girl who was hanging out with other girls -- and I wondered how Whitebread Wisconsin at Play works for them. 

*

Here's some pix.

A "sign," I guess, back in Bay City, on the Mississippi shore.
Note the photographer under the front wheel. 

Monstrous raptors pondering a meal of an RV in Bay City.

Gary Brone, with employee Kayleigh, in the bike store with attached coffee shop ("World Cup Coffee")  he operates with his son, Mark, in Fountain City, Wisconsin. He has vast knowledge of the bike routes in the area, and his shop increasingly attracts serious bikers after high-end merchandise. he said.

These were not ducks, but geese, maybe? Swans? Everything you see on the river is bigger somehow. 

Into the tunnel I go. You don't ride, but walk. Thank goodness I brought a light. 

My bike repair in progress.

Watching the softball, or not, at Wood Turtle Day.

The volleyball games went on for hours.

Posted in Lodi, Wisconsin, at 8:20 pm August 4, 2019

The Great River Road

To contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, click here: JON'S MDA DRIVE


I spent a couple nights at my cousin Matt's house in Stillwater -- even though they were on vacation (life is so complicated) -- and finally left Monday morning. I rode that day through the countryside south, and finally entered Wisconsin in Prescott, a pretty little town on the river.

For three days now I've followed Highway 35, "The Great River Road," as it runs beside the Mississippi. I went almost as far as Lacrosse, though the road itself follows the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

I think it's the most interesting stretch I've done so far, and I'd love to do the rest of it. Every little tributary rushing to the river comes through a valley, and it made for a rollercoaster ride of quick rushes down and slow climbs up. But by the end of the first day, the road had moved into the river corridor and flattened out.

The towns came and went: Prescott, Diamond Bluff, Bay City, Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, Nelson, Alma, Cochrane, Trempealeau, Onalaska. Most are tiny -- a hundred, two hundred, three hundred citizens -- and most of them cling to a hillside or are ingeniously puzzled into the space between the road, the rail tracks and the river.

The little towns make the most of what they are. Maiden Rock, population 119, has a bake shop, a wine store, high-end restaurants, a large brick inn, a couple of lawyers, and goats grazing in the yards. There's an architecture office in Stockholm, population 66. The city lists 29 total businesses, including an insurance agency, a pie maker, several restaurants, and a furniture dealer. Alma, population 779, has dozens of galleries, jewelry shops, and a quilting business. All this business activity is aided and abetted by the Minnesota towns across the river, especially Winona, 27,000 people, where surely some of the employees live, and much of the clientele.

Rolling down the road, I sometimes had to remind myself that I was in Wisconsin. It felt like somewhere else.

*

I did trails today, and tomorrow I'll be on the Sparta-Elroy trail. Trails keep you off the road and let you ride in the shade, but unless they're paved, boy, they can be a lot of work.

*
Assorted pix:

My lunch stop in Prescott --- a pulled chicken sandwich with thin apple slices.

Prescott

Fountain City

The big river.

Ice cream in Stillwater.
(Thanks, Gary Hoffman.)

Matt's house

Why trails are fun.
(I put my bike on its side and dragged it through.)

Matt's house.