Last night I slept well in my tent. Maybe it was the sound of the waterfall. Maybe it was the nice people. One camper, a retired trucker, helped me get set up when the campground manager was AWOL. Another camper came by to chat and gave me a shrink wrapped bag of trail mix. (I thanked her profusely and didn’t mention that trail mix makes me gag. )

I left a little after 6. The roads were empty. Just as I thought, “There will be deer around.” There he was. A young buck was standing in the middle of the road

The trucker told me that I could get breakfast in Bowler but the place was closed so I continued on to Mattoon. The only place to get food was also closed but I spotted the manager and asked him to open early. He did!

Today’s breakfast was fruit and chocolate milk.

The roads were getting hillier and hillier. And hillier.

I spotted a sign for a ski resort, pointing in my direction of travel. Good thing I started early.

Up, up, up. Only a few hills were steep. I refused to use my granny gears on them. Pride goeth before the knees.

I hoped that the top would be a plateau but the road came right back down. It was a fun ride but short. I stopped to take a picture of the sign for Lily, WI. (It’s my daughter’s name.)

I foolishly had not bought water in Mattoon and now I was paying for it. I arrived at a lakeside community and asked a woman sitting in her carport for some water. After a pause, she stood and stomped into her house. She came out with a 12 ounce bottle of cold water. “Here” she said but you could read the “Get lost” from her demeanor.

What a peach.

The water and the flatter road along the lake made for 6 easy miles into Crandon. I stopped at the first restaurant I saw and ordered a skillet with corned beef hash. It turned out to be a massive pile of food. I struggled to eat it all while downing three glasses of water and three of Pepsi.

Before I left, the waitress filled my water bottles with ice water. Yess!

While I ate, the outdoor temperature had spiked. The humidity also was higher.

So I checked into a motel instead of camping. The owner gave me a bottle of water and, then, a can of beer. The room is old but huge.  I’m coming here when they put me in the witness protection program. There’s a lake nearby but the Nats are playing the Brewers (Wisconsin’s baseball team) on TV. And I bought some Totally Naked beer which is brewed somewhere near here.

I had strongly considered adding miles to my planned 80+ miles but the water deficit earlier in the day did me in. I stopped at 84 miles. This put me near 70 miles per day. So far.

Aside from the hills, today’s ride featured much more forest than farm. Also, the drivers were very courteous and careful around me, even the logging trucks.

Tomorrow’s plan includes 39 miles of riding to the north before I turn east for the Upper Peninsula.

I slept all of two minutes last night. The drunken campers two slots over were watching the movies until midnight. And it was way colder than I expected. And my sleeping pad is useless.

So I got up early and hit the road. I ended up in Freedom (I kid you not) on the 4th of July. As I was about to raid a minimart, a local told me to eat at Rico’s around the corner . So I did.

For $12 + tip I got 2 plates of food, a giant glass of OJ, and 3 1/2 mugs of watery coffee. I simply could not eat it all. Good thing too. All the other Rico’s customers were about as large as you might expect.

For some reason the next 15 miles seemed uphill the whole way.

There were farms. Of every persuasion. It was depressing to see the veal operations. I don’t eat veal often but I think I’ll stop altogether now.

For much of the ride I was off in space. I’d sort of snap out if it from time to time. My biking is my meditation indeed.

I was serenaded by red wing black birds all morning. Their chirps were so regular they had me wondering if something was clicking on my bike.  A pair of quail burst out of some roadside underbrush.

The terrain began to get hillier. Despite this, I was considering pushing for an 85 mile day until I met a cross country bike tourist heading east. He stayed at the campground I was shooting for. He said it was crap so I went back to plan A. I stopped at 70 miles. The campground is quiet and has a waterfall.

Tomorrow is set to be my first 80 mile day. That’s the plan but I’m going to take it one mile at a time,  Riding  between over and next.

I was worried that I’d puke on the ferry crossing to Wisconsin this morning but Lake Michigan was like glass. I ate breakfast on the boat and took a nap. I awoke thinking in was still in the hotel! Then I heard the rumble of the ship’s engines and went back to sleep.

Once across the lake, I made arrangements for a campsite near Freedom WI. ‘Merica.

Once clear of Manitowoc where an SUV nearly hit me during a dangerous pass, the ride was bliss. Rolling hills. Tailwinds. Farms. Simpson’s clouds.

At one point I spooked a red wing blackbird. It followed me for a quarter of a mile chirping in protest.

Another highlight was riding side by side with a fawn who had lost its mother. Mama deer made a bleating sound from the high reeds near the road and the fawn reversed course and dove into the reeds.

The finale was the pair of sand hill cranes feeding next to the road.

I am drinking $1 beers from frosted mugs and eating tater tots with cheese in them. When in Rome…

I have a mile or 2 to go before setting up camp for the night.

I drove 13 hours to Ludington MI today. It was bad but not like Thanksgiving on the NJ Turnpike.

I rode my bike fully loaded from the ferry parking lot to my hotel. Let’s just say that the bike needs to go on a diet by morning.

Speaking of diets,  I need some food. Ciao.

The ladies of the house went to yoga so I went to church. It turns out that today is th latest sunset of the year. I left my sunglasses on my bike so I’m in squint mode up here in Section 222 Of Nationals Park for the next hour.

I’m really looking forward to the game but I’m even more looking forward to the 16 mile ride home in the dark.

UPDATE: Late in the game, as we were standing during the seventh inning stretch, cameras panned the crowd. I was on the jumbotron!!! The crowd gasped in horror.