I spent the day on the 21st with the Coffeens.  I used their Internet connection in the morning and then helped Steve move sand for four or five hours, partly to the front steps and partly to Lynn's new zen garden.  Last night a bear walked through the zen garden, so we left the tracks intact and I got some photos.

In the evening I got the autoharp out and played a few songs for Steve and Lynn and then a few more when Chris and Becky got home from work.

The ride into Hortonville via New London was uneventful, and I got to the Coffeens' around 4:00. A friend of Chris's from near Milwaukee is visiting until tomorrow, and his girlfriend lives here too, so there were six of us for dinner.

Total distance: 37.98 mi

I got up nice and early this morning and rode into The Village of Plover, just south of Stevens Point, around 9:30 AM.  I toyed with the idea of visiting the recumbent shop in Stevens Point but decided I probably didn't have the time and might not have the energy.  I did swing by the public library but found it closed, so I headed on out of town.

Yesterday's longer-than-expected ride took a lot out of me.  The prevailing southwest wind blew me into Wisconsin Rapids, but it also blew by a succession of different types of weather, including a dramatic rainstorm that hit just as I pulled into town.

The road into town was so quiet I was able to listen to an entire tape, stopping it only when the occasional car went by, but it looks like I won't be able to avoid heavy traffic tomorrow.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on August 17, 2004]

I know, three posts in three days, I'm pushing it... but I've got dialup access here in Mauston, WI, so I thought I'd send some of my notes from the past few days.

I rode a lot farther than I had intended today... I had planned just to get out of the "driftless" hilly area, but the route I chose to do so was such easy going that I was in Mauston by 1 PM.  So I rode north to Buckhorn State Park anticipating a nice campground, but it turned out to be a walk-in campground with no running water, and I really wanted a shower... so I just kept riding.  I wound up with a really crappy deal outside Necedah.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on August 16, 2004]

Hello again. I'm enjoying my day off here at Dreamtime Village, which is a community of artists and craftspersons who moved to the unincorporated town of West Lima to start a community and basically homestead on unwanted land. For more information, read the excellent anthropological study at http://www.dreamtimevillage.org/articles/unglaciated/unglaciated.html .

Now it's time for Q & A! Hooray!

I spent the day today at Dreamtime Village, resting and preparing for the coming week and basically hanging out. Two of the men took me into La Farge with them to the post office and grocery store, both of which I'd been meaning to visit.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on August 14, 2004]

Hi, folks! Sorry it's taken me a while to write a real message; I wanted to have something real to say first. I've been taking daily notes, but they make for dull reading. I've got enough miles behind me now that I can start using generalities instead of just specifics. :)

I began the day on the Elroy-Sparta State Trail.  There were other ways to go, by road, but I wanted to check out the (former railroad) tunnels along the path.  The trail maintains a maximum of 3% grade, so it's much easier going than the roads alongside.  There were places where the railroad grade towered at least 200 feet above the landscape on either side!