Deer Me

Sparta to Reedsburg – 60+ miles
Average speed – TBA

Bob, Our Host

We camped for the first time last night in the backyard of Bob and Kathy. The weather was ideal and the experience brought back memories of the last time that I had camped on Put-in-Bay. We had done a weekend tour to the island and I had great difficulty crawling out through the vestibule. Later I had other back problems and surgery, which the positive thinking surgeon warned me not to get my hopes up and gave me a rather poor prognosis. Well, I fooled him. Instead of being that person who would always have difficulty walking, I am cycling across the country and walking very well.

We thought that we were starting out early, but packing up the tent and equipment takes more time than leaving a motel. We wanted to reach our destination before the predicted rain arrived. Shortly after leaving Sparta, we encountered the first long tunnel of the day.
Its pitch darkness interfered with our sense of balance and depth perception. We walked through the tunnel, a rather strange experience.

Shortly after leaving the tunnel, we arrived in Norwalk, where we had breakfast. We had heard thunder rumbling, but figured that it was simply a passing phenomenon. Before we finished breakfast, buckets of rain fell. We waited for over an hour hoping that the storm would pass, but some other customers said that the updated weather report forecast rain for the entire day. This was totally different from yesterday’s forecast of afternoon showers. Obviously, other people heard the same forecast as we did because just as we left a large group came from the opposite direction and found shelter in the covered picnic shelter next to the restaurant.

Exiting the second tunnel

Riding in the rain is better when it is warm, but still a dirty job.
We pedaled on through the rain and just a short while later a deer jumped out from the side of the trail just in front of my bike. It happened so quickly that I couldn’t get a photo, but I was more concerned about hitting the animal. A few weeks ago we had read about motorcylists who had died when they hit deer. Granted, they are traveling faster than us, but running into anything would be devastating.

Eventually, the rain quit and the day became unbearably humid. We had many diversions to keep our minds off the heat. We met many interesting people along the trail today, which made our slow and long day worthwhile.

Us Biking Along the Sparta-Elroy Trail

Each trailer had its very own fan. I wanted to ride in one.

Along the 400 Trail

Getting to our destination, Reedsburg, happened many hours after our departure. Our days seem to stretch longer and longer everyday, although we aren’t exactly increasing our mileage. Tomorrow, we will make it to Madison.