Chippewa Falls, Wi to Marshfield, Wi

Friday, July 11, 2003

Westbound: Amery to Chippewa Falls Eastbound: Marshfield to Appleton

Chippewa Falls to Marshfield—Ignore the apparent double back on SR 29.

After the previous evenings wanderings, I did not seek a full breakfast in this neighborhood. Instead, I had some additional stuff I had gotten the night before with the TV dinners. Not nearly as good as the Cozy Corner in Winnett and not even in the same universe as Bubba’s in Stanford. The shortfall was not only in the taste and satisfaction; it also didn’t get my brain working properly.

The prior night, I had seen that the the east west road, CR S, was under construction beyond the corner with the tavern and convenience store.That wouldn’t be an issue leaving Chippewa Falls because my route called for going a few blocks north on SR 124 from the motel and then east on 95^th along the water until I reached the bridge across the river. A detour at SR 178 instead sent me right back to the corner with the tavern. A mile or two of dirt through the construction zone got me to the bridge.

My next turn was to be CR O immediately across the bridge. Whether addled generally or distracted by the continuing construction, I missed my turn and set off merrily to the northeast instead of to the east. By lunch time I had a sense that I wasn’t seeing what I expected to see. When I rolled into Jim Falls, I found a bar and confirmed where I was.

Review of the maps, again, showed that I’d lost some time and distance but also made some eastbound progress. I could get back on course without too much trouble. The immediate priority was to get some food.

The bar’s hamburger was huge, tasty, and very low cost. The company was also good. One of the regulars suggested, “You must really like to ride that bike.”

With the hamburger’s good effects not yet in operation, I blurted, “I did when I started the trip.”

We laughed.

Getting back on route went well, but heading south on the shoulder of state highway 27 got my interest. It was very nice. I turned east on my original route, CR O and continued to CR G to reach CR Mm, but when I had to cross SR 29, I took a hard look at the highway Wisconsin didn’t want me to ride. It had a nice shoulder. It was two lanes each way with a wide divider. It wasn’t Interstate quality but the cross roads were not so frequent and seemed to have stop signs.

In contrast, CR O had bad pavement, went up and down with every dip in the land, and had unprotected intersections.

I opted for the highway and had a lovely afternoon on its shoulder.

I stopped at the Abby Cafe, a family style place in Abbotsford, for dinner. I was hungry—breakfast was turning out to be a very important meal—and I thought I might be better placed to find a motel down the road if I let my fingers do some walking before my feet did their pedaling. The young server was happy to lend me the yellow pages but was not very clear about the locations of towns more than ten miles away. The yellow pages didn’t offer much. Then she brought my hot roast beef sandwich.

Since 1965, I have traveled back and forth across this continental nation from New England to Florida, to the Southwest, to the Northwest, from Michigan to all points, and so on. I’ve done a lot of miles then by auto, now by bicycle. I’ve always depended upon hot roast beef sandwiches when peckish on the road. I have counseled my family, when in doubt, when in need, get the hot roast beef. And so I had. And the Abby Café gave me the worst hot roast beef I’ve had in forty years of travel. I really wish I had held out for A Tony’s Pizza and Pasta a few miles south of Abbotsford.

The one useful bit of information I gained from the Cafe’s Yellow Pages was that Marshfield seemed to have many motels. I wanted to get to Mosinee—itself a revision from my original route to Wausau—but didn’t have a reservation. I rode south on Wisconsin 13 to the intersection of County Route M and at 5:29 used my cell phone to call the motel in Mosinee. Full up. So I continued south on SR 13 into Marshfield, which while not on my route was nonetheless on the map I had printed.

SR 13 was a very nice ride. Whether it was a tailwind or slightly downhill, I’m not sure. Whichever assist nature gave me, I made good time with a decent shoulder most of the way. I didn’t see anything on the way into town, rode through the downtown, which seemed big, and eventually asked a pedestrian where the reasonably priced motels might be. He offered several options, one of which was in the direction I wanted to travel. Soon I came to the Park Motel, an older one story operation that looked well-tended. They had a vacancy and by 7:59, I had a home for the night. By the way, the folks that run the Park are really nice, the room was spacious and neat, and the place was quiet. At $40 for the night in a decent-sized city, it was about the best value of the tour.

I got Orange Juice from a convenience store and a milkshake from the Dairy Queen. What more could I need?

92.93 miles in 6:52 on the bike for an average of 13.5 mph.

Back up to Cambridge to Manitowoc

Westbound: Amery to Chippewa Falls Eastbound: Marshfield to Appleton