When you virtually live outdoors for almost two consecutive weeks, it feels weird coming home and adjusting to the conveniences of everyday normal life.....like driving a car to get groceries, getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, or turning on the faucet to get a drink of water. Traveling by bicycle really teaches you a lot about yourself. What conveniences can you easily live without? For us it was no comfy chairs, no campfires, sleeping in a tent with blow-up mattresses and sleeping bags, and mostly eating freeze dried meals and very little fresh vegetables. The photo here is our first day riding back for home, through the hills of Viola to La Farge.
After arriving in La Farge at the municipal park, we decided to find our campsite for the night. One of the best campsites available in the park just happen to be directly behind the Organic Valley headquarters.
After we got ourselves situated and ate our freeze-dried meal, we decided to walk around the Organic Valley premises. If any of you blogger friends are associated with OV, they recently had a big fire back in mid May and are now rebuilding their organization. As we were headed to bed that night, the fog started to roll in to make a very ominous feeling. A very quiet night with good sleep.
We headed out Monday morning from La Farge and stopped by the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. What a beautiful area with it's hills and valleys. We took a different route going towards home. Let's just say it was a hilly route, beautiful, but hilly. I'm not afraid to say my butt hurt after this 50 mile day of riding through the hills and over 500 ft of elevation climbs. Our direction was to head towards Norwalk to hook up with the Sparta/Elroy trail.
So we arrived in West Salem on Monday night after a long day of road riding and hills. Bike man and I were both tired, grouchy and thirsty. Thank god for Quik Trip convenience stores, we really needed some cold beers!
We headed out on Tuesday following the La Crosse River trail to the Great River trail to Merrick State Park. We spent the night camping near the back waters of the great Mississippi River. It was great until we went to bed. Probably the worst night of sleep ever with trains running continuously through the night right near the State park.....the trains were crazy loud. This is where I have to say I have a "love/hate" relationship with trains. I love to see the trains along the Mississippi River when we're biking, but hate them as they continue to run all night long when we are trying to sleep.
Wednesday morning we headed out of Merrick State Park and continued to follow the river through Buffalo City and then to highway 35 north along the Mississippi River. Another long day of riding, but no hills!
After arriving in Nelson, of course we had to stop at the famous cheese shop for a little ice cream. Who says you can't eat ice cream at 11:30 am???
Thursday morning we awoke early and headed out on the Chippewa River trail by 7 am. Stopped in Downsville for breakfast by 10 am and back on the Red Cedar trail to Menomonie and then home to Tainter Lake by noon. Felt so good to arrive home. After nearly two weeks of hauling bicycle gear and sleeping in a tent, I was ready for our comfortable bed.
Rest day today? You betcha......
