Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 17 May 1997
Day 47 - Near Border, WI
17 May 1997 (very cold; cloudy; sun came out!! mileage = 71.5) -- X - We
woke nice and early and started to get things ready per our normal routine.
When I emerged from the tent, I saw the rental car of Robin and Andy with
their tandem sticking out the back. What a weird coincidence. We packed up
and R&A were fine. They had gotten a new wheel for their bike and were on
their way back to drop off the car. They must have got a late start on
their return and pulled over to rest. We left at 6:00 and rode very well
through the very unpopulated (by humans) forest. We went right through the
small towns until Wakefield where we bought some yucky battery stuff from a
micro-grocery store. The big news at this point was sun!! (*Picture-sun) It
was just coming out from the clouds. We hadn't seen it in so long. And to
think that 24 hours earlier, we were being blizzarded on. We then rode to
Ironwood, which was a huge city as these things go, all the fast food and a
Kmart. We stopped at a grocery store and really stocked up well. Right
outside of town, we crossed the border. Wisconsin! Yea! No more Michigan!
We didn't see or ever find the reported welcome center. We couldn't get an
impudent phone to do our bidding. We asked a guy if we could serve as
temporary lawn ornaments, but he was cold to that plan. Almost right away,
April got an ugly flat tire. It's our 1st on the road blow out and our
first flat since re-leaving Cincinnati. We also broke 1,500 miles today!
That means that this is the first flat in around 4,000 tire-miles!! (4
tires x 1,000 miles each = 1 flat) Good job Conti Goliath! I patched that
so quick, I didn't think the patch would hold -- but it did so far. We rode
a bit and stopped and asked a medium-nice guy for H2O. He had cute bunnies
lying around his yard. He warned us of Indians! I thought westward pioneers
got rid of that problem 150 years ago! We found a roadside rest stop. It is
devoid of any facilities, so no one would want to come here. We pitched the
tent over a ridge and fought off too many flies. We fried hot dogs and now
it's raining at 18:30. Time to heat wash H2O, wash and sleep.
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