Day 32 -Wed, June 25, Taylors Falls, MN to Ladysmith, WI

DAY 32 - WED, JUNE 25, TAYLORS FALLS, MN TO LADYSMITH, WI
79.9 mi
5.39.54 st
14.1 avg
TTD-1941.88 mi

We both woke up at 5:30 so decided we might as well get going while it was cool, especially because we had to start out with that climb out from the river. Because the igniter quit working on the Jetboil and we had no more matches, we ate only tortillas and pop tarts for breakfast. (Sigh, I have resorted to eating pop-tarts. I don’t do pop-tarts.)

We left the campground at 7:10, stopped in town for some water, turned onto hwy 8, then tackled “the hill”. Now , I know it doesn't look like much in this picture; you have to take our word for it.)Wow, were my legs burning. How soon they forgot the passes in the west! I prayed all the way up. Then I looked up…there was another one. Burn it again. Whew. I looked up…oh man, there was another one. Three of these to get to the top. What was going on in those guys' minds when they built this road? Did they have an extra helping of "macho" that morning? This road doesn't work its way up the canyon wall at an angle. It goes straight up. Welcome to Wisconsin. To make it worse, the road AND the shoulder was b-a-d with broken pavement, big cracks, huge potholes, and only about 2’ wide.The road continued like that for 15 miles, which meant that Gerry could never relax and had to watch the road every second.

To the crummy road, add the wind. Gerry composed this ditty:
Where, oh, where had our tailwind gone?
Where, oh, where could it be?
They said it would blow out of the southwest,
Instead it’s from the southeast.

To the road and wind, add the hills. Not quite, but almost like the ones in western North Dakota. Up and down, up and down. All that shifting started to take its toll on Gerry’s right shoulder, as he has to lean forward and reach down to shift.

To the road, wind and hills, add the traffic. I don't remember who told us that it wasn't a busy road, but either they have a different perspective of busy or they were "trickin'" us. There was just way too much traffic for our taste, especially considering the road condition.

We stopped at Turtle Falls and had an oven roasted chicken sandwich for breakfast. (Man, I ate a sandwich for breakfast-again! This is really stretching me.)

We’ve seen street names ranging from “Log Cabin Road” to “Valley View Drive” to "Park Lane". But never have I seen a street called “2 ½ St.” or “8 ¾ St.” until today, here east of Turtle Falls. I am not kidding. There’s even one called “24 3/8 St.” Uh huh!

At Cameron, we stopped at a convenience store and had slushies. We were SO hot. We visited with the gentleman behind the counter for about 20 minutes. When our body temps had dropped, we set out again.

At Weyerhaueser, we stopped at a roadside historic marker in the shade and had some lunch.

Earlier, we were passed by a construction truck that spit up sand at us, stinging our legs. We decided that it was the exfoliation part of our “Midwest Road Spa” treatment. We were already receiving the moisturizing part with all this humidity.

We finally got to Ladysmith at 2:15 and stopped at the Evergreen Motel that the guy at Cameron had told us about. It’s old, but it’s cheap. And it has air conditioning. We were checked in by a boy about 13 who was friendly and tried to bve so grown up.

After showers and getting cooled down, we walked to the library to use the computer. So much for being cooled down; it's 85+ degrees. I forgot to take my journaling but I wasn't about to walk back in the heat to get it, so I just did a summarized update and Gerry check email.

Then we walked to the grocery store and picked up a broasted chicken, corn bread stuffing, some ice cream and had a veritable feast! I haven’t eaten that much ice cream since…I don’t know if I ever have.

Thanks so much to you who are praying for our physical well-being. My hip has been better today and Gerry's shoulder pain has lessened some. But...the front of my left knee has been feeling some strain off and on for a couple days, and today I'm feeling it more on the back side of my knee. This is very different, something I've never had before.

We looked at the weather forecast for this area for the next couple days and there's supposed to be some rain coming. Our decision now is whether or not to stop at Medford tomorrow or push on to Marshfield....

In Him,
Gerry and Pat