It was about an 80 mile trek from Columbus to Milwaukee, and we had a 7pm ferry to catch (we had decided to take a ferry across lake Michigan rather than go through Chicago or bike around Chicago), so we got a very early start, fortunately the wind was at our back and we blew into Milwaukee at about 330 pm.
First, I want to say that, as one of the first major cities that we biked through (with the exception of Minneapolis, where we used the bike freeway), we found that, on bike, the segregation of neighborhoods is even more obvious. In one moment we were in an impoverished, delapidated part of town, with awful roads, and less than 1/4 of a mile later we are in a yuppy neighborhood at a healthfood store. We also noticed an enormous racial divide. Apparently strucrual racism didn't go up in smoke as soon as Obama was elected. Who knew. But the dramatic differences really was a shock to our system, and what was worse, I think for both of us, was that we felt much more comfortable in the yuppy area. I don't think we would have stopped for coffee in the "rougher" part of town, but we didn't even think twice about pulling into this health food store and cafe. It really made us look not only at our national racism, and classism, but at our own, personal biases. We didn't really have any solution--except to admit our feelings of guilt, our culpability, to each other over organic Mocha Lattes.
But for all the hard time I give this health food store/cafe, it was very nice. We had a lovely talk with the barrista, who gave us directions to the ferry (it turns out that mapmyride.com did not offer realistic directions). You see, Milwaukee is laterally bisected (multisected?) by many rivers, and the only way to cross these rivers close to lake Michigan is on freeways (where bicycles are illegal). So we had to go back way west to find roads that would cross these rivers and take us to the southern part of town where the ferry was. We didn't think much of it... it was 330 and we didnt have to check in until 6 (though we were told that the deadline to check into the ferry was pretty strict). We were, of course, wrong.
Not only is Milwaukee a maze of biker-unfriendly-streets, but it turns out that pretty much the only way to get to the ferry terminal is off a freeway, so even though it wasn't for particularly long, Lindsey and I mounted a city freeway, braced our selves, and finally got to the ferry with only a few minutes to spare.
When we finally checked into the ferry we noticed that there were a couple of very nice bikes there. It didn't look like they were doing major touring (they didn't have panniers) but we were still eager to talk to them.
For whatever reason, on the Milwaukee/Muskegon ferry they let bikers on first, so it was there that we met Ken and Bob, two bicycling gentlemen who were friends from high school. We related our story and they almost immediately offered to let us stay at their places, which was an enormous relief-- Ken lived in Muskegon, where the ferry landed, and where the only place to stay cost 140$ (we were arriving too late at night to bike anywhere else) and Bob lived in Grand Rapids, where we were planning on going, but hadn't figure out where we were going to stay.
We had a lovely conversation with them before the ferry ride, but then spent most of the ferry ride looking for lindsey's phone which was right where she left it in my handle-bar bag, but which we didn't find until we landed.
We biked with Bob and Ken to Ken's place. Bob drove back home to Grand Rapids, and we spent a lovely evening with Ken and his husband, who funny enough, is also named Ken. We drank delicious wine (they were confessed wine snobs) and talked about their religious experiences, how they met, and their experience of coming out of the closet. Both Lindsey and I were both deeply compelled and moved by their story, by their commitment to be themselves, despite expectations of their generation (they were in their mid 60s we would guess).
We finally fell asleep, grateful for the extreme kindness and hospitality of strangers--not to mention their willingness to share their wonderful stories with us. Fortunately, the non-biking Ken was on facebook, and we are now facebook friends, so hopefully we can maintain some contact, and certainly return the favor if they ever come to Boston.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday: July 23rd-- things actually go according to plan (Cormac)
We have a nice long day of biking. Since we had left the Kay's we have been using directions from mapmyride.com, and more often than not we would either end up ona dirt road (no good for our bikes) or we would be given a direction that didn't make sense (like to make both a left and a right at the same intersection) but the one thing that stands out about this day is that it was blessedly free of such incidents.
We pull into our campground with plenty of sunlight to spare. We realize that we are no longer in North Dakota any more when they charge us a whopping 19$ to camp. Also, we learned that if someone goes out of their way to convince you that there is absolutely no horse poop anywhere near your campground, you had better not wear flip-flops.
Apparently there was a horse shoe nearby and we were given a spot near where all the trailers and horses had been.
We had a lovely time that night watching the sunset, reading our books, plugging our noses and cleaning our feet. One interesting thing happened though... pretty late at night, a car pulled up next to our campsight, and a man and a very young woman (his daughter, we hope) go to sleep in their car. The next morning when lindsey has to get up early to use the ladies' room, she sees them down there cleaning up and heading off before the campground opened. Very suspicious we thought. I mention this because people keep asking us about the creepy people we ran into, and this, which wasn't that creepy, was about as bad as it got.
We pull into our campground with plenty of sunlight to spare. We realize that we are no longer in North Dakota any more when they charge us a whopping 19$ to camp. Also, we learned that if someone goes out of their way to convince you that there is absolutely no horse poop anywhere near your campground, you had better not wear flip-flops.
Apparently there was a horse shoe nearby and we were given a spot near where all the trailers and horses had been.
We had a lovely time that night watching the sunset, reading our books, plugging our noses and cleaning our feet. One interesting thing happened though... pretty late at night, a car pulled up next to our campsight, and a man and a very young woman (his daughter, we hope) go to sleep in their car. The next morning when lindsey has to get up early to use the ladies' room, she sees them down there cleaning up and heading off before the campground opened. Very suspicious we thought. I mention this because people keep asking us about the creepy people we ran into, and this, which wasn't that creepy, was about as bad as it got.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Catching up...
Just so we are all clear (including us), we arrived at the following places on the dates indicated:
Frontenac State Park, Red Wing, Minnesota July 19
Holmen, WI whispering pines campgroun July 20
Sparta, WI biketrail walk-in spot July 21
Reedsberg, WI city park July 22
Columbus, WI county camp site right on route with horse poop July 23
Muskegon, Ken and Ken's house July 24
Grand Rapids Bob and Gayla's house July 25
Williamston, MI Susan and Jack's house July 26
Ann Arbor, MI Mindy's house July 27
Sylvania, OH Seneys' house July 28
Lakeside, OH July 29th arrival
Now for some more details...
We arrive in Sparta, WI and as we are passing a huge Wal-Mart, biking on a road with no shoulder and lots of traffic, we look up and see a big billboard with a picture of a man on an old-fashion bike - big back wheel small little wheel set up - that says 'Welcome to Sparta, Biking Capital of America' HA! Is this a joke, we wonder aloud? Did they mean to write Once biking capital of america? Because of all the places we have biked, Sparta is pretty low on the list as far as ease and quality and safety goes. We still do not know why they get to call themselves that. Maybe it is like the contentious 'Geographical Center of America' title that Rugby, North Dakota gave itself. As I mentioned before we had some really really really good carrot cake (mom, it is still not as good as yours, really). And we wound our way to a camping spot right at the beginning of the Sparta-Elroy rail to trails bike trail. As we were arriving Dave, a fellow cross country cyclist, was coming from the other direction and so we shared a camp plot as well as lots of sage advice to take East and West. Dave gave us two particularly good recommendations: try honey and peanut butter sandwiches sometimes just to mix it up and call the police station in towns that you would like to camp in because mileage-wise it just works for you and ask if you can camp in a city park.
The next day we were going to be faced with either an exceptionally short day or long long day based on the campsites we had found online so we thought we'd put Dave's advise to the test: we called the Reedsberg police (from a landline borrowed at a store because the area we were biking in was a cell-phone dead zone) and they direct us to the city hall who gives me the cell phone number of the city park and rec head. I call him and he says well, ok, that's fine, sure. So we camped in Reedsberg in a very nice city park. This park was like the town social center with a big swimming pool and tennis courts and plenty of green space. And we are pretty sure they left the bathrooms open over night just for us, because we saw a police office come by in the morning to lock them. Thank you, Reedsburg!
Frontenac State Park, Red Wing, Minnesota July 19
Holmen, WI whispering pines campgroun July 20
Sparta, WI biketrail walk-in spot July 21
Reedsberg, WI city park July 22
Columbus, WI county camp site right on route with horse poop July 23
Muskegon, Ken and Ken's house July 24
Grand Rapids Bob and Gayla's house July 25
Williamston, MI Susan and Jack's house July 26
Ann Arbor, MI Mindy's house July 27
Sylvania, OH Seneys' house July 28
Lakeside, OH July 29th arrival
Now for some more details...
We arrive in Sparta, WI and as we are passing a huge Wal-Mart, biking on a road with no shoulder and lots of traffic, we look up and see a big billboard with a picture of a man on an old-fashion bike - big back wheel small little wheel set up - that says 'Welcome to Sparta, Biking Capital of America' HA! Is this a joke, we wonder aloud? Did they mean to write Once biking capital of america? Because of all the places we have biked, Sparta is pretty low on the list as far as ease and quality and safety goes. We still do not know why they get to call themselves that. Maybe it is like the contentious 'Geographical Center of America' title that Rugby, North Dakota gave itself. As I mentioned before we had some really really really good carrot cake (mom, it is still not as good as yours, really). And we wound our way to a camping spot right at the beginning of the Sparta-Elroy rail to trails bike trail. As we were arriving Dave, a fellow cross country cyclist, was coming from the other direction and so we shared a camp plot as well as lots of sage advice to take East and West. Dave gave us two particularly good recommendations: try honey and peanut butter sandwiches sometimes just to mix it up and call the police station in towns that you would like to camp in because mileage-wise it just works for you and ask if you can camp in a city park.
The next day we were going to be faced with either an exceptionally short day or long long day based on the campsites we had found online so we thought we'd put Dave's advise to the test: we called the Reedsberg police (from a landline borrowed at a store because the area we were biking in was a cell-phone dead zone) and they direct us to the city hall who gives me the cell phone number of the city park and rec head. I call him and he says well, ok, that's fine, sure. So we camped in Reedsberg in a very nice city park. This park was like the town social center with a big swimming pool and tennis courts and plenty of green space. And we are pretty sure they left the bathrooms open over night just for us, because we saw a police office come by in the morning to lock them. Thank you, Reedsburg!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
We are in Lakeside, OH at Cormac's family's cottage currently sitting on the porch, a requiste Lakeside activity. We arrived here on July 29, 2009 (I write the date because it feels like nearly a year ago (exaggeration, yes) since we arrived here). Our bikes quickly found a home along the side of the cottage and really have not been ridden since! Ha. I think we were excited to have some time off the saddle.
We are well and healthy and quite relaxed!
To bring you up to date:
We left the Kay family house in Plymouth, MN heading for Frontenac State Park near Winona and Red Wings, Minnesota. Gene and Jane biked us from their place to the bicycle freeway trail that takes you along the south side of the city. We were very impressed by the bike path systems in Minneapolis and surrounding areas! We stopped to say goodbye at the Bike Stop on the Freeway (they have showers and bathrooms and a coffee shop for commuter convience!) and then continued on our way.
It took us longer than we anticipated to complete our days journey and we arrived at the base of Frontenac around 8pm, with about an hour of sunlit remaining. Yes, I did say 'base'. There, staring us in the face after an already long, hardish day, was a mile long pretty steep climb. So, we stopped, ate handfuls of our homemade trail mix, played some cards, changed out of our bike shorts, and then decided to go for the climb to find a place to set up camp. Frontenac is right on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a cliff overlooking the Mississippi. The view was beautiful and we set up in time for sunset. Unfortunately, as we were about to get our sleeping bags in the tent we heard something making lots of noise in the wooded patch next to it. Rustling more than the rustling of a squirrel and then I swear I saw eyes, two glowing eyes. And cormac heard a growl. So we relocated, quickly, very quickly, rushing to see if the function space near the bathhouse was open and yes it was so we find our way inside to set up on the concrete floor for a cozy, indoor, sleep. Our camping pads are quite impressive as they actually make it possible to sleep on concrete.
The next morning, we rise early for our journey across the mississipi and into wisconsin. aiming for Holmen, WI. We had a good days journey, fueled by Subway (a very good deal), and arrived to stay at Whispering Pines campground. Well, we are now in populated-ville and that means that this was a recreational campground where people park pretty fancy RVs and live for the summer. The RV next to where we eventually put our puny little tent was owned by a family who lived in town and they just buy a month at the campground every summer. RV culture is very laid back, firepits, beer, swimming, sitting. Though it is a little disturbing to see a television set up outdoors, at the back of an RV, and people gathered round that. Kind of strange to connect TVs and camping. Well it is an expensive plot ($20) or so and they very kindly gave us cyclists a discount and some water.
The next morning, date(? - we've lost track). we began our shortish bike to Sparta, WI. Arriving at the library just before it started raining. We found a cafe with delicious carrot cake and went back to get a second piece:))
We are well and healthy and quite relaxed!
To bring you up to date:
We left the Kay family house in Plymouth, MN heading for Frontenac State Park near Winona and Red Wings, Minnesota. Gene and Jane biked us from their place to the bicycle freeway trail that takes you along the south side of the city. We were very impressed by the bike path systems in Minneapolis and surrounding areas! We stopped to say goodbye at the Bike Stop on the Freeway (they have showers and bathrooms and a coffee shop for commuter convience!) and then continued on our way.
It took us longer than we anticipated to complete our days journey and we arrived at the base of Frontenac around 8pm, with about an hour of sunlit remaining. Yes, I did say 'base'. There, staring us in the face after an already long, hardish day, was a mile long pretty steep climb. So, we stopped, ate handfuls of our homemade trail mix, played some cards, changed out of our bike shorts, and then decided to go for the climb to find a place to set up camp. Frontenac is right on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a cliff overlooking the Mississippi. The view was beautiful and we set up in time for sunset. Unfortunately, as we were about to get our sleeping bags in the tent we heard something making lots of noise in the wooded patch next to it. Rustling more than the rustling of a squirrel and then I swear I saw eyes, two glowing eyes. And cormac heard a growl. So we relocated, quickly, very quickly, rushing to see if the function space near the bathhouse was open and yes it was so we find our way inside to set up on the concrete floor for a cozy, indoor, sleep. Our camping pads are quite impressive as they actually make it possible to sleep on concrete.
The next morning, we rise early for our journey across the mississipi and into wisconsin. aiming for Holmen, WI. We had a good days journey, fueled by Subway (a very good deal), and arrived to stay at Whispering Pines campground. Well, we are now in populated-ville and that means that this was a recreational campground where people park pretty fancy RVs and live for the summer. The RV next to where we eventually put our puny little tent was owned by a family who lived in town and they just buy a month at the campground every summer. RV culture is very laid back, firepits, beer, swimming, sitting. Though it is a little disturbing to see a television set up outdoors, at the back of an RV, and people gathered round that. Kind of strange to connect TVs and camping. Well it is an expensive plot ($20) or so and they very kindly gave us cyclists a discount and some water.
The next morning, date(? - we've lost track). we began our shortish bike to Sparta, WI. Arriving at the library just before it started raining. We found a cafe with delicious carrot cake and went back to get a second piece:))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)