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:))