Day 18 - 81 Miles

Total = 1201
Mazomanie to Westby

One thing about bicycle touring is that you become a human bug shield. Just think about the last time you took a long drive in the country and how filthy your windshield became. Well, for us we get to experience that up front and personal. I've had bugs zip into my mouth, crash off my helmet, and fly full speed into my sunglasses. The last of which is kind of scary.

Tonight we are staying in Westby. A nice little town. We got a place at a Lutheran church right off the main strip. Nice accept for a ton of ants and no shade at all. So, we went around to the front of the church to make dinner. Tonight we tried out chilli for the first time and as we prepared and downed our meal we got plenty of strange looks from the locals passing by. Must not get dirty bicyclist eating meals on the front porch of the biggest church in town very often.

Tomorrow we will make it to the mighty Mississippi. We will be heading North along a scenic route that should be pretty sweet...I mean JACKEDDDD!!!!

Day 17 - 81 Miles

Total = 1120 Miles
Emeralds Grove to Mazomanie

We survived the drunken Ray of last night. We all shared our stories today of what we thought might happen if he really went off the deep end. Thankfully none of that happened and we got an early exit out of that place.

Our first stop was in Janesville just down the road. They had a bike shop that opened up fairly early (9 AM) and Armin was sick of his spokes continually breaking and wanted a new rim. We were the first customers and they got us what we needed. Another town, another bike shop. For the record, Armin said that the guy who helped him was no Josh. The man crush continues.

We found ourselves back in some hills today. Kind of nice, but at the end of the day when you want to just kick back and eat some mac & cheese, even a small hill is tiring. Our first try at a place to stay was in a town called Black Earth. We tried a few spots, but nothing was coming together. Someone suggested we try a Catholic Church in another town four miles down the road. So, we headed off.

Once you get in your head that you've made it to your last town, going four extra miles is a killer. Your hungry, tired, thirsty and the last thing you want to do is continue on. Luckily the priest at the church was home and he gave us permission to use the expansive church property. Picnic tables, grass, and access to water.

Day 16 - 92 Miles

Total = 1039
Chicago, IL to Emerald Grove, WI
16 Biking Days, 4 Days Off

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again....ah, felt good to be back in the saddle. A tiring 92 miles led us from the Shafer household in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park all the way into the great state of Wisconsin. Even though we were all ready to get going on our west bound journey, Chicago was a nice stay over. The Shafer's were very kind to let us park our bikes and gear in the garage and put Armin and I up for a few nights. Adam even let me sleep in his room. Thanks Lisa, Ron, Adam, and Emily for being so kind to us during our extended stay!!

In total we only spent two actual biking days in Illinois. A very quick dash through the Northern portion of the state. Shortly before the state line we had our first outwardly mean person encounter. Julie and I were resting in some shade off the highway on someone's lawn. It was a pretty big lawn and we weren't any where close to the house. But, a lady came out, gave us a whistle and said, "hit the road." Come on, is it that big of a deal for us to take a ten minute break in the shade? So, we hit the other side of the road and I was able to get a picture of the mean lady. At the same time I also checked the trip odometer which read "999", but I was looking at it upside down, "666". Hmmmmmm.......

Oh, and I was wrong, Illinois didn't have the worst state line sign. Wisconsin didn't even have one for us. There goes that picture taking series. That's what you get for taking the back country roads.

Tonight we are in the small town of Emerald Grove. The one church in town has a real nice lawn that we could have probably just put up tents at, but nobody related to the church is in town. As we were knocking on the door, the neighbors across the street, Ray & Janet, told us nobody is ever around. In the process we told them our story and they offered up their land. Very nice people, but also very drunk. Ray keeps stumbling over to us and offering us all beer, shrimp, and the use of things in his "bar". He even brought us a plate of fresh fruit, which happened to have very good muskmelon. As we are making dinner and setting up camp Ray continues to drink with friends and is bumping some old school rap. RIP Tupac. Every now and than we hear Ray yelling. Sometimes at the dog, sometimes at his kid (or stepson). At around 7pm there was a really big fight/ yelling scene that really made us nervous. It seems to have ended and the old school rap turned off. I don't usually sleep w!
ith a knife at hand, but tonight I probably will. Ray is nice, but you never know what a drunk is capable of.

Tomorrow we might hit up a bike shop in the next town. Poor Armin broke another spoke. Than were going to keep pouring on the miles. The plan is to head NW until we hit the Mississippi and than follow a scenic route along the river.

Chicago

Armin hitting a winning shot:



All you can eat Sushi at House of Sushi and Noodles:


Armin boxing:



Armin & Emily white water rafting:



Adam boxing:

Video's from the trip

Armin biking:




Armin and Julie rocking out:






Amish Buggy:

Day 15 - 64 miles

* Total = 946
* Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Chicago

We made it to Chicago!!!! Our morning started out by checking out the dunes. As far as we could tell there wasn't any dunes, but it was nice wading in the water that someone told us was a warm 71 degrees.

We than made it through Gary, which wasn't even close to as bad as people said it was going to be. They made it seem like we were putting our life on the line. Gary led to East Chicago and than perhaps the lamest state border sign we will come across on the whole trip.

The ride into Chicago was nice once we hit the Lakeshore Bike Path. We took that all the way past Navy Pier and the main downtown area, before hitting the streets of Chicago for the ride West to Oak Park.

Right now were sitting in Adam's backyard resting until him and his family comes home. We have plans to eat, visit friends, and rest during our time here. We will take off for Day 16 of riding on Sunday the 29th. Until than you can give me a call if you want to chat.

Day 14 - 65 Miles

* Total = 882
* Elkhart to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

We left really really late today. Sandy insisted on showing us where the bicycle shop was instead of just giving us directions. It really sucked losing our freedom to just go. Even though we could have just pedaled away, societal norms chained us down. Turns out that when we called the bike shops said they were too busy to fix any bicycle spokes. Once we got that news we high tailed it out of Elkhart and haven't stopped cracking jokes about Sandy & Tom since.

Only six miles into our already late start of a biking day, we came across a bicycle shop. The House of Bicycles (10140 McKinley, Osceola, IN 46561). We pulled in to see if they had time to work on Armins bike and they did. The Head Mechanic at this shop, Josh, was great! He quickly went to work on replacing the broken spokes while telling us stories about his unicycling adventures. He commutes an hour to work on one and takes them on downhill mountain bike courses as well. Josh was so good that Julie and I had him take a look at our bikes as well and he made the necessary tweaks to get rid of the squeaks we had been hearing. If your in the South Bend/Osceola area, Josh is the man to take your bike problems to. As a side note, Armin has a man crush on Josh and would like him to be his best friend.

By the time we got out of the bike shop it was around 1pm and we had gone only 6 miles. We are usually this far along before 8am. We had a lot of catching up to do. One thing helping us out was going through a time zone today, so we had an extra hour to work with. We also decided to make reservations at a campground instead of having to ask around for a backyard to camp in. At only $15, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Campground seemed like a great deal.
So, on our 14th day we finally pay for a place. So, were averging about $1 a night for housing on this trip. Nice thing about this method of touring is we buy whatever food we want because it is really our main expense. We also took hot showers and made s'mores tonight...still joking about the crazy people of Indiana. You will have to read Julie's next blog to learn about the lady we thought might try and kill us.

Tomorrow is Chicago! We all have various plans: all you can eat sushi, Harry Potter, friends birthday party, and I have a phone interview on Thursday. Most important thing will be letting our bodies rest after 15 straight days of being on the road.