The Driftless Area Gets Serious

May 12, 2022

Mineral Point, Wisconsin

It was another hot, humid day. That was the topic of conversation in the Mineral Point Kwik Trip this afternoon. I heard one person call it a "scorcher." Another one said, "too hot for me." I was going to add, "try biking in it," but I held my tongue.

It's funny because just last week the upper midwest was still struggling with high temperatures in the 40's and 50's [F]. I was trying to figure out how much cold weather clothing to pack. I narrowed it down to three long sleeved shirts, a windbreaker, and cycling tights. At this point, it's looking like I won't need any of that stuff.

I've really got to stop complaining about the weather in this very public on-line journal. I've written about the unfavorable weather every day so far, and it's not dignified. First, it's the wind. Then it's the storms. Then it's the heat. What next? Complaints that the weather is too perfect?

All of these thoughts reminded me of an Oscar Wilde quote:

"Conversations about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

I don't want to be seen as unimaginative any more than I want to be seen as a whiney complainer. After today, I will not be providing any more weather reports. (I do, however, reserve the right to complain about the weather privately. I will bitch & moan until the Wisconsin cows come home while riding my bike, but you won't read about it on these pages.)

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Now that I've gotten that topic out of the way, it's time to report on the rest of today's ride.

I loaded almost a gallon of water onto my bike because I knew there was only one tiny town on my 32-mile route, and I couldn't be sure it would have any services. Other than that, the ride can mostly be summed up in one word: HILLS.

And the fun began within the first mile . . .

Of course, I only took pictures of some of the bigger hills. The smaller ones wouldn't make as much of a photographic impact for my journal. Pretty clever, eh?

Anyway, sometimes County Highway A seemed pretty easy, but I can't remember a single second where I wasn't riding on some kind of up or down grade.

Speaking of grade, I'd give County Highway A an "A" grade for its hills and scenery. It reminded me of Washington state's Palouse--except with more trees, and cornfields in place of wheatfields. I would love to ride this road someday without being dragged down by a fully loaded bike.

Another thing I liked about County Highway A is that it mostly followed ridges ABOVE the dairy farms. You may recall that yesterday's route ran below the farms.

This view is great, but it would have been even greater if not for the haze. (Hey, that was a comment on the condition of the air, not on the humidity.)

Another prosperous dairy farm. Today, the driveways go DOWN to the farms.

I'm kind of proud of this portrait. I call it "Trucker Meets Tractor."

I'm also kind of proud to have used my fame--as a future Pulitzer Prize winning on-line bicycle touring journalist--to help the Wisconsin Dairy Board. I starred in a TV commercial for them. It was the least I could do after they so kindly let me tour in their beautiful part of the country.

It was a fun, but tough, 34 miles. I was glad to get to the historic mining town of Mineral Point. Quite a bit of the Driftless Area had lead and zinc mining in the mid-1800's. Mineral Point was one of the most productive.

Look, I'm not a minerologist, I'm a bike rider. So what Mineral Point means to me is PASTIES--a mining tradition. I grew up on pasties in the iron ore mining region of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For those of you not familiar with a pasty, it's basically a meat pie with potato, onion, rutabaga (Swede) and spices. Sometimes it will have carrots or other root vegetables. Historically, it originated in the mining regions of Cornwall, England, but when the mining industry died out there, the Cornish miners moved on and spread the delicacy to mining areas throughout the world. It is definitely one of my favorite foods.

I remember travelling through Mineral Point with my parents when I was a kid. At the time, the town claimed to be the "Pasty Capitol of the United States." We knew that was a bunch of B.S., but we had to give a Mineral Point pasty a try. In the end, we were right--they didn't compare to an Upper Peninsula pasty.

Since pasties are pretty hard to find outside the U.P., I was excited to give Mineral Point another chance. I don't eat in restaurants very often when on a bike tour, but I made an exception in this case.

Mineral Point does have a nice historic downtown area.

But here is the place I was looking for. The Red Rooster Cafe has kept up the pasty tradition for the last 50 years.

I liked the rooster wallpaper, but the ambience was the highlight. Lots of joking around between the servers and the regular customers.

Here's my Mineral Point pasty. Again, it wasn't as good as a U.P. pasty, but my thinking on that is "even an inferior pasty is better than no pasty at all."

I stayed in a motel again. In the section of the motel registration that asked for my license plate number, I wrote the same thing I always do--"bicycle."

"What? You have no car?"
"No, I came here on a bike."
"No car?"
"That's right . . . just a bike."

It's funny: he was more fascinated by the fact that I was a guest with no car than that I was a guest who had ridden a bicycle through all those hills on a day like this. He probably has the belief that somebody like me, with a bike instead of a car, is some kind of bum. He's right, of course--a Midwestern touring bum.

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Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 135 miles (217 km)

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Rachael AndersonI’m disappointed you’re not going to complain about the heat anymore so that I can! I’d like the temperature to always be between 55 and 70 with mild winds and no rain!
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2 years ago

Nancy GrahamWell Greg, I rather like your weather reporting. After all it is mostly extremes of heat, cold, wind, storms and calm ;’-). That makes it interesting and allows me to continue the same on my blog 😊😉😏.

I am enjoying your tour with you — hills and all (since I don’t have ride them).
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Nancy GrahamYou're right, of course. Weather really is an important factor in a bike tour, and the worse it is, the greater the adventure.
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2 years ago

Mark BinghamI've eaten a pasty when traveling (in a car) through upper Michigan. It was really good. Do I recall correctly that the pronunciation is different from what you'd expect? That the "a" is pronounced like in the word "patsy" instead of "pastry?" It's been a while.
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2 years ago

Gregory GarceauTo Mark BinghamYou are correct, it is pronounced with the short "a" sound. Pasties with the long "a" sound are something else entirely.
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2 years ago