Remember when I mentioned that I feel bad that Minnesotans have to drive on their roads? Hmmm, those roads are pleasant compared to what we've encountered in Wisconsin. We suggested to family that they contact their legislators to find out where their highway tax dollars are going, because it sure doesn't appear that they're being used on the roads. ;o)
When we got to Jefferson, all the detour signs were still up from the flooding that took place here last month.
The lady at the sheriff’s department that we had called earlier said that we could get through town anyway just by taking side streets. After that, the detour for other construction that was going on sent traffic way north and then back. Paddles said we should go that way and we started out, then realized it was going to send us a good 5-6 miles north just to come back again, so we ignored Paddles and turned back. We stopped and asked a lady who was working in her yard about how to bypass the construction. She told us a better way and eventually we made it out of Jefferson onto 89 east.
This was another good road, smooth with not quite as wide a shoulder. It was a pretty ride. I liked the unique landscaping accent at this barn.
Today we had a north wind, (crosswind) which turned to headwind off Lake Michigan the closer we got to Milwaukee.
At 1:15, west of Waukesha, we got our fourth flat. Gerry called his mom to let her know where we were and that it would be between 3:00 and 4:00 before we’d get to the house.
The road at this point had become fairly hilly, and these hills, though not huge, are bigger than we’ve had for a while. I was surprised by them as I hadn’t gotten the impression when I've been here before that Milwaukee is hilly (Remember the quote about not noticing the land contours when you're in an automobile). The constant up and down wore on us; I felt it on my knees again today.
About five miles out, as we started out from a traffic light, the rear chain jumped a ring then jammed. It stopped so quickly and with such force that it jarred my left ankle (the one that had been casted) pretty hard and I felt it right away. We got the chain back in place and started up again. I could feel my ankle, then had pain at the back of the heel pretty severely. It was pretty sore the rest of the afternoon and evening.
We took hwy 18 through Waukesha, which was an interesting experience as it wound around and through some of the older part of town – and not so good streets, either.
We turned south on 164th, then east on hwy 59 through New Berlin to West Allis. When we were about a mile away we stopped to call Mom to let her know we were close. When we rode down their street, there was Dad, Mom, Cliff and Karen, Bill and Carolyn waiting to greet us.
So, here we are with two thirds of the trip finished. We'll be taking several days off to be with family and to celebrate Mom's 80th birthday. I'll try to add more later.
Resting,
Gerry and Pat
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