July 25, 2021
Presque Isle - Eagle River, WI
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Jacinto was reading on the lodging website that the beds had all been upgraded to memory foam. Wrong. He also happily read that breakfast was included. Wrong on that one also. Jacinto kept looking out the window at the restaurant/office for employee cars. Nothing. He was going to make coffee in the room coffee maker (so he wouldn't have to clean his percolator), but there were no coffee filters. He was hoping there would be breakfast so he could get coffee. Nope. It's a good thing he did bring the percolator.
Time had changed an hour. I thought I would wake up early. I must have been tired from the hard day. I slept almost until the alarm. My original plan was to get going in the morning, the better to get to Eagle River and our much anticipated Super 8 Motel stay. Aren't I sad? Being excited about Super 8. We had a king size room and also expected breakfast. Too exciting.
We ate the breakfast leftovers from yesterday. I supplemented with oatmeal. I should be well fueled for the day. I was out the door by 10 AM, not as early as I expected.
Remember my little detour from yesterday? I retraced those steps on County Road B. B had some climbing, but it didn't feel too steep. I could see the leaves on the trees bending in my direction. Finally! A helpful tailwind. I turned onto Road M.
We had a number of choices of roads in the area. I decided on M because it had lines and looked like better pavement. Originally I was going to take K, it didn't have lines and the pavement looked rough. I changed my route. Perhaps I should have stayed on K. M was very busy with Sunday traffic. There were plenty of trucks pulling trailers with toys and also RV's. Before Boulder Junction a paved bike path appeared. I debated getting on it. I wasn't aware there was a path. Would it stay paved? Would it go where I want to go? It appeared and disappeared from sight. Whenever traffic got heavy, I wished I had moved over. The path had many driveway crossings and also ups and downs from following the contours of the hillside. I saw quite a few recreational cyclists out. I had one truck driver politely go around, but he stuck his arm out the window and pointed to the bike path. I was hoping traffic would move away from me at Boulder Junction. It didn't. I gave up and got on the path. That was good timing as it took me to a potty. The path immediately changed sides of the road. Again. Forget that. I got back on the pavement.
I got on County Road N. Traffic came with me. This traffic was more aggressive. I had a couple of cars honk at me (a Subaru, of all vehicles!). Someone driving a shiny black Corvette convertible flipped me off. (of all vehicles!). About then I decided I'd better give the bike path a try.
This was the low point of the day for me. I didn't like this particular path. I had abandoned my easy, flat road below for a hilly bike path. It crossed the road frequently. I had to stop, watch for traffic, get going in a hurry to cross the road, usually at an upward grade, which is a problem on a recumbent. With a regular bike, you can stand up and give a strong pedal to get going. On a recumbent, you had better be in the right gear and muscle it through. My knees don't like too many uphill starts.
But, I was away from the traffic. Way far away. Was I going the correct direct? The path split. Heck, I don't know the name of the close towns, I just know Eagle River . . . which one do I pick? I looked at the map, trying to decide where to go. I called Jacinto. He got on the path at the first opportunity and was happy. Of course he was. Jacinto is very good at adapting to change. I like a plan and sticking to it!
The path eventually dumped me onto old county road N, and then onto N. The road gained a shoulder here and lost the traffic. Hurray! It doesn't matter how many miles I have to go in a day, I'm always ready to get there.
A strong tailwind had aided me all of this way. When I turned onto the road by the airport, the wind was a sidewind. Yes, it was strong! Jacinto mentioned later that it would have been a long day if we had been going the opposite direction.
I stopped to take a photo and the phone made a funny noise. I lost my music and ridewithgps quit talking. I navigated the remaining distance to the Super 8 by looking at the map. I hope my phone doesn't have long term issues. I'm going to turn it all the way off and all the way back on again. That fixes everything, doesn't it?
I was happy to check in and chatted with the check in clerk. She said she had been working there for ten years and had never seen it so busy as this year. They were only serving sack breakfasts. That was a HUGE disappointment. I was looking forward to breakfast. They had a check off list that we could turn back in with the items we would like. Yogurt and oatmeal were the only items that interested me.
The cleaning ladies were in the hallway and admired my bicycle. One woman came over and checked out the seat. It passed her inspection, but she thought reaching forward for the pedals would make her legs extra tired. The supply room was right across from our room. I asked the cleaning lady if the had an stain cleaner I could spray my white shirt with. White isn't a very practical bicycling color. But, it's cool in the heat (not a problem so far this trip), and I think it's a visible color from down the road. Yes, they use a combination of Dawn and Oxyclean - maybe that's their secret cleaning weapon?
Jacinto showed up. We have a handicap room again. The past couple of places the bathroom placement has made a wide hallway that is perfect for my bicycle. I think he had a better day than me. He got right on the bike path and stayed there the whole way.
The internet here doesn't work at all. The front desk lady says 'they've been working on it'. Eagle River is a bigger town, but the phones still don't work very well here.
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spoon
3 years ago
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 1,127 miles (1,814 km)
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