July 6, 2006 Well now that Becky has departed, I will open a new page in the journal to start the rest of the rest of the trip. My break has been so relaxing and nice. It is truly good to be with loved ones. We had a nice time and now that she is gone, I am looking forward to the rest of the trip.

It seems impossible that I have pedaled over 2088 miles thus far in 36 days of riding. Even last year when I trained for the race in Tucson I didn't ride this many miles before the race. I am rested and ready to hit the road.

Terry Hoffart is looking at alternate routes across Wisconsin so that he can have time to visit a friend who is doing the Perimeter of US trip. It looks like we will cross just over the border (Lake Michigan) in Michigan. We need to make up a day on my schedule to accomplish this, so he has proposed an alternate to the Adventure Cycling route. It seems that we are going by our shoestrings and riding off-route more than on route lately. Not a real problem until an unexpected lack of sleeping places occurs.

9:09 PM - Back from dinner. Visited the Gutherie Center for Arts. It is a very modernistic art gallerie or something with a cantilevered walkway that overlooks the Mississippi River. The view was good.

Today's radio interviews were interesting to do. In all I talked to 12 different personalities from stations ranging from national coverage to local coverage in Minneapolis, Chicago and the Cleveland area. Each one was given an overview of my trip and background and asked questions about my choice to ride cross country and how I was using the trip to promote living with cancer. I found the interaction quite easy and though I said the same things content wise, I varied my wording to make it more interesting for me. Becky even stayed in the room while I was being recorded because occasionally I gave some new tidbit about the trip.

Tomorrow's talk at the LLS will be good for me as I will tell my story in a more informal, complete format. Time to call it a day. Good night.

July 8, 2006

Mike phoned from Wissota State Park near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He made 82 miles on really hot day. How hot? Somewhere in the 86 degree range with no cooling breeze and considerable humidity. There might be thunderstorms toward morning. Lots of little hills, some steep enough that he had to drop down to his lowest gear.

They are trying to piece together a route using mostly county roads. They are again off the Adventure Cycling route and consequently making it up as they go along.

The countryside is pleasant. Mike said that at one point he could see six dairy farms at once. He stopped to take a picture. He zoomed in to frame the photo better. Even on full zoom he could still fit all six farms into the photo. Eventually you will see the photo. Stay tuned!

School is out and life in the campgrounds is a little different than back in Washington state when they were sometimes one of two or three groups. Tonight the campground was full but they were allowed to camp in the playground area.

Terry was thinking that he wanted to fortify his dinner of macaroni and cheese with a hot dog, but he didn't want to buy a whole package of hot dogs and have to throw most of them away.

He went on a tour of the campground and some people had some food leftover. He came back with a plate heaped with three ears of corn on the cob, some shrimp and oh yes, a few hot dogs. People had bought and cooked more than they could eat.

It is hard to come up with more food than a touring cyclist can eat!

He enjoyed his time off in the Minneapolis area.

Tomorrow he hopes to get to Rib Mountain State Park near Wausau, WI. Isn't Wausau that insurance company that used to have a lot of commercials?

Monday they will ride all day and camp somewhere.

Monday, July 10th Mike called tonight from Tigerton, Wisconsin, which is just west of Shawano. Of course everyone knows Shawano, right? They had a good day, it was cool with a little head wind.

He said,"Now it is a nice evening and we are camping in a city park, in a beautiful sugarbush. I'd say about 400 taps!" They had ridden 80 miles. He figures they will get to Manitowoc in two more days, where they will catch the ferry across lake Michigan.

- Becky

Monday, July 10th

Tuesday, July 11th Wrightsville, WI

Wednesday, July 12th Manitowoc, WI outskirts - 5 miles from ferry.

Thursday, July 13th Ride 5 miles or so to catch the ferry from Manitowoc, WI to Luddington, MI. The ferry is huge. The company brags that no one has ever brought them anything so large that it can't be loaded on the ferry. Over 400 feet long, this ferry once carried freight trains across the lake. Now it ferries cars and trucks, but still uses its old coal fired boilers for power. One of the few remaining steamships in service in the US.

The ferry cruises along at about 18 mph (knots?) and it will take 4 hours to cross Lake Michigan so the lake must be about 70 miles across there.

To give you an idea what they are up to - maps.yahoo.com gives the road distance from Stillwater, MN to Manitowoc, WI as 300 miles. That alone is a distance that would put many people off - but add that to the over 2200 that Mike has already ridden. We live in a big country!! France for instance is about the size of Texas - but somehow the Tour de France sounds more romantic and inviting than the "Tour de Texas".

Two views of ferry. Best thing about the ferry for a cross country cyclist? You are moving east without having to pedal!

To read more go to the next section which is

Luddington, MI to Cleveland, OH