Day 7 - Ending at Madison, WI - Wisconsin on the Kick-back

August 11, 2018

Day 7 - Ending at Madison, WI

Rode on Badger State Trail, Capital City State Trail

Last night my wife shared with me a list of comments I have received for this journal so far. (Comment notifications are arriving at our home email address.) To Kathleen, Mike, Bill, and others who may comment - thank you! I probably won't get replies back to you until I get home, but I'm happy knowing you're following along. Also, thanks to friends and family who are sending me emails (which also aren't getting answered) - I'm enjoying them.

With yesterday's report already posted, all I had to do this morning was focus on packing after I woke up at 5:45am. Today's goal was to get to Lake Farm County Park in Madison - about 38 miles away, according to my routing.

At 8:10am I was packed, loaded, and on my way back to Amy's Corner Cafe. The place was packed again, but I was able to get my same place at the counter. The main breakfast item this morning for me was a big cinnamon roll.

At 8:50am I was moving again - back to the Badger State Trail, which I connected with at 9th Street. I passed by two cheese-making operations on opposite sides of the trail. I received a warm "Good morning" from a worker outside the plant to my left.

Beyond town, I listened to the few radio stations I could pick up on my radio (WSJY-FM was one of them). At 10:44am, I stopped on a bridge to let my GPS receivers find themselves, after they lost their signals in tree cover.

Moving on, at 10:54am I crossed the Sugar River State Trail at its intersection with the Badger State Trail. Passed Monticello at 11:00am, and Exeter at 11:30am.

Lots of bicyclists were passing me on this pleasant Saturday morning. Only half of them announced, "Passing on your left." I did get to say that a few times today, as families with small children were on their way to go through the tunnel ahead.

I arrived at the tunnel at 11:50am, with a group ahead of me, and one behind. As I entered I was passed by a gal from the group ahead of me. She'd seen a bat, and that was enough of the tunnel for her! She told me as she passed, "There's a bat in there." I told her, "I know. I heard you." She said, "You heard that? Sorry."

The tunnel has brick walls and ceilings near the entrances, but just rock in the middle. The path of the tunnel is curved, so there's no straight shot to see the "light at the end of the tunnel" from the other end.

I was in the tunnel when my noon alarm went off. After I was out, I checked the odometers: 16.4 miles.

The next town was Belleville, and I took a break there at 12:41pm. At 1:34pm, I crossed by the Ice Age Trail, which is for hikers.

I listened to "Saturday Afternoon Classics" on a WPR station for a while, but was turning the volume down quite often as riders would pass.

I arrived at the trailhead at Purcell Road at 2:25pm. I stopped to eat a crunch bar. A Wisconsin DNR officer was there. He offered me a trail map, and told me about a Wisconsin regulation where hikers and bicyclists arriving at a full state park campground in Wisconsin can't be turned away. I showed him my trail pass and thanked him when I left at 2:39pm.

The trail north of here is paved! That brought me to the turnoff for the Capital City State Trail (at 3:43pm). The trail is supposed to be closed for reconstruction, but this section was open.

At 4:10pm, I realized from the sound I heard while coasting along curves that the rear tire was flat. Not completely flat, but almost - 4.5psi. I pumped it up to 34.0psi, and continued. I crossed a busy highway at 4:27pm on an awesome bridge, then arrived at the section of the trail currently closed. I was on Gunflint Trail (a road) on a detour I was figuring along as I went when I realized I would have to address the rear tire situation with more than another filling.

I stopped near a school, and got to work. I suspected the source of the problem, and I was correct: a two-year-old leaking patch. My own fault, starting out with an old patched tube. It's getting a new tube now!

Halfway into the job, I had to back away for a while. My bike was sitting on top of the hole in the ground where bumblebees live, and they weren't happy about that. Eventually, I was able to move my operation far enough away that they left me alone. I pumped up the rear tire to 52.5psi, and checked the front - OK at 50.5psi. Ready to go at 6:12pm.

I won't even try to tell the route I took from the school to get to the campground 4.2 straight-line miles away, except to say it wasn't straight. I did go through Fitchburg, which has trails. I finally rode past the campground entrance and its "Sorry, Campground Full" sign sometime after 7:30pm.

I found the campground host and said, "So, you're full." He said, "No, we've had some cancellations. We have two sites open." I chose the offered electric site (#44), and registered.

Mosquitoes here are really bad, so the tent went up as fast as I could work. I couldn't eat outside without getting eaten, so decided to skip supper - and even report writing, for now - and went to bed (at 9:20pm), with the alarm set for 3:00am.

Big city touring planned for tomorrow.

Jeff

Spent: $9.50 plus $2.50 (breakfast) + $27 (campsite) = $39.

Day 7 - Monroe, WI to Madison, WI

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