July 12 - 22, 2008 - Minnesota to Michigan

"We left Little Falls, MN on Saturday, July 12th, but not before Mother Nature had given us a short show of what she has in store, when the Weather Channel calls for a "Severe Weather Warning". The evening before we had a severe thunderstorm rolling across town and leaving quite some serious damages behind. During this 45 minutes the rain sometimes was straight-line across the street. I saw the shed over the pumps of the nearby gas station flexing at least on foot. Sometimes I could not see the buildings across the street. But we were safe in our motel room.

                               

	We made it through roadwork!
	Motel in Lindstrom, MN
	St. Croix River near Osceola, WI

The next day we rode with a strong tailwind over many small county roads to the town of Milaca.  During these miles we saw many broken trees and damages at the roof of several houses.

On Sunday, July 13th, we planned to make it as close as possible to the Minnesota-Wisconsin Border. The still strong northwesterly winds helped us. Already by 1 PM we were in North Branch, where we ran into a guy from London on the Northern Tier, but solo. We three decided to make it to Lindstrom with these favorable winds. We had to cross a stretch of 2 miles road construction to avoid a detour of 12 miles (Sunday, nobody working). In Lindstrom, a town with strong Swedish roots, there was a street fest. We visited the flea-market and ran into the German butcher (Martin) who later that evening surprised us with two bottles of original German Weizenbier! Delicious!!

After an hour of riding next morning, we crossed the St. Croix River into Osceola, Wisconsin. In the Post Office, we picked up a letter from M&M at the General Delivery. That day was hot and we made it only to the small town of Clear Lake.

The riding on July 15th from Clear Lake to Bloomer was even hotter. We stopped at every possible spot (tree, house, grocery, gas station) to get some shadow. The motel room was one of the tiniest so far.

It cooled down during the night and on Wednesday morning we were in the saddle with our jackets on. It was cloudy with side winds. After 20 out of 60 miles we reached Cornell, a perfect town for a second breakfast. Before we reached the Cafe, we joked around with a guy from the local FORD-Dealer. When we left the Cafe, the sky was dark and a thunderstorm warning (gusty winds and hail possible) for the county was in effect. We pushed the bikes back to the FORD-Dealer and he offered his help. When we heard that between Cornell and Medford (our destination for this day) was a 11 miles stretch of road construction, we looked for a lift. He helped!! Within 10 minutes a gentleman our age (or perhaps a little older) came in with his empty truck, we loaded our stuff with the help of 3 mechanics, got each a T-Shirt as a gift and were underway. We made it in the truck to Medford without a single drop of rain. But when we had checked in the motel, the storm came down!

On Thursday to Weston (near Wausau) was more or less the same race like yesterday. It started cool and flat and ended in the early afternoon very hilly and sticky hot. We got some rain on the last 2-3 miles to the motel.

Friday, July 18th to Shawano (Indian tribe: pronunciation: Shano). About 48 out of 58 miles we rode on the "Mountain-Bay-Trail" a rail trail which leads from Weston to Green Bay on the coast. The surface is of crushed limestone which makes riding a bit more strenuous. Except from a few children we met nobody on the trail. Navigation was easy, hills were nonexistent."

On Saturday we wanted to go as close to Manitowoc on the coast, as possible. It was intended to become a hot day. After we had the first 20 miles across wonderful peaceful countryside, we came into a little town for our second breakfast. After we had left the cafe and climbed on our bikes, we ran into a young racer, who immediately slowed down when he bypassed us, so we had our usual conversation (From where to where? How many days? How many miles a day? What is your destination? Where are you from?). Only a few minutes later he asked us if we wanted to stay this evening and night in his house with his family. Maren and I did not hesitate a second. Within a few minutes we knew where we had to go and he took off to prepare the family and the house.
Two hours and 20 miles later we arrived in front of a very impressive house in Appleton, WI, where our friend lived. We were invited to make ourselves at home. Rob is a physical therapist and a triathlete. He took off for a short run, his kids stayed in the house and his wife Chris(tine) came an hour later. We enjoyed the cool and shady house with the Worth family that afternoon. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time with new friends.

                        

	Mountain Bay Trail
	Worth family home, Appleton, MN
	Chris and Rob Worth

On Sunday, July 20th, we made it into Manitowoc on a surprisingly hilly stretch of road. When we came into town, we ran into another couple of riders, who had always been a day or two behind us. They knew who we were and we found that they were from Missoula, MT. They had booked the ferry across Lake Michigan for Monday, while we wanted to go on Tuesday, after a rest day. We all took off and surprisingly found us all in the office of Super-8-Motel in town. We made an appointment for next morning breakfast with them in the lobby.

 

          

	Downtown Manitowac
	Manitowoc Harbor

 

 

On Monday we wanted to have our chains replaced. We rode our bikes into town to the biggest bike shop. We were very surprised to learn, that today they had no chains for 9-speed, because on Friday there had been a group of bicyclist in town with a few recumbents (they need three!!! chains). Instead we met a few of a group of 50 riders (on race bikes), who cross the country in 7 weeks with daily mileages between 80 and 110 miles and a truck for the baggage. They all took the ferry on Monday.

We found another bike shop that could help us with the right chains.

On Tuesday we took off from the motel late and rode the bikes into town. We visited a coffee-shop and stayed there for two hours, before we made it the few yards to the berth of the ferry "SS Badger". This ship leaves Manitowoc for Ludingston, MI daily. The tour takes 4 hours and we passed our last change of times zones (now we are for the rest of our tour in the Eastern Time Zone). We arrived in Ludington,MI at 6:30 PM.

 

       

           

	"SS Badger"
	Lighthouse in Manitowac Harbor
	The SS Badger leaves the Ludington, MI harbor