My Five-Hour Ride to a Dog Meadow

May 10, 2022

Prairie du Chein, Wisconsin

Before I get to reporting on today's ride to the Dog Meadow, I want to take a few minutes to tell you about what happened last night. After the most godawful wind ever seen by man finally died down, an even more spectacular weather system moved in.

Actually, I'm not going to tell you about it . . . I'm going to SHOW you. I made a video and the readers who have not yet abandoned this journal will be the lucky few who get to see the world premier. ENJOY!

In the end, the storm didn't unleash any tornadoes, derechos, or floods. But non-stop rolling thunder joined the continuous lightning flashes, and the show lasted about two hours.

ENOUGH WITH LAST NIGHT ALREADY. LET'S MOVE ON.

Okay, I'll move on. I'll move on to today's story. I just hope you can accept the fact that it's going to start with another video. And the video will be followed by a couple of pictures.

I think I took this picture for those who have never been to Minnesota. That's the state over there on the other side of the river. I think "Minnesota" could be roughly translated as "the land so special that its beautiful bluffs reflect perfectly in the great river."

Thumbs-up to these Wisconsin bluffs too.

Nestled amongst this group of bluffs is the little town of Genoa. If I remember correctly from my 6th-grade history class, Christopher Columbus was born here.

At Genoa I came upon a big sign that said "ROAD CLOSED! BRIDGE OUT EIGHT MILES AHEAD. FOLLOW DETOUR." The sign was only partially blocking the road, so I rode around it. I've seen these signs before and rarely do they apply to a cyclist who is willing to endure a little hard work, a little descending and ascending the slopes to and from the stream while carrying a loaded bike, and, possibly, wet feet. I'm willing to endure those things.

I was concerned though, so a mile later I approached a guy with a bright yellow vest who was standing beside a road construction truck.

"Excuse me," I began, "is the bridge-out situation up ahead something I should be concerned about? Is it possible for a bike rider to get through it or around it?"

"Well, maybe you COULD do it, but it wouldn't be easy." He went on to describe what he called a 'box culvert' that was 20-feet deep, very steep-sided, and a ladder over the stream that I'd have to carry my bike across.

"I don't need easy," I bragged, "I only need POSSIBLE. I'm pretty strong."

"And then there is the crane down in the culvert," he added. "It'll be swinging around and you'll have to avoid that."

"Oh yes, I'd be careful about that, but I wouldn't want to piss off any of the workers. Maybe I should just go back and take the detour."

"No, they're pretty good guys down there and they wouldn't give you any trouble."

"How bad is the detour," I asked, just out of curiosity.

"Oh my god! You'd have to ride up into the bluffs and wind around up there for 35 miles."

That settled it. I was going to take my chances on the road with no bridge.

I had one more chance to bail out at the town of Victory, but I didn't do it.

When I rolled up to the construction site, I surveyed the situation. I could see I was in for a challenge. A worker on the other side took pity on me after a couple minutes and yelled out, "you can either climb down to the left and carry your bike over the ladder, or you can climb down and then up the bank to the railroad bridge."

I opted for the latter--walking across a ladder with 65 pounds of bike and gear on my shoulder didn't appeal to me. I still had to bushwhack through the mud, bushes and weeds while carrying my bike, but that would be better than slipping through the rungs of a ladder and breaking an ankle.

When I emerged on the other side, I laid Son of Bing Bong down and surveyed what I had accomplished.

My route down, then up to the railroad tracks, then back down, then back up was steeper and harder than it looks.

Well, one can only savor one's victory for so long before one starts looking like a fool. When I realized I had surpassed the foolish stage, it was time to get back to bike riding instead of bike carrying.

This was my view pretty much all day. I never got tired of it.

In addition to the mile after mile of bluffs and river, there were many other things to enjoy about today's ride as well. Like the birds. I saw pelicans, bald eagles, geese, ducks, egrets, turkey vultures, great blue herons and hawks. That's just naming the large birds I saw. I also saw thousands of redwing blackbirds and swallows and songbirds.

I saw several beaver lodges (but no beavers.) I saw a deer. I saw some turtles and frogs.

At least 20 long freight trains ran alongside me during the day. I like trains. I like barges too. I saw a few of them as well.

I saw drivers of cars and trucks wave at me. Not one driver sideswiped me or yelled "GET OFF THE ROAD!"

I rode through six riverside towns. Not one of them had a population anywhere near 1,000 people.

A barge. The state across the river from here is Iowa. It's a very fine state, as I'm sure you can see.

When I finally arrived to the city of Prairie du Chein (French for "Meadow of the Dog") I was pretty worn out--and I can't even blame the wind this time. I have to admit, I'm a little out of shape.

"How can that be Greg? You brag all the time to anybody who will listen that you rode your bike almost every day throughout the winter."

My answer to that is, "yes, but my rides were limited due to months of sub-freezing temperatures and lots of snow. Rides of 5-15 miles per day aren't exactly the best training for a bike tour."

Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 64 miles (103 km)

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Rachael AndersonGreat videos of the storm! I’m glad you had a nice bike ride after the obstacle course!
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2 years ago

Keith KleinHi,
Only riding a tour is training for riding a tour. You’ll improve as you go.
You can add more obstacles to speed up your training. The 200 meter bike carry is always good for cross training. Or how about the loaded bike guardrail cross?
Don’t drink all the beer in WI.
Cheers,
Keith
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2 years ago

Nancy GrahamTwo hours of thunder and lightning storm had to be quite beautiful in a way, but that is way beyond my comfort zone when camping! yikes!

Am enjoying your blog and you usual comedic self ;’-).
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2 years ago

Rich HarrellI saw on the Weather Channel the storms in SW Wi -- and thought, Oh Boy! Greg is in for it. :(

The propane tank at the end of the first video and then the brightly lit house at the beginning of the second gave me pause!!
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Keith KleinKeith, I will take your cross training advice under consideration. Thank you.
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Rich HarrellYeah, that house over there does look like it was on fire.
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Nancy GrahamHi Nancy,
Yes, it was very beautiful. For some reason, I like all kinds of extreme weather . . . as long as nobody gets hurt--especially me.
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2 years ago

Karen PoretTo Gregory GarceauTHIS is why I live in California..I don’t do thunder and lightning..too scary for me… When my younger daughter went to Loyola University-Chicago, there was a meet and greet for the parents of the freshmen. My first experience of “your weather” was shown right before my eyes INSIDE of a building which happened to be on the lake. One of the parents sitting across from me said “oh, lady, you’re not “from here”, are you? To which I said, “no”. When he asked me where I was from, I said “I am a native San Franciscan”, and he said “you can have your earthquakes”, and I said “you’re welcome” ..
Ironically, even though your journal is an older one and I am now beginning to read it, on this very day in 1989 at 5:04 pm we had the 7.0 earthquake here in Santa Cruz which everyone assumed happened in San Francisco because they were all watching the World Series Game at Candlestick Park (vs the Oakland A’s)…
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1 year ago

Gregory GarceauTo Karen PoretGood story, Karen. Thanks for sharing it. And thank you for all the other comments as well. It's nice to know that, every once in a while, somebody actually reads one of my older journals.
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1 year ago