Day 22 - Ending at Fort Atkinson, WI - Wisconsin on the Kick-back

August 26, 2018

Day 22 - Ending at Fort Atkinson, WI

Rode on Wild Goose State Trail, Glacial River Trail

With the report basically done, I hadn't set the alarm last night, and slept until 4:50am. There was a low-level fog all around, so I decided to go for breakfast in hopes that the sun would break through and dry the tent some. I didn't want to pack it sopping wet, since tonight was one of my planned motel stays - in Fort Atkinson.

By the way, I re-counted my "planned" motel stays. There are three, not two as I wrote earlier. The third planned stay was added just before the trip started, since I read that a campground I was going to stay at was for sale.

At 6:48am I rode over to Village Garden, eating the Hungry Man breakfast at their counter, and getting my Klean Kanteen filled with ice. Back at Wild Goose Park at 8:05am, the fog had cleared and the tent was about dry. Packed up and left at 9:33am. The family heading back to Missouri got an earlier start.

Back on the Wild Goose Trail heading south for the first part of the day. At 10:14am, I came to the end of that trail at WI-60. I had a GPS waypoint showing the start of my next trail (Glacial River Trail) being just across the highway. That path looked awfully overgrown. I decided to take a nearby parallel road (Junction Road) south instead. That put me in Clyman at 10:45am. I turned west to get to a path that was shown on my Wisconsin Bicycling Map. Right next to and paralleling WI-26 is a paved and well-signed bike path. I'm now on the Glacial River Trail, and apparently also, the Rock River Bike Route. I started south at 10:55am.

I have GPS waypoints for all the turns on this trail, and was happy to see trail direction signs at each one, also. At 11:23am I turned east on Second Street Road to get to Watertown. Crossed WI-16 at 11:52am, and was on Water Street near Margaret Street at noon, and am able to report 16.5 miles so far. A park next to the Rock River was ahead, and I took a break there, eating a crunch bar and watching the ducks.

On through Watertown, onto another nice paved path on the south side of town. At 1:25pm, I was taking another break, this time on High Road at Ebenezer Drive. Still more uphill ahead, but the road was signed "Dead End". My waypoints indicated straight ahead, so I proceeded. Where the road ends a path starts.

This path ended for me at 1:58pm - at the north side of Johnson Creek. Under I-94 at 2:19pm and on through town. I stopped to take a picture of flowers next to a barn south of town. As I headed back to the bike, a gentleman came out of a house across the road and asked if I needed ice (it was very hot and humid today). I told him I had ice, then we talked for a while in the shade of the trees in his yard. Neither one of us knew what the flowers are, but he took a guess: hydrangeas. He said his great-aunt had planted them. With good wishes, I was back on my way.

Made it to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds at 3:33pm. There's camping here, but I'm sticking with my planned motel stay, with rain on the way. I connected back up with a paved path at US-18 west of Jefferson. With rain clouds now showing in the northwest, I kept up a good pace (for me).

I crossed Fort Atkinson's northern city limits at 4:31pm, according to the sign on the nearby highway. At 4:43pm, I left the trail, just as I heard thunder. Heading west along W. Cramer Street brought me to Mile-A-Way Motel at 4:56pm. At 5:00pm, I was all checked in, assigned room #3. A fellow (Keith) staying here bicycled in from a day-ride a short time later. We were both happy to have beat the rain, which lightly started a little later. Keith grew up in northern Wisconsin, and enjoys biking and fishing. He said he'd have his fishing pole with him if he was doing a trip like mine. As we headed to our rooms, he gave me an apple from the ones he'd collected today.

A shower was my next priority, and I was all cleaned up at 6:40pm. At 7:00pm, I walked to nearby Burger King for supper. I tried something new (for me) - a Frosted Frozen Coke. Free refills, and I carried the third back to my room.

Started on picture-selection, but falling to sleep after hard rain started at 9:14pm. Finally gave it up at 10:40pm.

Jeff

Spent: $10.42 plus $2.58 (breakfast) + $50 plus $5 (motel) + $10.01 (supper) = $78.01.

Day 22 - Juneau, WI to Fort Atkinson, WI

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +