Amery, Wi to Chippewa Falls, Wi

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Westbound: Cambridge to Amery Eastbound: Chippewa Falls to Marshfield

Again I found a way to get a late start. I was a little slow getting moving—that’s mine. I tried going across the street to the apparently nice café that I missed the night before. It was slow. Worse, it wasn’t that tasty and the portion for my breakfast biscuit was quite modest in size even if trendy in price. It was nearly ten before I was out of there. Then as I was about to get underway, a gentleman caught me in the Motel parking area and asked about the bike and my plans. He was on a several day break from the railroad, in no rush, and a good audience. I gave him my second best pitch on the virtues of recumbents and shared some highlights of the trip thus far. In turn he talked about his cycling interests and what it’s like to work for a modern railway. By 10:40, the time pressure was getting to me. I bade him a good rest and eased onto the roadway. It then took me ten minutes to find the correct road out of town. Wisconsin continued to be challenging.

Once on the correct road, I had a pleasant ride to the next town, Clear Lake. Upon reaching the corner my maps suggested was my path out of town, I stopped and studied my maps as carefully as I could. This involved some complicated effort to match my eyeglasses to the necessary task without losing or dropping the other, unneeded spectacles. Whilst struggling to confirm my route, an older man came out of a house across the street and asked whether I needed directions. Clearly, his vision was better than mine.

I fessed up. He confirmed that I was on the correct street, and confusing me with an adept cyclist, launched into a discussion of the challenges he was facing in refurbishing an older bike he found at a garage sale. I admit here that I change tires—some days all-too-frequently—and disconnect brakes, but my skills don’t get much beyond that. His project was intended for his son’s family, at least one of whom was a strong road rider. It sounded like a great hobby effort with plenty of challenge and the reward of providing a loved one the restored prize. All too soon, however, it started raining and that, excuse me, dampened my interest in further chat. I thanked him for confirming my route but added that I really needed to get going.

It wasn’t raining that hard, but it was cool, and I was chilled. Again, I missed the shirt I had shipped from Spokane though I was happy this was only the second time its absence had become an issue. When I came to a crossroads with a tavern, I stopped, secured the bike, and entered. Yes, they did have lunch. I had the best bowl of chicken noodle soup I ever recall and a half way decent hamburger, far superior to anything from a Krocateria.

Mindful of my late start and additional chats, I didn’t stay much longer than it took to eat and warm up. I got some break in the rain and faced a variety of road conditions. Wisconsin doesn’t have mountains, but this stretch had its ups and downs. It also had wide variations in pavement quality, which I often think is just as big an issue as wind and rate of climb. Uphills have down hills, headwinds become tailwinds, but bad pavement is inefficient if not dangerous every day in both directions.

When the rain resumed, I finally got an inspiration and remembered that back in Missoula, I had cut and tapped the green garbage bag the Motel 6 in Sandpoint had given me into a passable poncho. It worked excellently (beautifully would be an overstatement). It kept the rain from soaking me with new moisture, it trapped air that I could warm up, but it was short enough to avoid steaming me. I wondered why I had waited more than an hour to remember it.

Now that I was better equipped, there was less reason for the rain to continue and the skies soon became much more friendly.

My next challenge was getting though, beyond, around the city of Colfax. I was looking for County Road N which would take me most of the way to Chippewa Falls, my destination for the day. I rode slowly through town watching all the street signs and traffic directions. No luck, but crossing the 45^th parallel was fun. Then I rode back and recrossed the midpoint between equator and north pole. I asked directions at a filling station, but the young man had never heard of County Route N. Eventually, I went back to the north side of town and headed east on route 40, hoping to see some useful information from the Transportation Department on the busier road. A bit out of town, around two miles, I reached County Road A which appeared to head south. I stopped, inspected my maps further, checked my heading with my compass, and contemplated getting out the computer, but decided that County Road A had to either cross CR N, lead back to Colfax, or head east. Two out of the three were useful possibilities. In about a mile it reached CR N. No further mention of the parallel, but at least once more on the plotted path. My error was in printing my daily maps. One must exit Colfax on CR M—which I hadn’t seen either—to reach CR N. My computer route shows that nuance but the scale of the map I printed did not. It cost me only a mile or two of extra distance but probably twenty minutes of time from stopping and riding slowly.

This next stretch of CR N was really nice. For this stretch, Wisconsin looked as lush and well tended as Western Minnesota. Most of the pavement was nice and I felt like I was making good time without super effort. I reached my turn off, headed north on CR F to CR S and found my way to the Edelweiss Steakhouse and Motel.

I had chosen this destination because Wisconsin discouraged me from entering Chippewa Falls from the South on the highway. This Motel and Steakhouse were on the north side with a rural access and a quick exit to the east. I could avoid the heavy traffic. On the other hand, a Steakhouse sounded expensive. On balance, the cost of having an expensive meal and maybe spending a bit more for the room seemed acceptable since only the room in Cambridge had been spendy. Having gotten this far, a little luxury would be nice.

Well, it wasn’t quite what I expected. The motel was old and tobacco infested. The steakhouse was closed because the cook was on her honeymoon and not expected back for another day. I took the room and set off looking for food. Per the recommendation of the motel owners, I headed east for a mile or so and found a popular, intolerably smokey tavern. After quite a bit of dithering, I found two tv dinners at the convenience store across from the tavern and brought them and other groceries back to the motel.

At least the rain had stopped.

Approximately 78 miles in around 6 hours on the bike.

Back up to Cambridge to Manitowoc

Westbound: Cambridge to Amery Eastbound: Chippewa Falls to Marshfield