Into the Hills

Eighty two miles brought us out of the relatively flat and lovely eastern and central Wisconsin into the quite hilly and equally or more lovely southwestern Wisconsin. This is the drift less area, meaning it wasn’t leveled by glaciers. Our first 42 miles went well. We met Mary for lunch near Oregon, WI, then the land and weather changed. We had a small head wind. The temperature warmed. And we had hills. There were at least four long hills that my experience tells me were at least a six percent grade. A portion of one was more. With about 15 to 20 miles to go, I was quite tired, so Ron pulled me in. I drafted behind him, sitting on his rear wheel. It was a welcome break. Finally he too became tired, so we took a water break. We guessed we had up to 5 miles to go. Back on the road we went about a quarter mile around a curve and thereit was, Tom’s Campground near Dodgeville, WI. There was one last tortuous climb up to the camper and the days work was done. I'm tired, but it was good to be challenged again before the end of the ride. We’ll have more of the same tomorrow as we bike south into Illinois to the Mississippi Palisades Campground just north of Savannah, IL.

I’ve attached a few classic pictures. These are a farm duck pond, a small working dairy farm and a classic green tractor and bailer.