Wisconsin to Michigan to Ohio to Pennsylvania

Tues 7/18:  Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Hot muggy ride.  Crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin.

Wed 7/19:  Prairie du Chien to Spring Green
Spring Green has many buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  He spent many summers there during his childhood... My motel was about a mile from downtown.  There were thunderstorms while I was in town for dinner, so had to wait until they passed to ride back.  By that time it was dark, but there was still a nice lightning show in the eastern sky.

Thu 7/20 :  Spring Green to Madison (Middleton)]
Stayed with Carl (college roommate and lifelong friends) and Mary Ann at their house across Lake Mendota from Madison.  Carl was kind enough to drive me to Milwaukee on Friday.  Stopped in for frozen custard at Leon's .  After lunch we strolled around the River Walk in downtown Milwaukee

Chillin' with "The Fonz" and Carl in Milwaukee.

Carl returned home and I went over to the Sanford  for the best dinner of this trip so far... Grilled shrimp with Lamb Sausage...

Sat.7/22 :

Caught the 6:00 AM ferry to Muskegon, then rode to Holland, MI.   an unremarkable Michigan town.

Sun.7/23:  Battle Creek

Another unremarkable town.  Kind of depressed.

Mon.7/24:  Hillsdale

A pretty nice small town.  Stayed in a B&B.  Had a really good pulled pork sand..for dinner at a local bar downtown.  The owner, Kevin, is also a bicyclist, and offered to pump up my tires... really friendly people in this town.

Tues. 7/25:  Toledo

All I can say about Toledo is that it makes Cleveland seem like paradise.  The main pasttime here seems to be a 3 square block area of bars where you can take your beer cup and drink on the street in this area.  It looks nicer from my hotel window:

View from the 15th floor of the Inter Continental hotel. 

Wed. 7/26:  Toledo to Huron

Pleasant Small town on Lake Erie.  On the way, saw evidence of Kiwanis activity:

A lot of recreational boaters here, and on a series of towns between on the water between here and Cleveland.  Big lakefront houses.

Thurs. 7/27:  Cleveland

Cleveland's seems to have significantly improved since I was here over 12 years ago.  Stayed with college friend Dave and his lovely wife Joy.  

David and Joy

Went to Corky and Lenny's, one of my favorite delis, for lunch:

One of the country's best Jewish Delis.  A vanishing breed...

In the morning, we drove about 20 miles east and did a little tour of Ohio's Amish country.

Fri. 7/28: Conneaut Lake, PA

This is mostly a weekend resort area that seems to attract visitors from surrounding metro areas (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Erie, Youngstown).

Sat. 7/29: Clarion, PA

Google Maps routed me into a ditch. Detour cost me 20 hard miles. Finally landed here around 7:00 PM. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you when its putting you onto gravel or worse. There is a very nice paved trail along the Allegheny river. Quite a few kayaks, canoes and other floaters on the river today.

Iowa: Nice people, and Bike friendly

7/12:  Denison, IA
About midway between Onawa (an unremarkable interstate town) and Denison, I came upon an Iowa State research station on a very lonely road.  Since Alexandra has an interest in planting Milkweed for the butterflies, I stopped to chat, and share my cherries, and fill up the water bottle.

Todd, the Milkweed researcher

In Denison.  Lori, the manager at the Boulder Inn was kind enough to offer to throw in my laundry with a load the hotel was doing...  She also took a keen interest in my trip.  The whole staff there was very friendly and welcoming.

7/13:  Jefferson
Had a craving for some sweet corn... so I found a produce stand.  The bad news, it was a 5.6 mile ride from the hotel with the last 1/4 mile on dirt.  I bought 3 ears for $1.50, and had a nice chat with the owner (Cindy).  When I got back to the hotel, This was waiting for me:

The corn was really good too!  I called her to thank her for the note... and she explained that she felt guilty for taking my money after I rode all that way in the heat just for 3 ears of corn...
On the way to the hotel, I stopped at Bett & Bev's barbecue.  This was the Thurs. night special ($5)

 "Frip pie" : homemade Ripple potato chips covered with pulled pork baked beans and coleslaw.

Fri. 7/14:  Jefferson to Des Moines
Started the day off at the shop I stopped into in 2015.  This time I got there early in the AM when the merchandise is really fresh.

Bunker's Dunkers, Jefferson IA

It turns out that I was able to do the entire ride (69 miles) to Des Moine on dedicated beautiful paved bicycle trails.  Also, the weather finally broke.  Nice and cool for the next 2 days!

 

Racoon River Valley Trail

The Corn goes on forever

Sat. 7/15:  Des Moines to Marshalltown

Des Moines farmers market Saturday morning

Sun. 7/15:  Marshalltown to Cedar Falls

Wind power rising in Iowa

Mon. 7/16:  Cedar Falls to Fayette
A Road closure extended this ride by 10 miles from the planned 58 mile ride.  It's also getting hot again...
About 25 miles south of Fayette (near Hazleton), stopped into an Amish candy shop.  The whole farm ran from a windmill that ran a compressor.  Instead of electricity, the ceiling fans in the store were pneumatic.   I didn't see any electric wires going to the farmhouse or store. Their ovens were wood-burning.

The End of the Road in South Dakota

Wed 7/5 - Martin SD
Another tiny town in cattle country.  The motel was quite nice, but the weather was quite hot (>100°).  I've been trying to leave each town before 7:00 AM to avoid the worst heat of the day.

Had breakfast at the Martin Cattle Auction cafe Thursday Morning. 

Thurs 7/6 - Rosebud, SD
The Salt Camp cabin I stayed at is the most isolated lodging I've had so far.  The cabin was about 1/2 mile down a dirt road.  The land is all Indian Reservation land.  Nothing around... no town, no people.  When I checked in, we saw a coyote running across the owner's road leaving her chicken coop.  She helped me after grabbing her shotgun and making sure the coyote was gone.   The cabin had a full kitchen, with dishes and cookware.  Laura was kind enough to drive me into town (about 10 miles away) to pick up some groceries for dinner.  

Fri 7/7 - Winner, SD
An slightly larger town.  Big enough to support a McDonalds, a Shopko and a few motels besides the Super 8 where I stayed.

Sat 7/8 - Bonesteel, SD
A very tiny town.  1 really basic motel, 2 eateries and a gas station... but, to their credit they had a community swimming pool.   Pretty impressive for a town of less than 300 people.

Sun 7/9 - Whitetail River Lodge, Niobrara, NB
Lovely bed and breakfast.  By the time I got to town it was 104°.

That's right, population 1 !   This town is in SD, about 25 miles west of Niobrara, NB.  I wonder what their city council meetings are like...

Mon 7/10 - Vermillion
A little cooler today (only 90°) .   Now I'm getting headwinds.  This town is home to the University of South Dakota, and a population of about 10,000, making it big enough to support a Walmart and other decent amenities.

Tomorrow will be above 100, with 12 mph dead-on headwinds as I head into Iowa.  Not looking forward to that...

 

The 4th in Nebraska

Black Hills, SD

Fri. 6/30
Crossed into South Dakota from Sundance WY through the lovely town of Spearfish, SD.   Great library there... and good choices for lunch.  It's a lovely green town.

Profiterole at Bay Leaf in Spearfish 

Deadwood, in SD's Black Hills, is an old gold-mining town turned tourist town  with the introduction of gambling.  Lots of hotels and restaurants, with old west themes.

Deadwood's Main Street.   Including the saloon where  Wild Bill Hickok  was shot over a poker hand.

Sat.  7/1:   Mt. Rushmore / Keystone SD
Keystone SD is a town set up to house and feed the hoards of tourists coming to visit Mt. Rushmore, about 3 miles and 1000 ft. of elevation up from the town.

Sun. 7/2:  Hot Springs, SD - nothing remarkable, just a place to stay.
Mon. 7/3:  Onward to Nebraska!  It's going to be hot as hell this week.  90 today.  100 by Thursday.