Day 34 – Look Ma, No Hands

July 20, 2018

Day 34 – Mauston to Fond du Lac, WI – 95 miles, 2,680 feet vertical

Cumulative totals: 2,553 miles, 93,380 feet vertical

Another (yawn) 95 miles today.  We’d end up finishing in the rain (again), but nothing would dampen our enthusiasm today.  It was just beautiful.  We rode mostly on back roads, away from traffic, away from trucks with nothing but sun, sky, great friends and lots of laughs.  It was another day to just chill and be thankful that we are able to do this incredible ride. 

Everyone was in a good mood. Tomorrow is a “light” day at only 61 miles and then after that, we have our next “rest day” during which we will take a 4-hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan.  (And, no, the boat ride doesn’t count toward our mileage.)  I am already starting to feel the pangs from the inevitable end of this journey.  The line of green dots on Where’s Jeff is getting longer and longer and even we can’t believe it.  But enough about that. 

Halfway through the ride today, we stopped in Princeton, WI for their world famous bratwurst.  Normally, this would be a dangerous thing to do, but it was worth it.  The bratwurst was delicious!  Just about everybody stopped here for lunch.  

Our weather-luck ran out after the 70-mile SAG 2 stop and it rained off and on for the rest of the ride.  As with yesterday, it was mostly “on”.  And again, as with yesterday, I spent the last 20 miles thinking “hot” … “tub” … “hot” … “tub” … “hot” … “tub”.  Hey, it works for me – you can choose your own coping method. 

Tonight, after dinner, we had the long-awaited T-shirt swap.  Everyone was instructed (pre-ride) to bring a clean T-shirt for the event and to be prepared to tell a story (if there was one).  We followed Yankee Swap rules which meant that all the merchandise first made it into the center of the room.  Then one by one, each person got to pick one item to keep.  The rub was that you could also decide to “steal” a previously chosen item.  This would totally piss off that person, who would then pick – or steal – another item.   No immediate steal-backs allowed, and after an item changed hands three times, it was considered “sold”.  All I can say here is that there are no friends in a Yankee Swap.  Things got ugly pretty quickly, but everyone had a good time and no one went home empty-handed.

Please enjoy these photos from today’s activities and be sure to follow along at Where’s Jeff.  I welcome comments or questions, so feel free to weigh in.  

Thanks for following.

…Jeff