July 19
Thursday, July 19
La Crosse, WI to Wisconsin
Dells, WI
98 Miles
3,270’ Climbing
Yesterday
was just a warm-up for today. We did some serious climbing for the first 56
miles following hwy 33. The scenery was just beautiful. It reminded us a little
of being back in parts of Oregon. We came into an area that had a lot of Amish
people. Some in our group have never seen the “plain people”. We passed several Amish in these horse drawn
buggies and we saw families working on their gardens. This community of Amish
was in a 10 miles stretch of our route.
It was
very cloudy today and it could have rained at any time. But we didn’t get
rained on. The humidity was still very high and we sure do sweat and drink lots
and lots of water. I was coming in “dead last” this afternoon. By 3:00 when I got to Reedsburg the sun came
out and I nearly melted. I was zapped
of all my energy and it was a mental and physical challenge to continue.
We are staying near
90-94 interstate just a mile from downtown Wisconsin Dells. Huge tourist place.
We were transported to a big buffet restaurant for dinner this evening. I gave
it a C-. Route rap will start in a few minutes. We have had three very long
mileage days and we need a break! Just
84 miles tomorrow. Yippee.
I stood in line for
the mechanic this afternoon. The mechanic has his time each day to attend to
our bike mechanical problems. I thought my front where needed truing. On smooth
road surface I could feel a thump-thump with every revolution. He found it only
slightly out of true, but the real problem is the tire itself. A slight
imperfection can be detected when run through the truing stand. I’ll have to
buy a new tire next bike shop I come to. I hope I can find the Verdestein brand
like I have on it now. I have one new on with me but will wait to get another
one so I can run with two new ones. My back tire has several cuts. I’m keeping
an eye on them to be sure the tubes doesn’t show through. If that happens, I’ll
have to put a new tire on right away.
I am very tired
tonight.