52.7 miles, 1324′ of climbing (1,117 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Robin’s place was great and we got all our laundry done, a good sleep, good coffee & breakfast in the morning. Chatting with Robin, we learned that she was one of the owners of a metal stamping company started by her father and her brother and her took over from him. It was pretty close to the route to our next stop, so we added it to the route and said we’d get there for a tour if possible. Robin wasn’t going to be available until after 11, but called her son and niece (who are taking over the biz) that we might be stopping by.

41 miles, 1417′ of climbing (1064.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Dana had a good night’s sleep. Me, not so much. I’m dealing with some sinus congestion and it’s hard to sleep with post nasal drip and coughing. In the end, I got enough to start the day. We got up at 7 and made coffee and took it slow as now we only had 25 miles to get to Dana’s “appointment.”

102.1 miles, 4701′ of climbing (1022.9 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Enough resting! Back to the bikes! Another good, hearty breakfast at Eric’s & Wanda’s, some more last minute bike tasks, and we said goodbye to the Hanlons. Eric reviewed our route and saved us a second big climb on the way to Cannon Falls.

60.3 miles, 2357′ of climbing (772.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

We left Arial’s at 8 as she had to get to work at 8:30 and we didn’t want to impose any longer than we had to. We had a quick breakfast at the Kwik Stop — not scenic, but certainly interesting given the characters going in and out and hanging around. After what WAS a scenic crossing of the Mississippi River from La Crosse to Minnesota, we headed up the MRT (Mississippi River Trail) headed for Fischer Hill Rd in Plainview, home of my longtime friends, Eric & Wanda Hanlon.

88 miles, 1521′ of climbing (772.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Yes, you read that correctly: 88 long miles. Mostly on rail trails, over 1 hill, and through two tunnels. Tired legs, sore butts, and short tempers. Ended up at a brewery, after a quick beer at another bar that let’s just say, wasn’t 5 star. We got to our Warmshowers host, Arial, around 8:30.

62 miles, 2857′ of climbing (772.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Mike was up before us and cooked up some tasty & filling breakfast burritos. We packed up and hit the road in a slight drizzle. Not enough to put on rain gear, and the radar showed things clearing up by mid-morning.

28.3 miles, 864′ of climbing (710.3 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Mike and Chandra were so kind as to let us stay in Madison another day. Dana went for a run and then we did a loop around the bigger lake, Lake Mendota, that took us through the little town of Middleton and the University of Wisconsin campus.

53.7 miles, 1148′ of climbing (682 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.

The rainy start to our morning soon abated and we kept on heading to Madison and checked with Mike if it was OK to leave some of our stuff at their house while we toured Madison. Got a “Yes” back and continued to Mike’s & Chandra’s, dropped our heavy stuff on their porch, and headed out for a loop around Lake Monona. We ended up back downtown at the State Capitol Building, had a nap at the James Madison Park, and made our way back to our hosts.

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).

45 miles, 929′ of climbing – to read from the beginning, click here.

We awoke to a little bit of rain on the camper, but went inside to be treated to a filling breakfast of pancakes, granola, & yogurt. Today we are heading up to Muskegon to get the ferry over to Milwaukee. Dana wanted to do the UP (Upper Peninsula of MI) like EVERYONE who we talked to said we should do. I had to be the voice of reason and point out that adding 700+ miles to this trip wouldn’t get us to any of our original goals and leave us without a chance to finish. So, we’re off to Milwaukee.