Louise got up this morning and helped me figure out breakfast (a scramble with eggs, bacon and spinach). Then, she and Valerie drove me to the ferry terminal. As we were waiting for boarding, a woman behind me heard me talking about kenneling Remy and how stressful that would be. He was wearing his Emotional Support Dog vest, and she said that she works for the ferry company, and he didn't have to be kenneled. He marched on board with me and behaved like a perfect gentleman the whole time.
At the Milwaukee end, once again the staff was remarkably helpful. They encouraged me to stay as long as I liked and use the WiFi, and one man in particular (a fellow bicyclist) recommended a shop not to far away for me to get maps and things. The trip to South Shore Cyclery was pretty, mostly going right along Lakeshore Drive. Steve helped me with directions to Lacrosse, and then Nathan got involved, helping me find the best way to Minneapolis (where I pick up the Northern Tier Route at Stillwater) while Steve affixed my flag firmly to my bike and mounted the new mileage and speed-recording gizmo, which is battery operated, and I'm told the battery "lasts forever."
One important bit of information: If you're ever bicycling west out of Milwaukee, DON'T - let me repeat, DO NOT - forget to turn off from Greenfield onto 26th to get to the Hank Aaron Trail, and instead take Greenfield all the way to 116th, which was supposed to be the road to come back on from the trail. Yes, I did that. Even though Greenfield had (sometimes extremely faded to non-existence) bike lanes painted on it, the gutters were bumpy and potholed, the traffic was fast, and there was a patch of construction I would have LOVED to have missed. I realized somewhere around 78th that I had missed my turn, but knowing how trails are constructed, I couldn't count on just turning anywhere and finding an "in" to the trail, so I kept on Greenfield to 116th, turned L and found the New Berlin Trail. What a joy! I had a tail wind, and at one point registered 17.5 mph, the fastest I've ever gone.
Oh, I fell over again. I was making a reeaallllyy slow turn and suddenly had to stop, with no time to get my shoe out of the pedal. Fell on the same knee as yesterday. It looks pretty yucky, but still seems to be working fine. Thanks for the bandaids, Maria and Kathleen!
Along the way, I got a text from Tayler that she had made a hotel reservation, and the address of the hotel. It wasn't far from the route (about 1.6 miles), but it started with a really intense hill. I thought about calling Tayler to come and get me, but I broke it up into 3 sections and eventually made it. We got settled. I had a shower, and then we had dinner at a nearby Mexican place that was celebrating Cinco de Mayo, complete with a mariachi band and complementary chips and salsa to take home.
I'm beat. We're headed to Madison tomorrow. More later.
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