Day 8

Yesterday it was pretty difficult to get moving in the morning! Hello, sore muscles. We rode 78.76 miles from Bloomer to Minong, WI... And hit our beds as soon as possible!
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There were some hills, but not nearly as many or as steep as the day before! The travelling was a little slow due to stomach pain for me, and shoulder pain for Nevin. I made some bad eating choices earlier and it affected me for a couple of days. (It's a little difficult to eat properly with food allergies when on the road like this. I'll be much more careful from here on out!)
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Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day. :)

Day 7

We did it! We rode 106.54 miles in the hills of Wisconsin! It was a long day, but SUCH a good feeling to have made it all the way here.
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Yesterday the guard dogs along the way were feeling extra guardish. There were two that came out and chased us... The first one only tried to bite Nevin, the second one was yapping and trying to get at both our ankles. I'm sure they just wanted to take friendly little tastes. Nevin gave the first one a "friendly little push" away from him, but the second dog's owners were outside to call it off.
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We had a bit of a delay in the one tiny town we passed through, as there was a parade in our way. It was definitely a small town parade, and pretty entertaining. :)
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We had quite a few miles of dirt roads yesterday, which slowed us down a lot. That, in addition to the many large hills made the day quite a bit longer than it would have been otherwise. Nevin is pulling a good 60-70 pounds on the trailer, so he really felt those hills! It was quite the workout.
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Turns out on a century ride (well, for me) you're eventually just concentrating on survival and getting there. Not on hygiene or anything else. By 95 miles I was wiping my nose on my gloves, and if a bug flew in my mouth and I spit on my arm trying to get rid of it? Well, that'll just have to dry on its own, now, won't it? I'll shower later. By 102 miles, I didn't even try to spit the bugs out anymore. Just bike. Keep the wheels turning.
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Now if we can just get our sore muscles to move, we'll get on the road to the next destination. Thankfully today is a little shorter- around 77 miles, I think.
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Day... 6?

Yesterday went well! We travelled to Wausau, WI. Our route ended up a little longer than intended because of a few detours- we came up to a section of trail that was fenced off and overgrown with weeds! Not exactly bikeable. :)
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We had some rain after lunch, but we kept going! It wasn't raining too hard, and we wanted to stay on schedule. Also, it's very green in this part of the country! A refreshing change from very dry Indiana.
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Here is the difference between our break styles yesterday... (We have a problem.) :)

Day 5

For a day that started with both of us feeling sick, yesterday was great! We got a later start than we had intended because we were both feeling like we had a stomach bug of some sort. We ended up leaving the hotel a little after 7:30, and pedaled on! Soon the stomachs were much better, and we made decent time the rest of the day... Especially after I had that 5 Hour Energy around noon. I think Nevin was quite amazed at my abilities at that point. :) We did have about a 15-17 mile section of trail that was really rough, and that slowed us down quite a bit, but otherwise the day went great!
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The temp was perfect all day! It was b-e-a-utiful. In the afternoon, we saw/heard a thunderstorm up ahead, so we packed all the electronics in ziploc bags, and rode like the wind toward the storm! :) We ended up needing to turn shortly before arriving at the storm, and only caught a few drops of rain at the very edge of it.
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I continue to be amazed at people we talk to who don't seem to have seen a map of North America. We had stopped along the trail to read a poster about a 1933 local bank robbery, and a man rode up to us and wondered where we're headed.
N: Canada.
He: Where did you start from?
N: LaGrange, Indiana
He: So are you going up around Lake Superior or over and up through through Michigan?
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Um... can someone explain to me how it would make sense to ride from Indiana to the middle of Wisconsin, then go through Michigan from there to get to Ontario? Am I the one who needs to look at a map? I guess we could technically still go through Michigan from here to get to Ontario, but I'm still not sure why we would have come through Wisconsin first if we were going to do that. :)
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And now I need to get moving and ready to leave!
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Enjoy the pics...

Day 4

Today went so much better than previous days! We got started a little bit earlier than the past 2 days, and the weather this forenoon was perfect!! It was cloudy, breezy, almost chilly when standing still... Just right for biking. There were a few rain sprinkles now & then. Did I mention it was perfect weather for biking?
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This afternoon the sun came out and it got warmer, but it wasn't so unbearably hot like yesterday.
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We travelled through Milwaukee today- that was fun! It's been so much fun seeing all kinds of new places and scenery. I'm definitely loving that part of the trip! Tonight we're in West Bend, WI, and tomorrow's plan is to arrive in New London, WI.
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Day 3

Yesterday was about 58 miles. We decided to turn what should've been yesterday into two shorter days, so now it looks like we'll be arriving a day later than we had planned at first. It was so nice to have an earlier evening, and a little more time to rest!
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That heat yesterday was intense! Every day I think tomorrow can't possibly be any hotter. And every day I am so wrong. But today looks a little better- there is rain in the forecast pretty soon here, so that should help cool it/us down a bit!
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So far we haven't had any mishaps that required first aid. My bike fell yesterday, but I hopped free and stayed on my feet. My self-preservation instincts must be getting stronger. :) At least for yesterday they were.
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I only took 1 picture yesterday... Of a river I wanted to jump into so. badly. :)

Day 2

Don't have time for much of a post this morning. Need to be quick so we can get on the road soon!
Yesterday we didn't make it to our scheduled destination. With the later than intended start added to the heat, I just couldn't make it any farther. So we stopped at a hotel about 15 miles before the scheduled one. Now hopefully we can make up those miles either today or over the next 2 days.
Gotta go get ready to ride!
(The Gary airport looked tempting. Surely no one would have noticed if we hopped on a plane to the next town?)