68 miles, 1570′ of climbing (682 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.
Got up early to snap a photo & see Chris off to work (occupational therapy at a local hospital). Had breakfast with Liz & Toby and then made our way off to our next stop — of which we had a general idea, but weren’t quite sure where we were going. Liz offered a list of things to do in Milwaukee, but we decided we’d better keep moving, so we headed west (and we lost our chicken mascot, Lazy Loraine, on a speed bump and didn’t realize it to much later).
One of Liz’s suggestions wasn’t in Milwaukee, but the small town of Oconomowoc. There was a tribute to the Wizard of Oz movie’s first showing — Oconomowoc was one of many small towns that got the honor, but the only one with a tribute park. It was a bit off our route, but just a few miles, so we headed north to find the Yellow Brick Road.
And it was as kitschy as you might imagine. There was a bike touring group having lunch at a restaurant near the tribute and they cheered us as we passed, and then joined us for their own photo ops. They were on a yearly tour the group had done for 14 years — just a week, but a fun endeavor. We chatted with them for a while and then found a nice cool bar to enjoy a couple PBRs which really hit the spot. The bartender took good care of us and filled out bottles with ice water when we left. Then it was back to baking in the sun (high today was in the low 90s).
We stopped again at Ann’s Farmington Inn for another round of PBRs and more ice water. Definitely a local bar and there was a group of said folks huddled around a video slots machine and raising a ruckus. It was hard to hear, but we chatted with some locals and the bartender — well, Dana did. I struggled to hear over the din bouncing off the tin ceiling and walls.
Outside the bar was a display by the bar’s neighbor, Dave (didn’t meet him, but the bar people all knew him): An Elvis bus and various other roadside attractions including a Delorean and a hover board as a nod to “Back to the Future” (there are a couple of videos below the pics).
We finally arrived at our destination for the day around 6:50, Lake Mills. After a visit to every restaurant in town (Dana’s methodology) we ended up back at the first one for Mexican and a nice chat with Lola, one of the servers.
We had a difference of opinion on whether to camp or head to the Best Western by the interstate, and I lost. 😉 The campground was rustic, and 5 miles south of the town. By the time we got there and set up, the mosquitoes were a buzzin’ and there were no showers so we bathed with the faucet of the bubbler (what water fountains are called in WI). Another hot night and we left the fly off to keep the heat down. We had planned to get up early and get on the way, but it started raining about 5:30, so we packed up as quickly as we could, put on our rain gear, and headed out with a few more mosquito bites (next time *I* pick the accommodations) to Madison and our next Warmshowers hosts, Mike & Chandra .
