Today we had a day off before flying home tomorrow.

We decided to go to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Having been told y some of the bike group about the fantastic architecture

I’ll let the pictures speak.

The architects are EeroSaaripen , David Kahler, and Santiago caladrava

There was an excellent video as an introduction that brought home what a collaborative effort was undertaken by so many parties that resulted in in this magnificent structure and grounds.

They use this side aisle to teach perspective to their classes of children.

The pieces were collected, with permission, from the base of the White Cliffs of Dover

Concept,concept, concept

There was a large Dale Chihuly piece hanging in a glass enclosed corner facing Lake Michigan.

When I saw this piece I couldn’t believe who the subject is.

It was painted between 1630 and 1634.

I had never seen a depiction of Francis as dark as this.

I’ll give you it is suppose to be from his grave.

That aside it elicited a feeling of of something very dark and ominous within me.

I couldn’t figure out why someone would paint him like this.

Then I looked at the dates.

Smack dab in the middle of the Spanish Inquisition

Times don’t get much darker than the Spanish Inquisition, hence the mood of this painting.

Should you ever be in Milwaukee

Put this museum at the top of your list,

Well maybe after a bike ride.

Off to dinner and catching a flight in the AM

Quack and I wish you well

Paul

We started the day with a shuttle to the start of the glacial Drummond Trail..

One needs breakfast first, so there was a bakery cafe at the trail head, that served big portions of very good food. So much that the waitress asked if someone didn’t like their food because of what was left on the plate.

Sorry foodies, no photos.

He said , “ I loved it, just too much”.

So off we went on a tree shaded hard packed gravel path.

I’m not going to show pictures of everyone because I couldn’t figure out how to download them.

But Here are a couple of

In her late 60’s she rode across the US in 52 days

.

We are in the country where Aldo Leopold lived and wrote Sandhill County Almanac

30 miles later we had finished about 200 miles through Wisconsin

Quack sends best wishes

And just so you know

We’ll see what comes tomorrow

Because……

Paul

Today was the penultimate day of riding

We left about 9:30 from the hotel to ride to a town named after New Glarus. We started out riding the pathes that work their way through Madison

As we approached a school zone or zones, you would have thought we were in Amsterdam.

There were people on scooters rollerblades bikes and walking.

There were paths going every which way.

I found it refreshing to see the lack of cars approaching the school zone.

We then started riding rural paths for most of the rest of the morning 3.5 hours of riding without vehicles except when we crossed a road. Then they almost always stopped for us. A huge semi saw us coming from a hundred yards away, stopped until we all had passed

Everyone was completely impressed how courteous the drivers are

We cross numerous bridges each day from 10 feet to over 60 feet. Every one of them has one thing in common. Check out this bridge.

See the black stripe on the deck? what causes that?

Snow mobiles in the winter

Here is our trusty van and trailer

Here is where we ended our day in New Glarus

After the ride I took a walk to the state capital

After I walked down State St to a great card shop that had this in the window

Have a nice evening

Paul

Our day started with a quick tour in the van of the Epic campus outside of Madison

The CEO , Judith Faulkner has created a huge campus with an unbelievable array of renewable energy generating systems.

The various areas of the campus are themed from various stories, Star Wars, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz , Harry Potter.

Epic is privately owned by Judith Faulkner , who “ Doesn’t want to be beholden to the quartet “

28th richest billionaire in the country.

We then drove to Mt Hebro and started our 30 mile ride back to Madison.

This trail was even better than yesterday’s.

At a certain point we started on a paved trail that took us into town.

The trail undulated and curved gently.

Throughout the ride there are wetlands and greenery

As we got closer to the hotel we circled part way around Lake Menona.

A good part of the town is built on an isthmus between lake Menona and Mendota.

Found a great bike shop and escaped without spending any money

Later in the afternoon we were taken through part of the University of Wisconsin by Mike who had done undergraduate work and Med school there.

We were amazed at the number of young people.

Retuned to The Public Parking Bar with 5 others.

This time I had “My grandmother hates my tattoo “ cocktail. while other members of the group read poems to us.

Billy Collins “The Lanyard” and Robert Frost’s “ The Birches”

The drink and the poetry were quite good.

Until tomorrow

Paul

This morning, after a delicious breakfast, we took a half hour shuttle to the start of the Elroy Sparta Trail.

This is “The Mothership of rail trails. It is the first rail to trail conversion in the US in 1967.

It is a beautiful trail.

From here the concept spread throughout the US.

This is the innovation that makes America great.

The trail surface is hard packed gravel, so tires roll very well

There are three tunnels on this trail of varying lengths.

We guessed the length to be 3/4 mile.

Lots of water dripping. Even with lights we walked through it because the surface was damp and slippery as the sides tapered off.

The real beauty was no cross traffic. So the music came in the head phones and it was like a 40 mile spin class.

U just let the music dictate the pedal cadence and you are flying along.

Literally dancing on the pedals SO MUCH FUN!

After we got settled , I had laundry to do and next door was the great bar, good music, witty and welcoming bartenders It is called

Public Parking.

If your ever in Madison, it is worth a visit

So from the Capital of Wisconsin I’ll bid you a good night.

In the afternoon I was riding at the back of the group.

One of the guides always rides “sweep”.

To make sure no one is left behind. We’re talking and I ask where she is from. She says Paducah Kentucky.

I mention that I was just riding on a trip with a guy from Paducah Kentucky .

She says what’s his name ? I say Wendell Medford. She says I KNOW Wendell.

If you remember Wendell is one of the brothers I was riding with in Washington and Oregon

Wendell, Terri Moore says “Hi”

IT KEEPS GETTING SMALLER AND BETTER

Paul

We started the day with a 3 1/2 hour shuttle to Trempealeau, Wisconsin on the shore of the Mississippi River.

We have seen so many of these perpetually attractive little towns.

This is about 351 miles south of the Origin of the Mississippi in Lake Itasca

The far shore is Minnesota

We headed south primarily on wooded trails

Had a variety of surfaces including 6 miles of rough gravel, that could remove temporary crowns in your teeth.

After getting through that we were back on beautiful wooded trails the paralleled the Mississippi. Some places we crossed part of the river,on roads maybe 2 feet above the water line.

Look at the center at the hillsides.

Imagine how many millions of years it took to carve its path

37 miles later we are in La Crosse.

Tomorrow onto Madison

Flew into Milwaukee yesterday and decided to just take it easy. My friend Mike Levin was already here attending his high school reunion , visiting the town he grew up in, Delvin, and visiting friends.

He arrived about 10 pm last night.

We each organized our gear.

The van picked us up at 9 am sharp. After picking up the other participants we drove to the starting point on the edge of Lake Michigan.

There are two guides and 9 participants.

All different abilities from someone who hadn’t been on a bike in decades to folks that have ridden hundreds of miles a day for multiple days in a row.

The riding was very enjoyable, being paved,separated from traffic with sun and cool breezes.

We had lunch in a park, that the guides had prepared and then continued riding to our hotel for the night in a picturesque town named Cedarberg

This is architecture!

The buildings I sawseemed to use the latitude and longitude for their address If not it is a nice feature

My favorite building….

Plant you fool!

The whole Main Street that I saw was populated with beautiful buildings

Until tomorrow

Paul

Yesterday was the last day of riding for this trip.

Started by leaving my rabbit camping companions

Was listening to to Van Morrison’s “Into The Mystic” ,while viewing scenes like this.

Roads were fairly quiet on this Sunday morning.

Came to the town of Neskowin. Town we had heard a lot about from our neighbors The Bugge’s. Pronounced boogie.

In Neskowin the is a great store next to the beach called Neskowin Provisions.

All kind of goodies there.

So I refueled and about a mile down the rod made a left onto the old highway 101.

The day before a guy I was riding with at the end of the day had told me about it.

The current 101 goes straight up and over the hill. This gem ,small two lanes wind its way through green forests,

Over creeks and streams

In an hour I saw 5 cars.

It was idyllic riding.

The climb was gentle and it almost felt effortless.

Yes near the top I was in my climbing gear, but the lack of traffic was so welcome. That’s the Frankenstein duo of the Oregon coast.heavy traffic with these stunning views.

I later in the day took a road that the same guy had suggested and it too was much quieter.

Its other side was that it was this series of 200 yard steep descents and climbs.

It was like doing intervals. There was a heroin high element to them.

If you built up speed going down you could climb up the next easily. the problem was often you couldn’t get as high, so you still ended up working to get to the top.

Of course that didn’t stop me from trying again!

One of the climbs took you off 101 onto a small road with a nice gradient.

It was one way and there were a few cars but they were going 25mph.

Heck this coast is so spectacular it even has Bonsai

To Marc and Jeanine,remember Dad and Mom’s trip here to golf?

Towards the end of the day and stopped to do some whale watching. The day before we had seen spouts in the ocean.

I saw one arching in this spot.

To my recollection everyone I’ve met on this trip has been generous and helpful.

I think of the the conductor who helped me get my bike on the train when I had no clue about bikes on trains,thetwo young scientists I met on the train ride up here, the people in Bellingham, who pointed me toward Blaine, the campground host on the last night, when I was so tired, who gave me the camp spot to the hotel manager here at Rodeway in Newport who helped me with my reservation mix up.

Contrary to what you see on tv there are wonderful people doing little things everyday to help one another.

I know because I’ve just experienced it.

Go out you door and find them

Paul

Wendell and Vaughn who made the trip SO MEMORABLE

Many we ride together soon

Woke up day yesterday to cold overcast weather.

Got moving, when one of the other campers told me rain was coming.

Got about 5. Lies and knew there wasn’t any town for another 24 miles.

Found a bakery and holed up for an hour.

The rain was pretty light and within a half hour the rain jacket got put away. By the time I got to Cannon beach.

Here was what I had to deal with.

The climbing commenced in earnest after lunch.

At one point there was a 12% grade that went for over a mile .About 2/3rds of that got walked.

The reward were views like this.

And

For those of you who build with stone here is a Michaelangelo.

Oh look toys to play with…

The day finished with a 6% grade 2 miles long that felt exactly like the earlier one. About 50% of that got walked.

I ended up in a county park, where a very generous camp host gave me the last spot.

Here are some of my camping companions

Until next time

Paul